In what many would call one of the worst-kept secrets in comics, DC Comics has finally announced the long-rumored Batman project by writer/artist Marc Silvestri at Comic-Con International in San Diego.The project will be titled Batman/Joker: Deadly Duo. Silvestri was introduced as a surprise guest during today's âMeet the Publishersâ panel. Jim Lee joked, âNow Marc youâre not here to promote an Image project here, youâre here to talk about Batman,â he laughed and continued, âMarc and I worked in the X-Men offices back at Marvel together, we shared studio space together. When I left, I was still in contact with a lot of the folks at Image and [Marc] drew a piece for a Batman anniversary special and ever since I saw that piece â I knew he had to draw a Batman project. It was out of that conversation that this project came.âRELATED: Batman #49 Basically Tells the 'Last' Joker StoryâAs youâve probably guessed, Iâm working on Batman. Itâs a Batman/Joker team up. Weâd talked about it and I couldnât believe that it hadnât been done before at least not a serious level,â Silvestri said. âIt would be full of dramatic and comedic moments. Iâve been wanting to do this story for 20 years.âSilvestri explained, âThe premise is that someone is screwing around with the Joker really hard and Joker canât deal with it. He canât handle it. So Joker makes it so that Batman has to help him. Joker takes Jim Gordon and holds him hostage â not even Joker knows where he is â and uses that to make Batman help him. Little pieces of Gordon keep showing up and Joker says âlook, weâre going to run out of pieces that arenât important here soon.'"
The villain in the book will be new and original for the story, created by Silvestri, and the project will run about "seven and a half issues," he laughed, "because I couldn't help myself."
Silvestri is writing, drawing and inking his story.
Silvestri hopes that this story will hit fans "in the feels," he laughed, "I hope it makes fans say 'wow, I didn't expect to feel that way about Batman or Joker.'"
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There is no official release date for Silvestri's book, DiDio explained, "We're going to hold this book until it's ready." Though the official DC Comics Twitter account called the title, Batman/Joker: Deadly Duo, Didio alluded to it being a working title.