COMIC-CON: BATMAN PANEL

SAN DIEGO -- Paul Gulacy and Jimmy Palmiotti are the new art team on Catwoman beginning with #25, writer Ed Brubaker announced at the Batman panel on Friday at Comic-Con International.

"I've been a fan of his since I was a little kid," said Brubaker of Gulacy, who recently worked with Palmiotti on the Reload mini-series.

In other news from the Batman panel:

* Writer Brian Azzarello on his upcoming Batman arc with artist Eduardo Risso that follows the first run by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee: "It's slightly different. We're not going to use as many villains as they did - which was all of them! We're going tofocus on Batman himself, why he is who he is and what made him that way."

Said Risso: "I'm very happy to do Batman. This is a good project. When I started to work on the project, I felt Jim Lee's shadow over my show. I'm now on the second issue, and I'm starting to enjoy it."

* Brubaker will be teaming with artist Steve Dillon on Batman: The Man Who Laughed, a 64-page story set the day after Batman: Year One ends. According to Brubaker, it will feature the first day the Joker shows up in Gotham City.

"Steve complained about had it is to draw, so it should be some of his best work," Brubaker said.

* An upcoming arc of Gotham Central co-written by Greg Rucka and Brubaker will show what happens when the Joker goes on a sniper spree, including killing Gotham City's mayor.

"Batman's not scared of the Joker, but the cops are scared of him," Rucka said. "Imagine a press conference where the police say that it's the Joker who's doing the killing. And then watch the city go crazy as it tries to empty out. It's the Joker and there's no method to his madness, so anyone could be next."

"I always wanted to do a Joker story," said Gotham Central artist Michael Lark.

* Josie Mac will take the place of the detective who was killed in the first issue of Gotham Central.

* Brubaker said that Detective Comics will focus more on Bruce Wayne than Batman as an arc leads to #800. He said he wants to show Wayne becoming more "proactive" during the daylight hours.

* Lee said his first run with Loeb on Batman "exceeded everyone's expectations."

* Paul Jenkins on Batman: Jekyll and Hyde, his new six-issue mini-series with artist Jae Lee: "It's about Two-Face. He's trying to convince Batman that the two of them are similar, the two of them have two sides of internal conflict." Jenkins also said he will explore the history of Two-Face and there will be a revelation about the character.

* Artist Klaus Janson on Batman: Death and the Maidens, still described by writer Rucka as "the last Ra's Al Ghul story": "It's very dense, a very intelligent story. I'm on the fifth issue, and I'm having a great time."