Comicbloc Exclusive Interview: Scott Snyder

A few weeks ago we had to opportunity to attend Chicago’s wonderful convention C2E2. Here we caught up with Batman, Swamp Thing, and American Vampire author, Scott Snyder, he let us in on the creative process, current and upcoming arcs.

Although he let us in on a few secrets that we’re sworn to protect (Bruce is about to need a thicker coat), there were still lots of juicy tidbits pertaining to the future of some of the best stories within the DCU that shouldn’t be missed. Read on!

Sara & Kahlil: So first off, I wanted to ask about working with Jeff Lemire. It’s something I don’t see happening that often and I’m curious to know if it’s been difficult writing a book together.

Scott Snyder: Well, it’s really organic with us since we’ve been friends since we’ve both started comics. We’ve been saying since day one that we’ve gotta do something together, and then when he got Animal Man and I got Swamp Thing we immediately knew we’d have to do something with them.

SK: So before you even started?

SS: Oh yeah. Before we started. We didn’t plan it, and we both came up with stories independently, and then both realized that the villain that he was using wasn’t too far off from the one I was using, in terms of this force that was attached to death. So, we decided to just make it one enemy. And we trade scripts on everything. Back when he was doing Superboy and he was starting Sweet Tooth and I was getting started on American Vampire, we traded scripts then too. He’s really someone I look up to tremendously as a writer. For us, we just knew that we were gonna do it all the way back then until now. So yeah, it was a very organic thing.

SK: It’s funny that you use the word “organic” considering the subject matter being all about the dualities within nature, focusing on the green and the red. I’m wondering if you think one could exist without the other.

SS: Well that’s the idea with these three elements, and what we wanted to do in terms of doing something different was to make the elements themselves these violent forces of nature that weren’t quite as zen as you may have seen them in the previous series. As far as existing alone, they want that. Each one of these elements wants to be the only one. The Green hates the Red and the Rot, the Rot hates the Red and the Green, the Red hates the Rot and the Green. The avatars job, which is something that we’re trying to do differently than it was before, is to retrain those elements as well as be their advocate. So they’re not just there to be the protector of them, they’re also there to protect them from themselves. So, whether one could exist without the other is just part of what we’re going to answer in “Dead World.” We’re still not entirely sure of the name yet actually, but regardless, it’ll really explore that idea.

SK:I love that in the first issue of Swamp Thing, he immediately explains his take on the botanical world and how he used to believe it was this beautiful thing until he saw that there was a constant battle taking place. Switching over to the subject of Batman, I was wondering ever since finding out about the Court of Owls if you intentionally designed them to mirror the lifestyle that Bruce’s parents had. He’s already such a self-deprecating character and this seemed to just pile more pain on him.

SS: Well I think in some ways, Bruce tries to pay tribute to his parents by being the sole protector of the city who knows it better than anyone. In a lot of ways, their death came from a misjudgment towards the city that night. They thought they could walk through Crime Alley and because they were the Wayne’s, nothing would happen to them, and not out of arrogance but just because they loved the city and thought it was a place where they should be able to walk through an alley. So, what I wanted to do with the Court of Owls was really make them an organization that represented his fears about himself; that he didn’t know the city well enough, and have them represent all of the history and things that were unknowable. And really have them represent mystery itself, because they’re faceless, because you don’t know who they are, because there’s many of them, all of those things to me make them scary to Bruce, because he’s all about adding up empirical evidence while fighting a single villain, with a single answer, having something he knows. Having something unknown or unfamiliar…that’s what’s terrifying to him. They’re meant to represent his fears about Bruce’s own failings.

SK: Right, and their all encompassing, not just in one central location of the city.

SS:  Yeah, they’re everywhere. Even in his house.

SK: At the panel yesterday the topic of Mr. Freeze came up. I love Freeze, he’s my favorite Batman villain because he shows so much heart, and I was wondering if anything would be coming up about the relationship between Bruce and Freeze, as they’ve both lost something and seem to have commonalities.

SS: Yeah that’s part of it; we want him to be sympathetic. But there’s going to be a twist with Freeze. One of the things that I think is fascinating about him is his relationship with Norah. And in that way his relationship with her does form part of our story. But there will be a different take on it. So hopefully he’ll be sympathetic, but in a slightly different way.

SK: Right now you’re writing multiple books that all exist in different universes, when you’re coming up with ideas for these different universes, do you find it difficult allocating how much time you commit to one character?

SS: That’s a good question, yeah, it is. I try really hard to do two issues at a time and really live in the world of one series for a while. But it’s really hard to jump week to week, like this week I’m in Gotham, the next I’m in the swamp or the American Vampire 1950’s. So I try to build my schedule so I’m able to really live in the mindset or the context of that series for a while. I do my best in that regard.

SK: Do you generally write one script at a time? Or do you write full arcs before moving onto the next project?

SS: I write one script at a time, but I build a very big outline for myself so if I have two weeks to write Batman, I’ll try to write as much as I can, and if I get halfway through a script… I mean I’ll always finish one script, but if I get halfway through the second one I’ll stop when I need to at that point and come back to it halfway through. So I allot myself a certain amount of time so I know where each issue is going by the time I start it. I have friends that have the opposite process, where for them, if they know the end of the arc, they can’t write it because it’s boring. But for me I like to have a set plan and move forward, sometimes I’ll get surprised along the way, but for the most part it’s a pretty predictable path so I write as long as I can before I have to stop.

SK: Specifically in the DC universe, you’re writing Swamp Thing and Batman, do you find that more challenging, or balancing writing these two characters that exist on such opposite ends of this mythical spectrum?

SS: Yeah, well that’s a good question too. For me it really is about sort of just doing a story about what I find fascinating about that character, but even though they seem pretty I different I see a commonality when it comes to the approach to the story. They’re both dealing with sort of legacies that frighten them about themselves. In that way I love that material where you realize that destiny, or the thing that’s been hidden in the past that you can’t possibly know about. For Alec it’s the whole mythology that ties him to the green that he’s been denying for a long time, even before the accident. His ties to Abbey, and the ties his family has to the Green. All of that stuff is coming back to haunt him, and we’re trying to do that with Batman too. This is the story where his secret past is now coming to attack him in the present. So as different as they are, as a writer you’ve got to figure out what you’re material is at that moment. And it changes, but right now that’s the story that really fascinates me so I think there is sort of a parallel in some ways between them.

SK: Well that’s all we had for you today, thanks for your time, we really appreciate it.

SS: Well thanks for having me.

If you haven’t already be sure to check out Scott’s books the next time you are in your local comic shop!