The Snyder Section

Hello Folks,

It's starting to feel like I'm approaching the finish line on this thing.  I'm just kind of hesitant about one little section.  If you a have the time, take a moment.

Thanks

The Dark Knight Begins Again:  Batman’s Heroic Traits Revisited in the works of Scott Snyder. 

Earlier this year, DC comics re-launched 52 of its most popular titles. The purpose of this re-launch dubbed “The New 52” was to give new readers of a fresh perspective on the characters without the added pressure of playing catch-up.  Another added advantage was giving new writers an opportunity to contribute and update the continuum of stories that have been around since the 1930’s.  One writer who has emerged out of this new crop is Scott Snyder.  Currently, Snyder has continued the legacy left by Kane, O’Neil and Miller and continues to carry on Batman’s shadowy tradition as a complex hero.  In a recent interview Snyder talks about what he thinks makes Batman the hero that he is.

One of the things that make him [Batman] an enduring icon is that sense of darkness. He’s a guy that has all these resources; he’s one of the only superheroes that all he has is money...Bruce can really just set up a bunch of anti-crime programs around Gotham and probably do a lot of good, but instead he goes out there and punishes his body and punishes himself over and over and over again. There is something both incredibly noble and heroic about that, and also something self-destructive and pathological about that. 

What we’re trying to do is to explore both sides of that. We really want it to be something where he is the greatest superhero in the world, in my opinion. But at the same time he’s someone whose obsessive nature and commitment to being Batman, at the expense of everything else, is also vulnerability (source: complexpopculture.com).

In addition to his reference to Batman’s resources, Snyder’s mention of the noble, self-destructive and pathological elements in the Batman character allude to the key characteristics that both Miller and Kane have incorporated in their stories. These characteristics are of course also present in Snyder’s updated version.  In his celebrated story arc entitled The Court of Owls Snyder revisits the origin scene.  Like his predecessors Snyder presents a version of Bruce Wayne that is deeply affected by the events of his past.  But like Kane and Miller, he also tailors this scene to fit his own unique storyline.  In this particular story, Batman faces a threat that predates his family’s history in Gotham. This secret society, dubbed The Court of Owls is exposed as the cause of death for many prominent members of Gotham via a group of master assassins known as The Talon. Bruce Wayne discovers that this group is also responsible for the deaths of his great grandfather and possibly his parents.  Snyder’s telling of this tale depicts Batman as a cynic who dismisses the tale of the Owls as just another children’s story until he discovers that they do indeed exist and like the predator’s they emulate, invade and take shelter in the homes of the victims they hunt. When Batman discovers that they have been living in Wayne buildings all over Gotham, the war begins and he spends much of the remainder of the story narrowly escaping death. And despite all of his skills as a fighter he discovers that defeating them is an almost impossible task.  In issue seven of this volume Snyder exhibits his narrative skill and again showcases Batman’s six heroic qualities.

In the first two panels, Snyder and artist Greg Capullo recreate a Bruce Wayne’s pivotal moment in his father’s study as a dark flashback and a dream as Batman fights for his life after a near fatal battle with The Talon. Three panels are superimposed on one full-page scene where Bruce Wayne’s encounter with the ominous bat is revisited.  In this scene Capullo provides the reader with a gruesome close up of the creature (panel 1) and a disheveled Wayne as he utters his momentous decision to become a symbol of fear while staring in the eyes of the bat, as it is perched on the head of a statue of his deceased father. These images are accompanied by Batman’s inner thoughts via Snyder.  He says: 

“Some ancients believed that the moment of death brought with it visions…Not just visions of one’s past, or of things known to the dying…but visions of one’s self as one truly existed in life…they believed, the ancients that these final visions often went beyond what was known to the dying man in life…that they constituted secret truths about his life revealed… some truths were comforting…some were heart-shattering.  Either way, these visions were meant to offer a sense of closure so that he may leave the world in peace, knowing all there was to know about himself…a vision of himself as he truly was, reflected in the burning eyes of his god”(Snyder 3).

Capullo’s accompanying images include his own unique version of the bat’s journey after he leaves the broken window of the Wayne estate (see figure 7).  In its journey an owl overtakes and rips it apart with its talons and finishes it off in a nearby tree.  A close up the owl’s eyes in the next panel shows that while it enjoys its prey it is staring in the direction of Wayne’s window symbolizing the real threat that the assassins present to Bruce Wayne.  The obvious suspense created by these three pages offers newcomers to the Batman mythos a different perspective on his qualities as a hero.  The reader is alerted to Batman’s mortality and is prompted to question how he will face this great challenge.  It also presents a character that seems to finally accept his limitations while in his dream state that foreshadows his seemingly imminent death.  This sequence is abruptly concluded with the words “come back” in the background.  And an unknown character brings him back to life on the next page with a set of jumper cables used as a defibrillator.  This sudden reconnection with consciousness suggests that even in acceptance of death, his heroic qualities that are intrinsically a part of him will even defy death.

In issue 8, Batman remains in a state of peril as he continues to fight off The Talon assassins who have now invaded his home.  It is not until issues 9 that the redeeming sides of his qualities reappear along with his indomintable will once again leading the charge.  The scene begins with a battle continued from the previous issue where Batman emerges from one of his chambers with in an armored suit, which gives him a temporary advantage over his enemies.  During this battle he reflects on the actions of his ancestors who founded Wayne Manor:

The first members of my family to live in the manor were Solomon and Joshua Wayne, brothers.  They bought the house in 1855. But they didn’t move in until two years later.  The reason was bats…a massive infestation of bats in the cave system beneath the land.  They brought in a chiroptologist from Gotham University, and according to him, to get rid of the bats they’d have to introduce a predator into the cave.  So the Wayne brothers did.  They carted in all sorts of birds, from Peregrine Falcons to kestrels, and unleashed them in different sections of the cave.  The most effective killers of bats, though, were the tiger owls.  My ancestors let owls loose in the cave and within a year all the bats were gone. (Snyder 1)

 Batman discovers as the battle progresses that his armored assault is only temporary because the owls possess regenerative powers that allow them to recover quickly from his attack.  They eventually start overwhelm him.  But as he lies on his back vital signs weakening he has another flashback about his two his ancestor’s.  He reflects:

My ancestors…they used owls to kill the bats…owls everywhere.  But I forgot…the thing I forgot is as soon as the owls left… the bats came back.  Yes…I remember now.  The bats had simply hidden deeper in the caves.  In the darkest parts, the parts the owls couldn't tolerate.  And when the bats came back…it was with a vengeance.

In the pages that follow Batman looks on vindictively as a swarm of bats emerge from a deep cavern in the cave and overwhelm his would be assassins just long enough for his butler Alfred to lower the temperature in the cave to below freezing, a method that proves to be effective in neutralizing his enemies’ regenerative powers. 

            Like his forerunners, Snyder once again presents shear will as a vital element of the Batman mythos by using the owl, a natural enemy and predator as the focus of his vengeance.  Snyder has recreated a character that not only spits in the face of the natural order of things by declaring war on the secret society that predates his family’s long history in Gotham City, but also scoffs at their sense of entitlement in the process.  And with his flashbacks he also sends the message that these acts can only be achieved if he goes to the darkest places in himself where even the fiercest of predators cannot go.  It is in those places where he finds the will that bolsters all of the other qualities he needs to fight his ongoing war on crime with a vengeance.