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Writer Scott Snyder is more synonymous with the modern Dark Knight than any other writer thanks in large part to his visionary skill for putting the hero in new situations, such as the current smash hit Absolute Batman, something he credits to writing primarily for himself and his own passions, comparing his style to "fanfiction."

"I just like to pretend we're making fanfiction and nobody's reading it. Like, [series artist Nick Dragotta] comes over, we go in our treehouse, and it's just a book that no one on Earth is reading, and that's it." Snyder tells NPR, expressing his love of writing Batman.

Part of what makes Snyder's various versions of Batman so popular is his ability to find the core of the character and bring his most striking qualities to the forefront no matter the setting or story, a specific goal for Absolute Batman and its take on Bruce Wayne as a civil engineer front the slums of Gotham rather than a billionaire.

"You know, at core, Nick and I really tried to burn him down to what he's about. For me, growing up in New York, Batman felt real and immediate when he was going up against the things that I was afraid of as a kid. He made me brave 'cause that's ultimately what these characters exist to do, right?" Snyder explains." And for this moment, it really feels like this generation is sort of coming up in a moment that feels more challenging, feels more frightening, feels more chaotic."

Despite his vastly different circumstances, the Absolute version of Bruce Wayne still boils down to the same core motivations as his mainstream Universe counterpart, even though the story of how he is inspired to become Batman relies on a mass shooting instead of an intimate robbery, part of Snyder's efforts to speak to the emotions and fears of the present day.

"And so we wanted Bruce to be more challenged, and it felt like taking away some of those advantages and having him struggle would only enhance his heroism because at the end of the day, like, what he really is at core is someone who faces a terrible trauma as a kid, like, the worst thing that can happen to you," he says. "And then he uses that as motivation, not to sort of become someone dark, but instead to vow that he'll make the world better and not let that happen to another kid. And so if you just take that, I mean, he's so adaptable. That's all it is. It's - and that's why people love to see him win, you know?"

Absolute Batman continues monthly from DC.

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