Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge for the news to come out. No sooner had we run the story that DC Comics was to announce the new writer of the ongoing Batman series tomorrow, for their big Batman Day across the world.

And noted that the Union Square signing with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Peter Tomasi would be a perfect place to do so. At the time, we didn't know if either of these three would be the announced writer, but put them all on the runners and rider lists – albeit with Scott Snyder way down.

Well, we've now got the word. The new writer of Batman will be James Tynion IV from issue #86 onwards, until Batman #100. At which point we will have another new writer, a new Batman relaunch, a new #1 and a new Batman, with Luke Fox replacing Bruce Wayne under the cowl, for the summer of 2020 and a new Batman #1 relaunch. Not Brian Bendis though, I hear he turned it down…

But for now, James Tynion IV, writer on Detective Comics, Justice League and with a new big hit at Boom Studios, Something Is Killing The Children, will be the ongoing writer on Batman, after the current writer Tom King was fired. Tynion's first issue, Batman #86, will be in January.

Artist as yet unknown. Well, they have to have something new to announce tomorrow, I guess. Unless they also go all-in with 5G…

Tynion is 31 years old – which means he wasn't born when Dark Knight Returns was published. He studied creative writing under previous Batman writer and current Justice League co-writer Scott Snyder. Tynion interned for the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, working under Shelly Bond. Moving into advertising, he was invited to co-write the back-up features for the New 52 relaunch of Batman, in the midst of Night of the Owls, and tied the Court of Owls to Alfred Pennyworth's father, Jarvis Pennyworth. Tynion launched a spin-off storyline with the ongoing comic series, Talon, which ran for 18 issues.

In 2013, Tynion paired with Jeremy Rock to co-create his first original comic series, The Eighth Seal, for Mark Waid's digital comic publisher Thrillbent, followed by House In The Wall, co-written by Noah J. Yuenkel and Eryk Donovan. In 2014 he was named one of the head writers of weekly Batman Eternal, and launched the original series The Woods, for Boom Studios, with artist Michael Dialynas, given an unprecedented full series order, guaranteeing that it will run to its planned conclusion at issue #36, as well as mini-series Memetic with Eryk Donovan.

In 2015, Tynion was announced as one of the co-writers of the new Constantine: The Hellblazer series alongside Ming Doyle and artist Riley Rossmo, as a part of the DCYou publishing initiative at DC Comics and the writer of the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover. He also launched two new creator-owned series through Boom, UFOlogy, co-written by Noah J. Yuenkel with art by Matt Fox, and Cognetic, a thematic sequel to Memetic.

In 2016, he was announced as the writer of the biweekly Batman series Detective Comics for DC's Rebirth with both Batman and Batwoman as co-leads. He then began writing Justice League Dark, co-writing Justice League with Scott Snyder and had a new series for Boom, Something Is Killing The Childen, which just exploded.

And now? It's Batman time.