Photo Credit: Allison Rigg
One of the more anticipated events at Boston’s Comic Con this year was to see Scott Snyder, the writer of the famous “Death of the Family” story arc, pair with artist Greg Capullo, where they explained what it was like creating the New 52 Batman comics and even hinted at future projects.
The Death of the Family story arc that both Snyder and Capullo worked on has become wildly famous among DC Comic fanatics. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read it, it takes place one year after the Joker has been sent to Arkham Asylum back in Issue #1. (During the relaunch of New 52.) Prior to the Death of the Family, the Joker has the villain, the Doll Maker, cut off his face and staple it to the wall of his cell. You heard me correctly; the Joker has no face! After this happens he disappears for an entire year, leaving everyone to presume he is dead. Then one day, out of nowhere, the Joker returns. Stealing his rotting face back and wearing it around his head with string, even stapling it back on at one point, he kidnaps each member of the bat family until only Batman is left. One by one the bat team awakens to find themselves sitting around a dinner table, each with a covered plate placed in front of them. But the real horror isn’t until the Joker finally uncovers these plates, where the heroes discover it is their own faces that have been removed and are staring back at them.
Credit: DC Comics
“It was most likely the gore and violence that made the Death of the Family popular so quickly.” Capullo explains, “But there are plenty of comics out there that have both of those things and still fail miserably. In this case my drawings and Scott’s story played right off each other.”
“I think a large part of what made this storyline successful is the relationship that Greg and I have together.” Snyder begins, “I really didn’t know Greg until we began working together on the Batman comics. I remember being terrified when I was told that we are not only creating a few comics of Batman, but that we would be kicking off the first Batman issue of the New 52 relaunch. That was so scary to me! But what honestly got me out of that mindset was Greg’s art. It’s hard enough to create a story, but we tossed around some ideas and after seeing what he drew up from them, I knew we could do this.”
Snyder continues, “I am so close to Greg now, he’s practically family. It was this relationship I have with him that brought out our best work. When I come up with some of these stories, I think to myself, “What would Greg like to draw? Would he have fun with this?” It’s because I know Greg shares the same passion that I do and ultimately pushes us to do better and create better work.”
“One of the things that Scott used to do is apologize to me for his writing.” Capullo jokes, “He would send me these long texts about how sorry he and how hard it must be to draw some of these disturbing and gory scenes… and I’m on the other end thinking to myself about how I used to work on Spawn. This is a walk in the park. This is awesome; I love this kind of stuff!”
Greg goes on to say, “So to bring everyone up to speed, Scott and I are currently working on separate projects. Scott is working on All Star Batman, which is great. I am working with Mark Millar on a project called Reborn.”
Credit: Image Comics
Reborn is an upcoming comic series showcased by Image Comics and created by Mark Millar and Greg Capullo. The first issue of Reborn is scheduled to drop on October 12th of this year for $3.99 and will continue with a new issue each month.
“Basically Reborn starts off with an old woman, Bonnie Black, who is 85 years old and on her death bed. She is all depressed because she doesn’t know what’s in the afterlife and because shes dying, etc etc. Well she eventually dies, only to awaken and find herself on some strange world where she is covered in armor and has a helmet and cape. She is surprised to find she has a sword in one hand and a gun in the other. But she doesn’t have time to even think about it because she is attacked by these crazy looking creatures. Luckily she is rescued by her dad, who passed away many many years earlier,” explains Capullo.
“The concept is that when you die, you awaken on this world where everyone is ready to battle. Everyone that dies goes there. Your pets are there, your relatives are there, everyone.” Greg continues, “Depending on what kind of person you were in life is the kind of person you are in this world. SO the battle between good and evil continues. Then there is Bonnie Black, the old woman I mentioned earlier, and there is a prophecy about how she is the savior and she will turn the tide against the darkness. Think of road warrior meets the Lord of the Rings.”
Scott Snyder then hints at the possibility of them working together again, “So I can’t give too much away, but Greg and I are currently discussing a future project we want to work on together for DC. It’s called DC Metal. Picture Batman on a motorcycle wielding a battle axe.”
“Seriously guys, this is going to be big,” adds Greg, “I don’t want to sound cocky when I say that it’s going to be bigger and more exciting than the work that we have done so far, but it really is going to be great. You are going to love it. You won’t expect it all all and it’s going to hit you like a sledge hammer, but you will absolutely love it. I most certainly do.”
You can get a recap of the 2016 Boston Comic Con by clicking here.
from Nerd Reactor
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