The Four Color Media Monitor

IO9 did an interview with Scott Snyder about the Death of the Family crossover he's doing in Batman, and while what he says is lazy enough, he does say something ambiguous here that simultaneously tells just how badly the writer he cites sold out:

First off, Death of a Family debuted yesterday in Batman. This crossover arc — which runs in books like Catwoman and Nightwing — sees The Joker launching a calculated criminal spree against all members of the Bat-Family. How did you coordinate Death of a Family with all these creative teams?

Scott Snyder: I like doing this the same way I did Night of the Owls. I come up with the story and halfway through I realized that The Joker was going to target the Bat-Family in very intimate and terrifying ways. The two options are A.) I could write those characters into Batman; or B.) knowing that those books' writers can write those characters better than I ever could, let them go crazy and tie in if they like. And luckily, the writers — like Gail Simone, who I admire and grew up reading — were all in.

Snyder, if the birth date appearing on this page is correct, is about 36 years old, and Simone's only a year or two older than him, so I don't see how he could've "grown up" reading her work when she only began her own career around the turn of the century.

But it does tell that if Simone were ever against crossovers this wide, she's lost her way since.

What Snyder says about Swamp Thing doesn't sound very impressive either:

And over in Swamp Thing, you and Animal Man writer Jeff Lemire are entrenched in Rotworld, a story about an apocalyptic future where the planet's been overtaken by The Rot. How did you and Jeff coordinate these stories?

Scott Snyder: Jeff and I are best friends, so we knew we wanted to begin with very independent arcs, but make them dovetail together through The Rot. We've been planning it forever, and the events will completely change each of these series.

As far as the zaniness, you'll see stuff like a 200-foot-tall Swamp Thing. It really is Swamp Thing and Animal Man unleashed. Everyone is a nightmarish version of themselves. You'll see characters like Starro, Superman, Chemo, Catwoman — everybody will be completely whacked out.

I think Andy Diggle already wrote a story featuring a towering take on the Swamp Thing back in 2004, and the volume he wrote didn't get anywhere. And visions of superhero universe casts as nightmares is already a cliche, and not something this world needs either.

Labels: Batman, crossoverloading, dc comics, dreadful writers, violence