FINAL STORY ON THE HOUSE OF IDEAS: Chris Puzak has hipped me to Rob Johnston's comic rumor column wherein he relates this rumor, among others:

What more do DC staff like to gossip about than Marvel? The pro grapevine there has it that Bill Jemas is to Ultimatize the Marvel universe, as a number of commentators had predicted. The bean counters have had their say, and noting how well the Ultimates books do, especially at Wal Mart who have a guaranteed sale for another two years, it looks like the Marvel Universe will soon start to integrate with the Ultimate newcomer. Marvel may well have a deal with news stand distributors to give the Marvel line a high profile - if they all go through the "Ultimate" treatment.

The "Ultimate" treatment is kind of what Julius Schwartz did with the DC superheroes in the late 50s/early 60s: reimagine them in contemporary surroudings, free of their earlier history and surroudings. This is, I think, a good idea, though I don't know if they'll do it the way Schwartz did (put the news guys on one Earth and the old guys on an alternate Earth) but while I was reading the book I just read--Earth X--I thought to myself, "This wraps up every plot thread started by the 60s Lee/Kirby/Ditko/Romita/et al. House Of Ideas, mutated in cosmic meditations in the seventies, mutant mania in the eighties and a whole lot of underbaked comics in the nineties." Maybe not that exact thought, but you get the idea. Earth X is an excellent tribute to and story of the universe that Stan and Jack built, and if you are or were a Mavel fan you'll enjoy it. If you don't, I don't know what you'll get out of it as it assumes an involved inwareness at some point of your life with Marvel continuity. But for all you geeks, ex-geeks, and part-time geeks out there--and you're there; this is the Internet--check it out, you'll like it.