Batman Writer Compares Death of the Family to Superior Spider-Man

With less than a month before the big finish to Batman's latest super-crossover 'Death of the [...]

With less than a month before the big finish to Batman's latest super-crossover "Death of the Family," Batman writer Scott Snyder has been making the media rounds this week. Earlier today, he hit some more mainstream press outlets, giving non-fans and casual readers a taste of what's to come, and now he's making his way through the comics press, spilling a little bit more in the way of details and sharing some of the communal comics experiences that have made him a fan-favorite writer in such a short time. "I was actually joking on the phone with Dan Slott after [Amazing] Spider-Man #700," Snyder told CBR. "I was telling him how I felt so bad because it sounded like things got crazy for him, and he said, 'Wait until you get to Batman #17! You'll have the same.' So honestly, maybe I will go be in a bunker somewhere the day that issue comes out. But I believe in the ending very strongly. I believe in the story beat we're headed towards."

For fans expecting a major death to round out the story, Snyder offered some insight into his motivation for the story beat in question--and it certainly sounds like somebody might not make it out of the story. "I vividly remember calling the number for Jason Todd -- both to kill Jason and then feeling bad about it and calling back to cancel out my own vote -- from the playground at Waterside on 23rd Street where I grew up," the writer said. "I literally remember putting the quarter in to call the number. And just like when I was a kid and had mixed feelings, I try to think of that now and be measured in what we're going to do. I don't want to do anything just to shock or be upsetting to people. I want to do something that's organic to the story we've built that will both be horrifying and exciting, inspiring and infuriating all at once." From what we can see in the story, it appears as though at least a healthy chunk of it revolves around a physical confrontation between Batman and The Joker--something that's become less common in recent years as it seems less believable that someone as emaciated and unhinged as The Joker could compete with the most trained and perfected human body in the DC Universe.

"I think the thing that's so terrifying is that the reason he wins at his worst is that the Joker in his villainy is such a horrifying reflection of your greatest fears. When you face the Joker -- I was talking about this with Geoff Johns the other night, and we were joking around -- to me it's the perfect example of horror. He looks at you, sizes you up with these horrible eyes, sees what your greatest fear is and then works to make it come true. He proves to you that you are the thing you're afraid you are. He makes you afraid of yourself. "In that way, he always wins a little bit, no matter whether you take him down or you don't. When you have a great villain in the story like that it makes you genuinely afraid, it's usually because they reveal some kernel of truth about yourself. There's always something sad or frightening in the end that he shows you about yourself, even if you beat him. So there's not a way out of this story without him wining in some way already."

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