This February's issue of Batman will no longer be the conclusion of Zero Year: Dark City, but a one-shot illustrated by Dustin Nguyen and written by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV. This issue does not take place in the past of Zero Year or the present of Forever Evil, but will actually jump ahead 6 months into the future of Batman comics and tease the major changes to come in Batman and the new weekly series Batman Eternal.

Batman writer, Scott Snyder, made the official announced via Twitter (well, TwitLonger, as you can tell by it being way over the 140 character mark) this morning and included an image of what appears to be Harper Row dressed as an all-new Nightwing:

A bat-announcement!

But first, a thank you to guys for all the backing on ZY from the whole team. I mean it. This is a Batman origin - nothing more sacred or stressful or thrilling to do. We talk about it a lot, me and Greg and co. - how wrong this all could have gone - and to have you guys in our corner this way... just, thank you. This story is something we're putting our all into, and we can't tell you how much the support means to us.

So to the news (and it's good news, don't worry!): as I was finishing Batman #28 last month, I started to feel that the issue seemed very cramped. There are a lot of big moments in it - super storms raging, bat-vehicles whirling - and I was compressing every one into a multi-panel page.

Anyway, I started thinking that maybe we could extend the issue, do something larger - not as large (or pricey) as #24 - we feel your pain - but still big enough to give Greg the space needed to make this issue feel epic on the page, views of the whole city as it shakes...

Still, to extend the issue would put pressure on Greg, and with an issue that has key crime alley scenes and core moments... I didn't want him to have ANY pressure. No one is as maniacal about staying way ahead of his deadlines than brother Greg is and I just thought it'd be cruel to saddle him with extra pages, esp. now, with the holidays. Believe me, if I gave Greg extra pages, he'd finish them ahead of time, no problem, but why put extra work on my partner - and my friend - for being ahead?

Then I started thinking about all the crazy plans we have in BATMAN, and in BATMAN ETERNAL (the weekly), for Gotham of 2014, and I figured: what if, as a thank you to you guys for all the support, we took a month off from ZY right at the halfway point, and instead did a special issue that showed you what's coming up in the world of Batman AFTER ZY? Not an issue that cuts to the present, but one that actually shows you a glimpse of the FUTURE of Batman - Gotham circa summer 2014?

So I got to talking with the other Gotham writers, and we agreed that with all the crazy stuff that's going to happen in 2014 - and my goal above all in 2014 is to keep things daring and fun - it'd be a thrill to do a total spoiler issue. A stand-alone issue that takes place in the near future and reveals all sorts of massive surprises coming to Gotham in the spring and summer of 2014.

After getting the ok from editorial on the issue, I approached pal Dustin Nguyen about drawing it, told him the crazy stuff in it, and he signed on, to my immense gratitude.

So (distilled from all my wordiness) our NEWS IS: the current BATMAN #28 (the finale of Zero Year - Dark City) will now be BATMAN #29. And a new Batman #28 will come out in its place by me, James Tynion and Dustin Nguyen - a special thank you issue that takes place six months in the future from the present continuity of the DCU, and gives you all sorts of peeks into the craziness planned for 2014.

And believe me, the issue will have a lot of surprises. After all the support you've shown us on Batman - and on ZY especially - we owe you BIG. Big like a debt we can never, ever repay, big. But with this issue, we'll try very hard to fill the pages with thank you spoilers.

Thank you guys from the bottoms of our black, twisted hearts.

You are Gotham, always.

And here, I'll post a tease of a new (?) character appearing in the new #28 right now...

SOURCE: Scott Snyder (Twitter)