Yesterday, DC Comics revealed the next big arc of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s highly acclaimed and best-selling run on Batman. It’s called Batman: Zero Year, and it’s an 11-issue epic starting in June’s Batman #21 that will look back on Bruce Wayne’s earliest days as the Dark Knight.
This might sound like familiar territory to a lot of longtime fans, considering the continued popularity of Batman: Year One – a seminal work that Snyder holds in the highest regard. To put your minds at ease, we caught up with the writer to find out why Zero Year is the next big thing for the Batman and something that you’ve never seen before.
Scott Snyder: Well, it takes place in the continuity that’s established in our issue #0. So it takes place just over five years ago; almost six years ago.
IGN: Okay. So is this Bruce’s traveling and training, or is it once he’s back in Gotham?
Snyder: It’s not about Bruce’s training, although I don’t want to give away whether you’ll see any of that or not. With this one, it’s really supposed to explore a period in Bruce’s life that you’ve never, ever seen before. And done in a way that will hopefully surprise you. For me, it was about realizing that there was a period in Bruce’s life that was unexplored, in terms of setting up Batman and becoming Batman that you hadn’t seen in other books.
I became more and more invested in this story, telling Greg [Capullo] about it up and down, and he really loved it, so it became about, well, when can we do this story? When can we find the time? Now just seemed like the perfect time to get to tell it. We wanted to try and do something that gives fans of the character something you’ve never ever seen before.
So I can promise you that with this one, you might’ve seen the origin or the transformative years of Bruce Wayne done a lot, but this is really our take and something different. While it’s very, very respectful – and I hope you guys agree – of the past and the stories we love the most, it’s also something that is us trying to give you guys something that you’ve never seen.
IGN: That is one concern that came up yesterday from a lot of readers, is that they feel the origin stuff has been done many times before. So this period in time that you’re talking about, was it always obvious to you as a reader that it was unexplored, or was it something you just sort of realized once you began writing the character?
Snyder: What happened was, I started thinking about all the things we never saw in Batman: Year One; the adventures and the early years of Bruce that had been unexplored -- a lot of the first things that happened to him. I was kind of planning on telling a story about that at some point. Then what happened – and this is me just being totally honest with you, Joey, and I guess everybody out there reading [laughs] – is that I realized over the last five or six months that a lot of the things I was trying to work around from Year One, in my story, didn’t track anymore with the present day continuity of the [New] 52.
Meaning, Jim Gordon’s son, James, would be five or six years old. And believe me, nobody loves Year One more than me. Using that book as a foundation of what you build on is hugely important to me. But, Selina Kyle’s origin is different, Barbara Gordon’s origin is different, the Falcone family is different. All of that stuff is different, and so what happened was it became, “Do I do this more tepid early years story that tries very hard to work around the elements of Year One that we could actually show again to show that they exist still and just retread?” Or does it become about saying, “I’m going to be respectful of Year One and the things that I love, but try and do something with Greg that’s our own and shows you how Batman became Batman in the 52?”
Can we ever touch the hem of a book like Year One? Probably not. Is Year One just a masterpiece that’s unattainable? 100%. It’s one of my two favorite books in the world. But that said, does that mean you shouldn’t try and do something that situates Batman as the Batman you love in the 52 that shows his transformative years in a new way that you guys haven’t seen while it still pays tribute to the stuff in [Year One]? That was the mission.
That became the moment a few months ago when I started talking to Greg about instead of this story being small and trying to re-establish moments from Year One that still work, why don’t we do the story that we’re going to do and show the things that we can that pay tribute to Year One without being beholden to the past? That was really when it freed up and it became about, yes, we’re going to show the transformative years in a way that you’ve never seen. Otherwise, it’s not worth doing.
And, again, the stuff that you love and the stuff that’s core, is not going to be messed with just because we want to try and give you something shocking. That’s not what’s happening. What we wanted to do is show Bruce in a way that’s brand new, but that honors the stuff that came before that’s respectful while also giving you something that’s surprising and fresh.
Snyder: Very much, yeah. Batman #0 to me is almost like a trailer for the absolute quietest, calmest part of the whole story. As kind of crazy as Batman #0 was, that’s almost like a window into the build-up of the story. If you go back and read that, that tracks with the continuity you’ll be seeing. But we’re not going to retread any of those moments in our Zero Year.
