SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Batman" #51, on sale now.
The superstar creative team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo draw the curtain on their best-selling "Batman" run this week, but it has to be asked -- why stop at the 51st issue rather than #52, especially since it's the flagship title of DC Comics' historic New 52 initiative?
The dynamic duo not only shared the reason with CBR News, they also discussed the closing salvo of their opus, including what Gotham means to them both as creators now that they have completed a run largely considered the crown jewel of the publisher's massive 2011 relaunch.
They also revealed details about their next projects as Snyder is set to launch "All-Star Batman" with an all-star roster of artists as part of DC Comics' Rebirth, while Capullo is illustrating a new series for mega-writer Mark Millar.
Snyder also teased what's next for the Court of Owls, including the hope that when he returns to Gotham's secret society, Capullo will join him for the ride.
CBR News: I love James Tynion IV and Rafael Albuquerque's work, but something has been nagging at me since the solicitations for May 2016 dropped. Why aren't you finishing your run with the series' final issue, "Batman" #52?
Scott Snyder: [Laughs] We didn't know that there was going to be a Rebirth. And really, it boiled down to schedule. James and Rafael are going to kill it. I know that story up and down, I talked it through with James. He's, obviously, one of my closest friends, as is Rafael. Greg and I talked about the ending of our run a long time ago, and "Batman" #50 was going to be our extravaganza. Then we had one more coda issue before we even realized that DC was going to do Rebirth or any of this kind of stuff. It was long in the cards.
"Batman" #51 is beautifully done. You're right, it lacks the action of #50, but this is really a love letter to Gotham and your entire run. Let me ask you the question that you ask readers to answer, and finish this sentence: "Gotham is… "
Snyder: Gotham is them. It's them, as readers. That's what we were trying to say in the issue. As much as Gotham is this fictional place, it's powered by all of the people that love Batman and read "Batman" and love the mythos.
Growing up in New York, the funny thing that you realize is that the city is the city at the moment that you live in it with the people that you live in it with. And then you all move, or you die, it changes, and it's new stores and new people. You might come back to visit, or you might move out of your neighborhood, but it existed because you guys were together at that moment in that place.
And Gotham is us. It's me and Greg and that fanbase all at the same moment, feeling the same way about Batman. Trying new ideas, trying to make him modern, trying to make him be a hero for right now and face things that we are afraid of right now, as opposed to 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, or even 10 years from now. It's all of us, together.
Greg Capullo: For me, after five years of living in it, Gotham is home.
We've talked a lot about the near-symbiotic relationship of Batman and the Joker in the past, but what abut Gotham. What's Batman without Gotham and vice versa?
Capullo: They are definitely linked. They're attached at the hip. I'd say that they are one and the same at this point. It's not to say that Gotham won't survive should Batman perish -- we tried to show in the last arc that it wouldn't be the case. Someone would rise up and be that symbol. But certainly, I would say that Batman is Gotham City, and Gotham is Batman. They are two lungs in one body.
Snyder: Gotham, to me, is this imagined landscape or All-American city that then gets a hero that faces off against the problems of its population. For us, the Red Hood Gang represented gun violence. Riddler was an über-terrorist. Gotham is the place where you get to go where a hero faces off against your biggest fears. Batman is essential to Gotham in that regard.
Source : CBR
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