Tony Daniel announced Friday via Facebook that he would no longer be contributing his creative talents to the Batman-starring Detective Comics after September.

Daniel noted in his Facebook post that his last written issue will be Detective Comics #12, while his art will last appear in Detective Comics #0 in September. Daniel goes on to say that he will still be working with DC on new projects that have yet to be announced, but expects the public to hear about them starting next week and leading into San Diego Comic-Con.

One of the more interesting things to take from this news is that when Daniel is referring to his run, he says “Batman/Detective” as in he may be done with the character for the time being. The reason that this is interesting is that, for the past several years, Daniel has been in some way involved in major storylines and titles regarding Batman. Starting with Grant Morrison’s Batman run, Daniel was either on writing or art duties on RIP, Battle for the Cowl, Batman, and Detective Comics with last year’s DC relaunch. He’s been involved in Batman’s world for a very long time, so for fans of the character and Daniel’s work, this is a big change.

The other big question here is who will fill his creative shoes? As previously stated, he’s been heavily invested in the character for quite some time, so will DC be going after another creator who’s been involved in the development of Batman, or will they be searching for a new name to revitalize the comic? Names like Scott Snyder seem to be a little out of left field and impossible considering that the writer is still working on Batman. Could Greg Hurwitz, the writer of Detective Comics #0 be coming on after his issue? I don’t think he will. Detective Comics became one of the hottest selling titles post-relaunch thanks in part to Daniel’s dedication to the character and shocking events like The Joker having his face cut off. No, I think we’ll see a bigger name attached to this title to keep sales from stagnating. But who? That’s the question, isn’t it? Well, SDCC isn’t too far away, now…

[Source: Facebook via CBR]