I read a lot of comics. I read a lot from the DC Universe, and more specifically, Batman titles. Readers get a wide range of quality on comics on a monthly basis, but today I want to talk about something that I feel we may not talk about enough. It’s something that we lose sight of from time to time and I think it is time I addressed this subject head on. Scott Snyder is the best looking girl in the bar
To paraphrase Keith Olbermann (one of my favorite sports personalities), “Don’t take it completely literally, we don’t mean it completely serious, we are just calling Scott Snyder the prettiest girl in the bar”.
To those of us that read comics and have been in a bar, we are aware of the concept of the prettiest girl (or guy depending on what you are looking for) in the bar. It’s the person that grabs your eye the most, the person you want to buy a drink for, and the person you want to dance with. It’s the person that just does it for you. If the world of comics were a bar, then Snyder would be that one.
Snyder’s run on Batman in the New 52 is the single best run in the characters history from a single creator. I loved “The Court of Owls”, “Death of the Family”, and “Zero Year”. In fact, the biggest crisitisim of these stories that you see online are the seemingly forced tie-ins, not the actual main story. There’s no doubt that some of the crossover tie-ins didn’t live up to the core title. However, this fact can be seen as a good thing. Instead of putting on his orange power ring and yelling, “MINE! MINE!” while not allowing anyone else to play with his toys, Snyder opens his arm and welcomes other creators to jump on board and be a part of the experience of his story arcs. The results may not always be amazing, but it’s hard to fault someone for wanting to be inclusive, and you certainly cannot fault the main story arc for outlying elements.
It’s not just his work on Batman. American Vampire, The Wake, and Superman Unchained have all been amazing stories, as well. I await the day when one of his original stories gets turned into a movie or TV show. If literature is your thing, then you really should take the time to read his collection of short stories called Voodoo Heart, an amazing collection and one that any fan of his comic works would love.
To be clear, I don’t berate or think less of someone who does not think that Scott Snyder is the best writer in comics. Everyone has their own tastes and favorites. Scott Snyder may be the prettiest girl in the bar, but I see Kyle Higgins and James Tynion IV down there strutting their stuff, also. It’s also hard to ignore Jeff Lemire and Geoff Johns posting up as the resident cougars. There is lot’s of great talent in the comics world, and I thank every one of them for giving us great stories.
As a side note, I would love to buy Scott Snyder a drink and would only dance with him if he told me what was going to happen in “Endgame”. I could pay for the drink with the savings he got for me when he went to bat (pun intended) for all comic fans when he got the price lowered back to $3.99 when DC tried to raise prices to $4.99.
Just for the record, I know I don’t get to take Snyder home…Greg Capullo gets to do that.
