SDCC 18: Marc Silvestri to Write and Draw Batman/Joker Mini-Series

by Eric Lee
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Comics artist Marc Silvestri has announced that he will draw and write a Batman/Joker comic.

At the “Meet the Publishers” panel at Comic-Con, Silvestri dropped in to make the surprise announcement that he will  bee drawing and writing for Batman & The Joker: Deadly Duo.

Former Image cohort and current DC co-publisher Jim Lee joked at Silvestri, “Now Marc, you’re not here to promote an Image project, you’re here to talk about Batman.” Lee continued to talk about the decades-long process of germinating the Batman project. Here’s Lee on the series’ origins:

Marc 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 – I knew he had to draw a Batman project. It was out of that conversation that this project came.

Silvestri then interjected to talk about his anticipation about the new Batman limited-series.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m working on Batman. It’s a Batman/Joker team up. We’d talked about it and I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been done before, at least not a serious level. It would be full of dramatic and comedic moments. I’ve been wanting to do this story for 20 years.

‘Deadly Duo’

Silvestri also let fans in on what Deadly Duo‘s premise is. A secret, new villain is messing with the Joker. So, the Joker enlists Batman’s help the only way he knows how: by holding Commissioner Gordon hostage.

The premise is that someone is screwing around with the Joker really hard and he can’t deal with it. He can’t handle it. So Joker makes it so that Batman has to help him. Joker takes Jim Gordon and holds him hostage — not even Joker knows where he is — and uses that to make Batman help him. Little pieces of Gordon keep showing up and Joker says, “Look, we’re going to run out of pieces that aren’t important here soon.”

A Brief History Of ‘Deadly Duos’

Despite this news, this Silvestri Batman project has been kicking  around DC for some time. It was an informal rumor for at least the past six years. So, will this mini-series actually see the light of day? Or will it be regulated to the annals of ‘Comics Near-Misses’?

Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo does not have an official release date yet, and no information of the series’ length has been divulged. However, Silvestri jokes that the storyline will be, “seven and a half issues, because I couldn’t help myself.”

Fortunately, with this announcement and DiDio’s comments saying, “We’re going to hold this book until it’s ready” makes the series as official as it gets.

Check back at Dark Knight News for information on the storyline as it develops.

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