As tough as it was to work around our zero issue, if we’re not going to show anything that’s happening in Year One, or any of the other Batman origins, we don’t want to give you a book where it’s like, “Hey! Here are pages from our zero issue redone!” So everything is new; you’ve never seen anything that’s in this book.
IGN: Does this mean we might see characters that we haven’t really seen much of in the New 52, like pre-Two Face Harvey Dent or Joker with his face intact?
Snyder: Sure! I don’t want to give it away whether you will or not, but I would definitely say that it’s a very strong possibility that you’ll see early versions of characters that you love, both new and old.
From Batman #0
IGN: A while back, you were teasing about doing a story involving the Riddler – is Zero Year the same story, or has that been pushed back in favor of this?
Snyder: I don’t want to give it away. [laughs] I feel like I’ve always been like, “Here’s what’s coming, here’s what’s in the back-ups, here’s what it’s about!” With this one, I’ll just say that it might be a new villain, you might see one of the rogues in it. I honestly understand the apprehension and skepticism that comes with seeing [us] do Bruce’s transformative years; I completely understand. And as a fan, I’d be like, “That a**hole!” I get it.
With this one story, I would like to try not to sell it to you and say, “Guess what’s gonna happen! Guess what the back-ups are! The villain is new! The villain is a rogue!” I’d like for you to just open it, not knowing anything about it beyond that we’re trying to give you something that we care deeply about. We’re trying to follow the examples of the writers and artists that we admire the most, like Grant Morrison or Frank Miller that came on there and were fearless.
We might not be able to do as well as they did, or even close, but at least we went out knowing that we tried something brave. That’s what we’re trying with this one. Other than that, I’d love for you to just open it and judge it on its own merits, without me trying to hype it to you.
IGN: Is this story self-contained, or will there be tie-ins to the other Bat-books like there have been in your previous big stories?
Snyder: I’ve had so much fun collaborating with the other Bat-writers, it’s been a tremendous joy, but I do miss some of the singularity of stories that we did like The Black Mirror. For me, this is really something that’s just me and Greg doing our take on the early years of Batman without any really big crossover or anything like that.
I want to push myself. If I fall on my face, at least I tried something that’s challenging for me.
IGN: You mentioned the back-up stories, and I know you don’t want to say too much. But the way they’ve typically been structured in the other stories is that it’s supplemental to the primary narrative, expanding on certain things. Is that going to be something that continues?
Snyder: [laughs] Maybe! I don’t want to give it away. Actually, the way the back-ups are structured here are… I’ll just say it’s something different that we haven’t tried before, so I’m excited. I wanted to do something that cuts away from the things you’d expect, for both me and Greg, and also for stuff like Year One. For example, if Year One is grim and gritty, this is going to go in another direction.
If the back-ups you’ve seen from us are X, then I want to try and go towards Y. I want to try and do stuff that’s risky and different, otherwise what’s the point? I mean for myself; I want to push myself. If I fall on my face, I fall on my face, but at least I tried something that’s challenging for me.
IGN: Totally, that’s all that should matter. My last question is just, is there any concern of being a “continuity story”? I know lots of fans have problems with, “What’s the history of so-and-so in the New 52” and such. Are you avoiding using this as just a checklist of sorts?
Snyder: Yes. I will warn fans upfront that this is not an explanatory story of why the Batman mythology or continuity is what it is. This is not, “Why is Damian as old as he is?” Or, “Why does this character functions as he or she does in the 52?” That said, it’s an intensely personal story to me and Greg about why Bruce does what he does and who he is for us, and done in a way that hopefully you’ve never seen. But will some of those questions be answered? Will some of those continuity things you’re curious about be addressed? Sure.
But if you’re going into it looking for answers to all that stuff, it’s not designed for that reason. That’s definitely not the impetus for why we’re doing it; we’re not doing it to explain away some of the questions about the 52. We’re doing it because we thought it was the biggest and boldest and most personal story we could do with Batman right now.
IGN: That’s all I’ve got, anything you wanted to add?
Snyder: Honestly, I would just say, to everybody out there, thank you for your support on Batman. I know you’re taking a big leap, if you do, trusting us with Batman’s transformative and early years. All I can tell you is that we’re giving it all that we’ve got and hope that you’ll give it a chance, and judge it for what it is. We’re really proud of it and really appreciate all the support.
Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. If he could, he'd run away to live amongst wild cats for the rest of his days.
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