‘Absolute Batman’ Scribe Scott Snyder Says Readers Really Want Stories That Feel “Urgent” And “Speak To The Hardships That People Are Facing Right Now”
In giving a personal read of the current comic book market, Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder says that rather than rehashed ‘greatest hits’ plotlines, endless streams of variant covers, or cinematic universe synergy, what readers are truly hungry for are stories that are “about this moment”.
Taking the opportunity in his ‘Year in Review’ edition of his personal newsletter to offer some forward-looking advice to any and all of his fellow comic book creators, the veteran DC writer argued that the key to finding modern sales success “whether it’s a DC pitch, whether it’s a creator-owned book, is that you you have got to meet the market where it is right now.”
“I read so many books coming out from creator-owned spaces that feel like this is a book that could have launched at BOOM! in 2012 or at Vertigo in 2009 or 2015. It doesn’t feel like it’s urgent or it doesn’t feel like it’s about this moment or that it was a book you had to write right now. It feels like a passion project that you’ve had in the back of your head for a long time. And here’s the thing, 100%, I love those books and I think they should exist and you should publish them. But what I’m seeing from a lot of creators is the bewilderment as to why those books aren’t doing as well as they used to do in some way.
“What I’m trying to say is that it’s a really particular moment in the market right now. And what I would say to you is you have to meet it if you’re looking for competitive sales, not if you’re looking to sell 10,000 copies, which again, I have done books like that. I love doing books like that. I love doing books that are personal to me that I’ve had in my head a long time, even if they are about the moment in my own way and they’re all about something urgent, that I understand are not designed for the market to sell right now.”
“That’s a big part of being a creator is experimenting and doing books that maybe you know are not going to fit, but that are just your passion project. But what creators keep asking me is like, ‘Why isn’t my book selling’ or ‘Why isn’t this right for this moment?’ And a lot of the time what I’d say to them back is just like, ‘Is this your biggest swing? Is this the thing that feels like you’re speaking to fans and saying, this book has to exist right now?’
Moving to provide some concrete examples of this philosophy in action, Snyder turned to DC and Marvel’s respective villain-led ‘reimaginings’ of their core universes, in doing so also explaining that his call to ‘meet the moment’ was not exclusively centered on the political chaos currently unfolding across the globe, but also the more minor, personal struggles being endured by the average individual.
“For better or worse, like, the Absolute Universe, what I’m so excited about with them is that they all feel really urgent. You know, you might not like their politics, but they are designed to make these superheroes feel immediate and exciting and bigger than life but in a moment that speaks to the hardships and the things that people are facing right now. They’re meant to be even more heroic and inspiring as underdogs. And I think that’s true of what was happening in [Marvel’s] Ultimate Universe as well. I think Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man speaks to what a lot of people are feeling as struggling young families right now. And that’s great.”
“So my point is just like, Transformers feels urgent. It has art that feels urgent. Daniel Warren Johnson and Jorge Corona and these guys that like, aren’t safe artists and mashing that together with G.I. Joe is cool and exciting and it’s never been done. So why not? And The Last Ronin and these books are they’re trying things that haven’t been tried. I’m saying that there are too many creators that pitch something that feels like it could have existed 15 years ago and then expect that thing to compete in a tough market right now. And what I’m saying is not ‘Don’t do those books.’ Do those books. But you can’t then turn around and say, ‘Why isn’t this book selling like Nightwing?’ That’s what I hear too much.”
Winding down his thoughts, the man behind DC’s best-selling title in years ultimately affirmed, “That awareness of the market is key going into this year for aspiring freighters.”
“You’ve got to look at the market and be like, “What’s my biggest swing right now? What’s my biggest tent book? What is the thing that I can do that says this hasn’t been done? It has to exist. It’s dangerous. It’s urgent.” That’s the market right now.
“My biggest advice to creators out there is like, don’t turn around and blame the market. Don’t blame the books that are doing well. Take a look and think like, this market is scary, but it’s thrilling. It is tough and competitive, but it’s also corrective to a lot of years of inflated sales because of streaming, because of variant covers, because of all kinds of things like COVID money, TV interests, corporate support, all kinds of stuff that is going away. And that means it’s a tougher market. It’s corrective and it’s competitive and it’s scary.
“And I wish that every creator-owned book sold 100,000 copies. But in this market, you’re lucky if you sell 20,000 to 30,000. Very lucky. That’s what you’re facing. But that also is exhilarating in its own way. As hard as it is, it’s exhilarating because it means it’s a market where books are overperforming when they take a big swing. You’ve got a hungry, excited comic book audience.”
Per data collected by worldwide American comic sales tracking system ComicHub and presented by industry news outlet ICv2, the Ultimate and Absolute books dominated the charts in 2025, with DC’s endeavor in particular regularly taking up the majority of each month’s reports.
As such, while debates, some informative and others woefully ignorant, will naturally unfold around how to best apply Snyder’s advice, it cannot be argued that he’s on to something significant.
