COMICS: Scott Snyder On Batman And Tie-Ins With Nightwing

Snyder: We were all talking a little bit about it. I think the idea is that Bruce's time as the devil-may-care playboy who has no investment in the city beyond it being a kind of playground feels a little bit dated to most of us in the Bat-world — not only because of what Grant was doing, but also because of the times. I think it's OK now to make him a bit more civic minded and invested in Gotham, and invested in the idea that he has a responsibility as someone who cares about making it a better place both in and outside the mask.

In that way, we wanted him to be a stronger character as Bruce Wayne as well, a character who has goals that are separate from Batman in some ways, and an agenda that is sometimes separate from Batman — someone who is a formidable person in his own right, and not just a disguise for Batman.

A lot of the time, you get the sense that "Bruce" is just Batman's disguise, and that Batman is who Bruce is in his core. I agree with that in a lot of ways, that he's very much Batman. It's contrasted with how, a lot of time, Superman is Clark at heart, and Superman is more his mask.

But I think it's important to also explore the idea that Bruce, out of the cowl, has a life as a person, that he's someone who cares about his city and the population. I think maybe that idea of Bruce always having to find some front with beautiful women — that can still be a part of his life, but it doesn't need to be the only part.

Snyder: Yes. They're coordinated. It's not one big mystery that's going to be in both books, where it's solved in Batman and begun in Nightwing, or vice versa. It's just something that we wanted to play up concurrently. There is a mystery that's going to connect both Nightwing and Batman as we go forward.


The things that Dick Grayson discovers in Nightwing will bleed into Batman, and the things that Bruce discovers will bleed into Nightwing.

In Batman, it's a story about a villain who has ties to Gotham historically and has manipulated events and has been a huge influence on the shape of Gotham, both physically in its architecture and in its politics and its social geography.

But thematically, it will be similar in Nightwing and Batman, as we play up the tension that exists between Dick Grayson and Bruce. It's something that's going to come into play in a big way in Batman, and I think in Nightwing down the line.

They're extremely close, and Bruce obviously cares a lot about Dick. And Dick cares a lot about Bruce. But they also have a lot of tension between them, and Bruce isn't very good at showing how he cares for people a lot of the time, and he pushes them away. Part of him wants to be alone as Batman. And all that stuff ebbs and flows with them and becomes something that at times brings them close together, and sometimes brings them at odds.

This story will be about both those things, that they're really close, but it will also hint about things that can drive them apart as well.

Snyder: You're going to start to see a lot of bad guys soon. Stay tuned for the introduction for our new owl-themed villains in Batman, and for big twists and turns that have to do with the history of Gotham and some surprises about the characters you really like, things that are buried in their history that are going to be brought to bear against them in the present.

And it's going to get very dark and twisted. There are a lot of fun waters ahead for all of us, I promise. It's going to be a good ride. We're really excited about it, so we hope you guys are too. This is the Batman story we'd tell if we only got one chance to do it.

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