Scott Snyder Talks Batman #44: "I Definitely Feel Sort of Reflective At This Point"

Today sees Wytches creators Scott Snyder and Jock reunite for Batman #44, an issue that fills in some of the blanks in the background of Mister Bloom, the dangerous new villain introduced during the current "Superheavy" storyline, in which Bruce Wayne is a hapless billionaire working to improve his community by doing charity work, while Police Commissioner James Gordon dons a cowl and armor as Batman.

Snyder joined ComicBook.com to talk about the issue, which he says is the "heart" of the "Superheavy" storyline, and about his plans for the future of Gotham City.

Here, we'll give you little taste of the full interview, which will run later in the week to avoid spoiling too much of the issue.

Did you script this issue and then bring in Jock, or did you tailor an issue to Jock, knowing you had a hole in Greg's schedule?

I spoke to Jock about it long before I started it. For me, if there's an issue that's at the heart of "Superheavy" itself, it's this one. The art I think feels really bombastic and zany and over the top and we wanted it to feel very fun and energetic after the grimness and dark, large-scale story of "Endgame."

But secretly, this story is a very personal one. It's largely about what Batman means, doesn't mean or can mean to us in the real world. Why does he matter when, in fact, we have entrenched problems in places that resemble Gotham, that he can't solve. So, what does he mean?

So for me, this issue is both kind of an origin to Mister Bloom in a tangential way where you learn a little bit about him, but it's more about how when villains like Mister Bloom take power is when people start to lose faith in the systems of the city and each other and the things they put in place to protect him. It's about how powerful he grows in that sort of environment. It's kind of Trojan horsed into the arc, but it's something I've been planning to do since we conceived of "Superheavy" in the first place, as a kind of place to go to give you more of the emotion and the themes and questions that the entire arc is about.

So I was really, really grateful and happy that Jock was able to do it. I approached him right away when I knew what kind of issue I wanted to do and we found the time to do it.

One of the things in the issue that feels a little like a throwaway line but it has really interesting ramifications, is this idea that we don't have supervillains because of Batman; the reason it seems that way is that he steps in and draws their fire. I think ever since Batman Begins, there's a lot of discussion of this idea that superheroes provoke supervillains. Is that something you wanted to explore a little bit?

Yeah. I wanted to sort of invert that becuase I feel that idea has been done very, very well by other people in many stories. I think for me, I've been on Batman for five years now. I'm not saying that I'm coming toward the end of what I'm doing, but I definitely feel sort of reflective at this point, on our Batman and I'm trying to look at what we've been able to do with a little bit more perspective than before and see, is there anything we've done that I feel very uncomfortable with? Is there anything we've done that I feel particularly proud of when it comes to our Batman? And one of the things I'm proudest of is when it comes to Batman in a post-9/11 world, for me Batman is more interesting as something that's going up against a more modern fear. Living in New York, I think a more modern fear isn't that a superhero will rise and these bad guys will come and look for him in some way. It's a great psychological narrative to play out with Batman, and I've loved the stories that explore that.

But I'm almost more interested in a city that's plagued by people coming with private ideologies or ideologies that are explosive or angry. Villains who come to Gotham in these big ways, and Batman needs to sort of step in the way of that and Batman needs to show us, don't be afraid.

In that way, I think it's an inversion of the way Batman has been portrayed in certain stories in the past where Batman is about going after the criminals, the superstitious and cowardly lot, and taking back the city by scaring them back into the shadows and making them afraid. What I've tried to do is have our Batman be more about making the population of Gotham brave, than making the criminals frightened.

For better or worse for me, I try to draw from things that I'm afraid of for my kids, and for myself, and for growing up in New York. It has less to do with the kind of things that I grew up with in the '80s, that sense of the city falling apart and small-scale crime than it is with these sort of out-of-nowhere on a Tuesday afternoon attack. That, to me, is more deeply a part of the psychological landscape now and so we've tried to put Batman so that he's more about inspiring bravery in the population of Gotham rather than sort of being the guy who frightens back all of these bad criminals and is possibly also responsible for them in that way.

I'm more interested in criminals who rise up with things to prove to Gotham and things that are private, fervent beliefs for them.

You can see our full interview with Scott Snyder later this week. Batman #44 is on sale now at your local comic shop, at DCComics.com or via ComiXology.