Speaking to Complex Magazine's
Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)about Batman #1 and Swamp Thing #1:
On what DC pitched to him about the reboot of Batman:
The way DC approached me about the relaunch was that it was a way to tell any story that you wanted about your favorite character, no holds barred. And the story I wanted to tell was one that was already really rooted in what’s already happened in Batman, but is accessible to anybody that hasn’t been reading Batman. It’s a big epic, ambitious story about Bruce Wayne and the way he thinks of Gotham as his friend and this kind of ancient evil under Gotham that exists, or may exist, that he has somehow overlooked as Batman. So it has to do with the history of the Wayne family and the Grayson family, and there will be big revelations about this enemy from the past, and this enemy is going to bring all the weight of history against the Bat family and try to crush them.
On the plotline of Batman:
The story is really about Bruce being back in Gotham after events in other books like Batman Inc., although you don’t need to know anything about those books to pick this one up...So, little by little, these murders begin to unearth this conspiracy that has been there for a very, very long time. For 300 years, 400 years. No matter how long Bruce has been Batman, the city is 300 years old. So what if there was some sort of symbol that the city belonged to before Batman, that’s actually a rival symbol to the Bat in some way? What if there are enemies that he never knew existed that are coming out of the woodwork right now to bear against him and his allies?
On his vision of Batman:
So one of the things that makes him an enduring icon is that sense of darkness. He’s a guy that has all these resources; he’s one of the only superheroes that all he has is money. I mean, even Iron Man, who is similar, has a repulsor in his chest, so he can’t really bestow his power on other people. Whereas Bruce can really just set up a bunch of anti-crime programs around Gotham and probably do a lot of good, but instead he goes out there and punishes his body and punishes himself over and over and over again. There is something both incredibly noble and heroic about that, and also something self-destructive and pathological about that.
What we’re trying to do is to explore both sides of that. We really want it to be something where he is the greatest superhero in the world, in my opinion. But at the same time he’s someone whose obsessive nature and commitment to being Batman, at the expense of everything else, is also a vulnerability. That’s part of what this story is all about. Really Bruce is so great at being Batman and so devoted to it that, what if there was a conspiracy that has been lurking there for longer than he has been Batman, and he investigated it but just missed it?
On how all of DC's Batman writers got together to decide how they would approach the relaunch:
They gave us time to get together [Peter Tomasi, Tony Daniel, Gail Simone] on the phone. We're aware of each other and we went back and forth. And we decided what would change and what would stay the same. For some characters I know things changed a lot, for some of the big characters, too. For us on Batman, we really looked at it and decided, we tossed around ideas like changing Two-Face or making the Riddler more like Jigsaw from Saw. But at the end of the day with the stories we had in mind already for the characters as they were, they were better than the stories we would generate by changing one thing or two things.
So we really collaborated a lot in terms of thinking about what we could change and what we might change. But at the end of the day, we decided that the status quo of Batman is one of the most exciting times in Batman right now. With all of the relationships with former Robins and Nightwing, and enemies; it’s just a really vibrant time for Batman, so we didn’t want to change anything.
Scott's plans for Swamp Thing:
It really isn’t going to be a superhero book. It’s a horror book from go. Sometimes I feel like everything I’m writing is a horror book, even the superhero books...So about six or seven months ago, I heard from Geoff Johns and he was saying they were going to bring Swamp Thing back in Brightest Day and he heard I was a big fan of the character and asked if I had an idea for it. I told him that, for me, the best way to do Swamp Thing was that I think there had been so many great stories about him being this huge monstrous elemental force. for anyone that doesn’t read Swamp Thing, the idea is that it focuses on this botanist named Alec Holland who is creating this formula to create vegetation in the world’s most arid regions and there is an accident and an explosion in his lab and he gets covered in this formula. He turns into this monster when he reemerges from the swamp. In the original, that’s what it is, it’s kind of this Frankenstein idea almost. When Alan Moore took over he changed it so that Swamp Thing realizes that he was never Alec Holland, he’s actually a copy of Alec Holland that the plant life and the formula created. He’s this kind of elemental force of nature with no sort of human identity.
Those are the two twin pillars of Swamp Thing, and what I loved about those two stories is that they are both about a man wrestling with monsters, both internal and external; primarily internal and longing for a sense of humanity that was lost. Spoilers: I was thinking that there had been so much done with the character as a monster in that way, that it would be fascinating to bring him back as a human, if we could do it plausibly, and to keep the memories that he has as Swamp Thing and almost have him crawl out of the banks of the swamp that created him, naked and reborn as Alec Holland.
There's a lot more from Scott in the interview so
be sure to head over to Complex to read the full transcript. Ever since he debuted with Marvel back in 2009, Snyder's fan base has been growing by leaps and bounds. Those-in-the-know are predicting that Snyder is poised to become the next great comic book writer and are stating that it's only a matter of time before his work brings him to the attention of mass market. So far, Snyder hasn't disappointed with anything he's done and I'm sure he'll bring his refreshing new style to Batman #1 and Swamp Thing #1 much to the delight of his fans.
Scott Snyder is an American writer best known for his 2006 short story collection Voodoo Heart, and his work in comic books, including American Vampire, Detective Comics and Batman: Gates of Gotham.
In 2009, Snyder began writing for Marvel Comics. His first foray into the genre was a one-shot focusing on the first Human Torch, part of Marvel's 70th anniversary celebrations. He later wrote the 4-issue miniseries, Iron Man: Noir, which debuted in April 2010.
Vertigo Comics began publishing American Vampire, Snyder's first creator-owned, ongoing series, in the March of 2010. The first five issues feature an original storyline by Stephen King. American Vampire went on to win the 2011 Eisner Award for Best New Series, as well as the 2011 Harvey Award for Best New Series.
His run as writer of Detective Comics began with issue #871 of that title, which marked the beginning of his exclusive contract with DC Comics. He developed the story for the mini-series Batman: Gates of Gotham with writer Kyle Higgins (who scripts the series), which debuted in May 2011.
In June, 2011, it was announced that Snyder will begin writing both Batman and a new Swamp Thing ongoing series as part of DC Comics' Fall 2011 relaunch.
- 2011 Eisner Award for Best New Series (for American Vampire)
- 2011 Harvey Award for Best New Series (for American Vampire)
- Nominated: 2011 Eagle Award for Favorite Newcomer Writer
- Nominated: 2011 Harvey Award for Most Promising New Talent
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