Writer Scott Snyder has made it official: The last issue in his nearly five-year-long run on DC Comics' flagship "Batman" series will be issue #51, scheduled for release in April.

"Truth: I've been delaying writing the last pages of Batman #51 - my final issue on the series & last comic w @GregCapullo for 6 months," Snyder wrote on Twitter.

It had previously been reported that his collaborator on the series, artist Greg Capullo, was leaving the series to work on a creator-owned book with Mark Millar, before reuniting with Snyder on an unspecified DC project. It had widely been speculated, yet not officially confirmed, that Snyder was leaving "Batman" as well, and moving on to sister Bat-series "Detective Comics" (as reported by Bleeding Cool) with the the former rumored to move to a twice-monthly schedule and the latter staying monthly. Neither Snyder nor DC Comics have confirmed that he'll be writing "Detective Comics" in the near future.

In an interview with ComicVine, Snyder said that "Batman" #51 is "really just a letter to the fans from us and a letter to Batman. It's the lightest I've ever written. Not lightest as in happy, but light as in not as many panels per page. It's really, really open. It's a chance for Greg to draw the close before we take our break." By contrast, next month's "Batman" #50 is said to be "the most explosive, jam-packed sort of blockbuster crazed issue we've ever done."

Snyder and Capullo's celebrated and influential run on "Batman" started in Sept. 2011 with the advent of DC's New 52 era of refreshed continuity. The two were the longest-remaining active pair of the 52 new series launched that month, and now DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns' writing stint on "Justice League" stands as the only remaining creator/series pairing from that era.

The oversized "Batman" #50, the conclusion of the Jim Gordon-as-Batman "Superheavy" arc, is scheduled for release on March 23; "Batman" #51 follows on April 13.