PROCTOR SCOTT SNYDER: GOTHAM City’s new arCHITECT OVER THE PAST SEVENTY FOUR YEARS OR SO, MANY WRITERS HAVE TACKLED THE EVER-EXPANDING MYTHOS OF THE BATMAN, AND ADDED THEIR OWN IDIOSYNCRATIC PERSPECTIVE ON A POPULAR CULTURAL PHENOMENON. TEXT WILLIAM PROCTOR 22 FROM ARCHITECTS OF THE best part of a century, it becomes (co-written with James Tynion IV), BAT, BOB KANE AND BILL more and more arduous for writers have received rave reviews across FINGER, TO CREATIONS to come up with new ingredients the comic book landscape. His most THAT HAVE SINCE BECOME to add to the Chiropteran broth; recent storyline, Death of the Fami- IT SEEMS SEMINAL CLASSICS SUCH yet once in a while, somebody stirs ly, which weaves through several THAT WHATE VER AS FRANK MILLER’S THE the pot and throws in a few choice of the Bat books and features the DARK KnigHT REtuRns flavours of their own, enriching the return of the Joker for the first time SNYDER TOUCHES, AND YEAR ONE; ALAN MO- tapestry, salting the recipe. Scott since Tony Daniels’ Detective Co- TURNS ORE’s THE KILLing JOKE; Snyder is the latest in a long line of mics #1 re-launch over a year ago, JEPH LOEB’S THE Long HAL- Bat chefs to enter the kitchen and is viewed by many as a classic run, TO GOLD. LOWEEN AND GRANT MOR- chuck in a dash of spice and inven- one which may, in time, be heralded RISON’S POST-MILLENNIAL tion to a tried and tested procedure. as a seminal work by an auteur. It DC Comics. STINT ON THE CHARAC- Snyder is very much the seems that, at the moment, whate- © TER IN MULTIPLE TITLES, ‘man of the moment’ and arguably ver Snyder touches, turns to gold. BATMAN R.I.P, BATMAN And the most successful contributor to One may be forgiven for Robin: REBORN AND BAT- DC’s latest strategy, launched in thinking that Snyder has come out MAN IncoRpoRATED (TO 2011, known as ‘The New 52’. His of nowhere, pulled out of a seething NAME A RATHER SELECT monthly runs on Batman, Swamp firmament from which all great FEW). For a character who has Thing and now spinning out of the writers are moulded and shaped. been published monthly over the ‘Court of Owls’ storyline, Talon Indeed, his rise from obscurity to , text Scott Snyder, art Greg Capullo, topping Diamond Di- stributors’ sales chart Face the Court in two short years is no- thing short of meteoric. For a while, however, vol. (2011): 2 #5 Snyder was destined for a rather different Batman fate. His first foray literary debut set the stall for what into published writing was to come; but, following that, was not in comics a poor experience writing a first but in prose fiction. novel led him to contribute a piece 2006’s Voodoo Heart, –‘The Thirteenth Egg’ – for an a collection of short anthology of short prose fiction stories and Snyder’s about original superheroes, Who critically commended Can Save Us Now? (2008). Ilustration: The Caped Crusader goes insane, PROCTOR A promotional reading into the Batman universe when Go- Following the critical –James Gordon Jnr was only ever 23 captured the attention of Mark tham came calling). Rather than de- triumph of American Vampire, Dan represented as a child. In Skeleton Doyle, editor of Vertigo, DC’s picting vampires as incredibly sexy, DiDio, President of DC Comics Cases, Snyder brings the character ‘adult’ imprint, which brought sensuous and sensitive à la Twilight, summoned a nervous Scott Snyder up close and personal by showing a new opportunity in the guise of or as a metaphorical vehicle for the for a meeting to ask one question: us the adult Gordon Jnr which an invitation to pitch an idea for underclass and social integration if you could choose one comic delivers a chilling act of storytelling a potential comic book, the result as in True Blood, Snyder developed book from DC’s rich and varied that sets the nerve fibres on high DC Comics. of which finally arrived in the an epic tale of vampire genealogy history to work on, what would it alert and commands the hair to © shape of American Vampire, the spanning over a century which be? The answer, of course, was the stand at attention. The genre that first five issues of which features portrayed vampires as the ‘undead’ Batman. Against all his expecta- immediately springs to mind is the a back up story by none other than beasts of lore; that is, terrifying. As tions, Snyder boarded a train to the thriller, even horror, rather than the grand master of Horror himself, Snyder states: ‘…part of the point of dark and grisly streets of Gotham. superhero narrative, which comes Stephen King (who had previously American Vampire is to make vam- as no surprise given the aforemen- waxed lyrical about Voodoo Heart pires scary again. When Skinner DETECTIVE COMICS , text Scott Snyder, art Greg Capullo, as a work which ‘blew him away’). changes into a vampire, he’s fucking Snyder’s stint on Detective Comics, ABOUT THE AUTHOR: American Vampire began scary. You don’t want to kiss him… compiled in the collected edition, PhD candidate at the University of Sunder- life as an idea for a book or perhaps he does not fucking sparkle!’ Black Mirror, set the bar very high land, Centre for Research in Media and Cul- Face the Court a film script as Snyder did not have American Vampire is indeed. But it is Skeleton Cases, tural Studies, UK where he is researching and access to the comic book arena at a story about Commissioner Gor- writing his thesis on the reboot phenomenon that rare specimen that causes in popular culture which includes, among the time. Having King attached to aspiring writers to wring their don’s wayward son, James Jnr, that other practices, comic books, film, and televi- vol. 2 #5 (2011): vol. (2011): 2 #5 the project boosted initial interest hands in disbelief, despair and effectively demonstrates Snyder’s sion. He has published articles on the reboot Batman in the series, but it was Snyder’s envy: a debut comic book that reads ability to operate in a narrative in academic journals and delivered papers tale of Skinner Sweet, the titular like a third or fourth act, perhaps continuum whilst expertly tweak- at conferences on the topic whilst also con- tributing to a new collection titled Batman: American Vampire, which showed a career best. A coveted Eisner ing Gotham’s textual architecture. Fan Phenomena and has recently written off his writing chops with aplomb. award, the comic book industry This is a feature of Snyder’s writing an article documenting fan reactions to the In a world dominated by ‘sparkly’, equivalent of an Oscar, a Ha- on Batman which has garnered new Star Wars films. He has started his own Byronesque romantic blood-suc- rvey award – voted for by comic applause and praise across the website (infiniteearths.co.uk) which seeks to invite academics and fans to contribute ma- kers, a trend begat by Buffy and book professionals - and Snyder’s critical circuit and remains an terial on popular culture and, in particular, Angel then extended and further fortunes had suddenly performed integral component of his tool the comic book medium. William is currently popularised by Twilight, True Blood a significantvolte-face . Remember, box of narrative sleight of hand. writing a chapter for the forthcoming collec- and The Vampire Diaries, Snyder a mere three years previous and he First introduced to comic ted anthology, Remake TV, which focuses on demonstrated his verve and skill by was head deep in a novel that, due book readers in Frank Miller’s the many iterations of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. As his workload increases he injecting a new lease of (undead) to a period of turbulent economic Batman: Year One, and featuring in recognises that he does not actually have a life life into an exhausted sub-genre upheaval, threatened the project The Long Halloween – also set in beyond the book and the keyboard. Ilustration: The Defender of Gotham walks amidst a model of Gotham, (a skill which he carried with him from ever seeing the light of day. Batman’s inaugural year of activity PROCTOR tioned American Vampire and, thriller with ‘Year One’ stories or, This later, the horror mini-series Seve- even, Christopher Nolan’s Batman sentiment is echoed red – also eerie and spooky in the feature-films, except, on this occa- by Tommy Elliot, classic 1970s sense of the word. For sion, it is not the Dark Knight who the super-villa- James Jnr is a sociopath; or is he? is depicted in his birth throes, but in Hush, who is The ‘whodunit’ perspec- the modern day City of Gotham: kidnapped from tive of Skeleton Cases is beautifully one half of the story is certainly Arkham Asylum orchestrated as a black ballad of Gotham Begins in all but name. by ‘the Architect’. woe, a symphony of despair, as we Spanning over a century, As Grayson tries to witness James Senior immersed in Gates of Gotham describes a city in extract necessary in- self-doubt and insecurity. The evi- genesis as the founding families of formation from him, dence begins to stack up in his son’s Gotham – the Waynes, the Cobble- Elliot taunts him: favour: James Jnr has been falsely pots and the Elliots – collaborate to ‘How can you… accused; he is innocent; he is my build a foundation for the future, ever hope to protect son and I have shown him no sup- which would become the modern Gotham’s future… port, offered no security.