Scott Snyder Says Using ‘Absolute Batman’ As Modern Political Commentary Would Be “Diluting” Its “Universal Message About Standing Up For People”
Though Absolute Batman‘s narrative themes definitely run parallel to the bleak and spirit-breaking reality that is the 21st century, writer Scott Snyder says he has intentionally avoided using the series as a vehicle for bald-faced political contemporary, as he believes doing so would ultimately end up “diluting” its evergreen message regarding power, justice, and humanity.
The prominent DC scribe, who also currently helms DC K.O., offered his thoughts on his latest Dark Knight outing during a recent appearance on CBR’s interview-centric Heroes Journey podcast, as hosted by the site’s deputy editor Sean O’Connell and the show’s own producer Sierra Nutkevitch.
Met by Nutkevitch’s personal observation that “I feel like a lot of what you’re doing with Absolute Batman is answering some of the core questions about what function should Batman serve?”, Snyder affirmed with what he would later jokingly describe as “the longest answer” possible:
“The entire thesis [of the Absolute line] was to burn these characters down to their core aspects and then try and rebuild them in ways that felt really personally resonant and exciting to us now, with nothing sacred except those core elements of what makes them who they are on a character level.”
“There was nothing precious about Batman except sort of the DNA, and so taking him down to the studs, like the idea was to try and figure out what that that was, at least for me, and what I came up with for myself was that Batman is just a kid who suffers this terrible trauma and instead of letting that defeat him or turn him dark, uses it as fuel to make the world better, you know, and uses it as this kind of this gasoline to become this indefatigable engine of change and that’s it.
“So if you just accept that, then everything else is malleable. He doesn’t need money. He doesn’t need a cave. He doesn’t even need a butler or Robins. The trauma can happen differently than it did. And so it became this incredibly exciting project,
where it was very much about the most resonant and heroic version that I can create in this particular moment. If something you’re so used to like Alfred as helper suddenly feels less exciting, it’s because in this moment it feels like the more of a challenge [Batman] faces, the more of an underdog he is, the more energy he carries as somebody who kids can relate to. And that was a huge aspect of it. “
“So, full disclosure, I never planned on writing Absolute Batman. It was the one that I said I would not write, no
matter what. It was, y’know, the template, the example I gave as the like ‘Here’s the sample house like when you come to look at houses’. I had done this process in my head with Batman because I knew him the best out of the character, and was like ‘Well, you could do him like this, where instead of having money he grows up working class, and the trauma that forms him is more like a a a mass shooting, and the Joker is rich, and those three aspects I had as a triangulation and was like ‘You could do something like this.’
“After we went to a few people and scheduling, personal reasons, and all kind of stuff just kind of got in the way, ultimately it was James Tynion IV who called me. I was right where I am now, It was snowing, and I was walking around and he
was like ‘I have somebody for you to do Absolute Batman‘. I was like ‘Who?’, and he was like, “You, idiot.’ And he was saying to me – his point was really well taken – ‘The thing you’re most afraid of is going back to Batman. You’re encouraging all these other creators in the Absolute line, to take their biggest swings and to make this about having these characters go up against the things they’re most afraid of in the world and about themselves right now. That’s kind of what you’re afraid of.’
‘I took it to heart. For me, that idea of what Batman is was so at the core of this. And the second thing that was really at the core was trying to make something that would inspire my kids the way Batman inspired me back in the day – and he still does, but you know, in that really formative moment when I was nine or ten and he became so real to me as a means to go up against the things I was afraid of.
“Because that’s what these characters exist to do, right? They’re they’re each kind of a specialized way of going up against your fears. Superman says to you, ‘I’m the most powerful, most kind of capable person in the world, but I see something special in you.’ And that that’s his way. Wonder Woman is like, ‘Let me show you by example and lead you because I believe in you.’ And that’s her way of making you brave. Batman’s way is kind of be like, ‘I don’t really care if you’re looking at me or not. I’m just doing my own thing.’ And by virtue of the fact that he gets up from this tremendous trauma and then turns that into this means to achieve his goal, it makes it fun to root for him. Even beyond the fun, the meaningful thing about it is you want him to always win because he’s the human among them that faces something that you shouldn’t get up from, but he gets up from it.
“So here it was about, what do my kids look out at the world and see as teenagers? I have one that’s 18, one that’s 14, and a 6-year-old. But the 18 and 14-year-old, the thing that impresses me so much about them and their whole generation, honestly, not to be too general, they see a world that’s much rougher than the one I feel like we face and terms of divisiveness and politics, and just the problems they face feel much more daunting. Things are much more entrenched and economically things are frightening. All kinds of things are frightening for them in these huge systemic ways, and yet they are very determined not only to change the world, but to just not get beaten down by the state of things and the zeitgeist and instead to refuse to accept things the way they are in the world such as we’re handing it to them.
“And so that was kind of the the lens through which to examine this kind of burn down to his core Batman and rebuild him to say, “Well, what would make him exciting to them?” Well, they’ve grown up with this fear of school shootings
and mass shootings. My son, who’s 18, had a an incident when he was in kindergarten when they had a lockdown drill and he they didn’t realize he was in the hallway getting water. And so he got locked out of the classroom, even though it was just a drill, and for the rest of the year into first grade, he wouldn’t go to school without a thermos cuz he never wanted to go get water again. I mean, it’s just these things that you realize they have very different terrors than we did. And Batman, if he’s going to mean something to them, he’s got to engage those. They don’t feel like they have access to billionaire stuff. Billionaires are antagonists in their world in a lot of ways, so why not make that the Joker and make Bruce this? So that’s that was kind of the whole primordial soup of it and that’s where it came from.
“And to see young people in particular responding to the Absolute universe, not just Batman, but the way that they are is been one of the greatest thrills and really like joys of my whole career, if not the greatest, is to feel like you you’re part of something with all these other great creators that’s bringing in um a new a young readership. It feels daunting. I’m worried Robin is going to totally screw it up because I’m not young at all. But it’s I write from the point of view of Alfred. That’s the secret of the series, too, is like I’m Alfred watching Batman being like, ‘This kid is crazy,’ and it’s a lot of fun in that regard.
Drawing his thoughts to a close, Snyder ultimately gave his playful apology, laughing with his hosts “So, sorry, it was like the longest answer to your question.”
