Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo Discuss Being A Victor In Life At NYCC

Octavio Karbank reports from New York Comic Con for Bleeding Cool, this time from the panel In Conversation with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.

Unquestionably one of the most talented and well-renown comic book writers in modern times, Scott Snyder has firmly cemented himself in the history books of Batman and pop culture in general. Keeping a literary and poignant quality to his writing, Snyder’s text almost requires a type of critical thinking. He, along with his stories and words, demands the reader’s attention. Incredibly eloquent and even downright inspirational, coming across a comic book creator who adores his fans as much as Snyder is feat in and of itself.

Lest not forget the artistic maestro that is Greg Capullo. A trailblazer in comic book art, the details in every page he draws are nothing short of legendary. From epic battle sequences to stoic close-ups of characters ranging from Batman to his most terrifying villains, there is nothing Capullo cannot draw that doesn’t elicit raw emotion from his audience.

These two talents and their run on Batman has been nothing short of stupendous; it’s a period in the Dark Knight’s history that will never be forgotten. If anything, just like Snyder had the likes of Frank Miller before him, now everyone’s work will be compared to Snyder and Capullo’s.

Their panel, In Conversation with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, while it didn’t have any spoilers or breaking news, was a treat in that we got to listen to these two incredible skilled men talk about not only their love of comic books and Batman, but their love and appreciation for one another.

The panel was made up primarily of audience questions, but Snyder and Capullo reflected on what makes Batman Batman, and what he should tell us all. In short, Capullo, who didn’t come from an easy background, long ago had the ethos installed into him that you can either be a victim in life or a victor when bad things happen to you. While the easiest path is to throw you hands in the air, give up, and blame the world for your problems, that’s not the right path. In looking at Batman, he chose to be a victor, despite suffering a horrible loss as a child; you should also choose to be a victor in life.

They went on to discus influences, Scott’s parents and how they’re fantastic people, until eventually someone asked about The Court of Owls story arc and how that came to be. The story is an interesting one, and even if you’ve heard it before, deserves retelling.

Before Snyder was brought in to work on Batman, he was doing backups in Detective Comics. Somewhere along the way, he kept toying with an idea involving owls. Word got around and DC asked if he could write a story around that. At first, he was extremely hesitant and didn’t know how to approach a story. Taking some time to himself, Snyder reminisced about walking around Times Square, considering going back to his own neighborhood for inspiration, when it hit him!

In thinking about the then and now of his neighborhood, how things had changed since he was a kid, he considered how Batman’s identity comes from claiming to know everything about Gotham better than anyone. However, knowing a city or a neighborhood is not the same thing as knowing a person. A neighborhood isn’t a physical thing, but rather, it’s made up of the people who live in that neighborhood. Yet Batman didn’t know the people of Gotham back ten, twenty, or even two hundred years ago and Snyder wanted to weaponize that idea and have a group that could humble Batman. That resulted in the Court of Owls; they wanted to humble Batman in the generation expansiveness of Gotham.

Finally, it was time to wrap up the panel, but while Snyder and Capullo might be finishing up Dark Knights: Metal, you’ll still be seeing plenty more of them in the future.