[Superman by Jim Lee]

Everyone wanted to know what Jim Lee would be doing with his time once his stint on "Batman" was over. Would he continue to sit behind the drawing board making comics? Today Lee told WizardUniverse.com that's exactly what he would be doing, taking over the artistic chores on "Superman" beginning in March of 2004 with writer Brian ("100 Bullets") Azzarello.

"The funny thing is, we did commit to doing more Batman, we still are going to do more Batman, that's something I talk about all the time," Lee told WizardUniverse in speaking about the "Superman" gig. "I've always wanted to work with Brian Azzarello, and it originally started out as a sort of miniseries that wouldn't necessarily focus on Superman. But then it evolved like, 'Hey, if we're doing a project that involves Superman, why are we skirting around the bush? Let's do Superman.' And I think there might have been some feeling that Brian wouldn't be receptive to doing Superman, that we'd have to go from the angle of a villain or some other character to do a Superman project. But he was gung-ho for doing Superman. So it became a run on Superman. And I always feel like if you're going to do a run, you should do at least six, nine issues. And it just worked out for my schedule that it would be easier to do these 12 with Brian, rather than doing a mini with Brian and then possibly doing a run on the regular title down the line. Bottom line, I wanted to do a long run on Superman in the future, and then I had this other project with Brian that involved Superman, so why do six issues of this with Brian and then come back and do 12 more issues of Superman? Because when you say 'in the future,' this would probably be after Batman, so you're talking about two or three years later. It just made more sense for me to consolidate and say, Brian, let's do 'Superman,' let's do 12 issues, and let's do it now. This is a whole different kind of beast because it's sort of an overhaul of the whole Superman line, so there are a lot more moving parts, a lot more people involved, so it's a little more chaotic. But fun chaotic! It's exciting. You get a sense that big things are going to come out of it."

Following "Superman," Lee would possibly next work on "Batman and Robin," which could be either a new launch or miniseries, according to Wizard Universe.

DC Comics officials would not confirm additional creators rumored to be attached to the Superman books in 2004.