Replace "add new comment" link with image in Drupal

Question

Is there an easy way to convert Drupal "add new comment" link into an "add new comment" gif image?

Syntax that adds link appears to be

 <?php if ($links): ?>
    <div class="links"><?php print $links; ?></div>
 <?php endif; ?>

Answer 1

here are some techniques, go wild :) http://stopdesign.com/archive/2003/03/07/replace-text.html#notes

Answer 2

$links is built in your template.php and modules can add to it.

$links is a <ul> and that particular link is <li class="comment_add">

you can use css to give li.comment_add a{background=..} and use a str_replace in one of your themename_node_preprocess(&$vars) and remove "Add new comment" from $vars['links']