WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO: DC UNIVERSE PANEL

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- At the DC Universe panel on Saturday at Wizard World Chicago, DC Comics announced a new Demon series, Blood of the Demon.

The series. launching next spring, will be written by Will Pfeiffer and co-plotted and drawn by John Byrne.

"It's going to be action-packed," said Pfeiffer, who added the series will have a heavy Jack Kirby influence.

In other news from the panel:

* Deadshot returns to the DCU in his own monthly series beginning in December. Written by Chris Gage, who;s also a series writer for the TV series Law & Order: SVU, Deadshot features art by Stephen Cummings and Jimmy Palmiotti and covers by Mike Zeck and Jerry Ordway.

* David Lapham's 12-issue run as writer and cover artist for Detective Comics beginnings with #801 in December. Interior art is by Ramon Bachs and Raul Fernandez.

* Brian Azzarello said his Lex Luthor mini-series is now targeted for a March release.

* Newly exclusive Josh Middleton does have a project lined up, but details are currently not available.

* Asked about the future of the Supergirl, Superman/Batman writer Jeph Loeb said "When the story is done, DC will have the one, true Supergirl. And we'll see where that takes us."

* Ed McGuinness is collaborating with Grant Morrison on the opening three-issue arc of JLA: Classified.

* There will be a movie adaptation of Batman Begins, although the format has not been established yet.

* DC's Dan DiDio said he's in discussions with Identity Crisis writer Brad Meltzer about future comics work.