# Scott Snyder

Scott Snyder (born January 15, 1976) is an American comic book author. He is known for his 2006 short story collection Voodoo Heart, and his work for DC Comics, including series such as American Vampire, Detective Comics, a highly acclaimed run on Batman, Swamp Thing, and Justice League as well as the company-wide crossover storylines "Dark Nights: Metal" and "Dark Nights: Death Metal." He has also written creator-owned comics published through Image Comics, including Wytches, Undiscovered Country, and Nocterra.
As part of his DC work, he co-created the characters, The Batman Who Laughs, Mr. Bloom, and the Court of Owls.
Snyder has garnered acclaim from critics and fans for his work, such as his run on the New 52 version of Batman that debuted in 2011, and has won numerous industry awards, including three Eisner Awards, a Harvey Award, and a 2012 Eagle Award for Best Writer.

## Early life

Scott Snyder was born January 15, 1976. At the age of nine, he attended a summer camp where one of the counselors read Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon to him over the summer, an experience that Snyder says "really jump-started my love of story-telling." He was also influenced by the writing of Denis Johnson, Raymond Carver, Rick Bass, Joy Williams, Elizabeth McKracken, Stephen King, Tobias Wolff, and George Saunders. In comics, he has named Alan Moore and Frank Miller as his favorite writers.
Snyder graduated from Brown University in 1998 with a degree in creative writing, and then worked at Walt Disney World for about a year. He initially worked as a custodian, but after he injured his shoulder and started to have some problems with his co-workers, he auditioned and worked as some of the characters. Snyder's Disney World stint strongly influenced his writing; he later recalled, "it did a world of good for my writing ... All the things I ended up writing about, those things that are deeply frightening to me—fear of commitment and growing up, fear of losing loved ones, the wonder and terror of falling in love—all of it was constantly being played out all around me in this weird, cartoonish, magnified way at Disney."
Snyder then enrolled at Columbia University where he received an MFA in fiction.

## Career
### 2000s

Snyder's first collection of stories, Voodoo Heart, was published by the Dial Press in June 2006. The collection received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and was a Kirkus Reviews "Hot Debut" of the year. The New York Times published a positive review by author Andrew Sean Greer in the Sunday Book Review.
Stephen King picked two of the included stories—"Wreck" and "Dumpster Tuesday"—for the 2007 The Best American Short Stories anthology shortlist. Voodoo Heart was shortlisted for The Story Prize in 2006.
In 2008, Snyder wrote a short story called The Thirteenth Egg for the anthology Who Can Save Us Now? Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories.
In 2009, Snyder began writing for Marvel Comics. His first foray into the genre was a one-shot focusing on the first Human Torch, part of Marvel's 70th anniversary celebrations. He later wrote the four-issue miniseries, Iron Man: Noir, which debuted in April 2010.
By the late 2000s, Snyder had taught writing at New York University, Columbia University, and Sarah Lawrence College.

### 2010s

Vertigo began publishing American Vampire, Snyder's first creator-owned ongoing series, in March 2010. The first five issues feature an original storyline by Stephen King. American Vampire won the 2011 Eisner Award for Best New Series, as well as the 2011 Harvey Award for Best New Series.
Snyder's run as writer of Detective Comics began with issue No. 871 (Jan. 2011) of that title, which marked the beginning of his exclusive contract with DC Comics. He and Kyle Higgins wrote the Batman: Gates of Gotham miniseries which debuted in May 2011.
Beginning in September 2011, Snyder became the writer of both Batman and a new Swamp Thing ongoing series as part of The New 52, DC Comics' company-wide relaunch of all of its titles. Snyder's Batman series reinivisioned the classic character for the New 52's rebooted continuity, garnering acclaim from critics and fans. Snyder later became the co-writer of Talon, a spin-off of the "Court of Owls" storyline in Batman, which focused on a rogue Talon from the Court.
It was announced at the 2012 New York Comic Con that Snyder would be writing a new Superman ongoing series, titled Superman Unchained, with art by Jim Lee. The series began publication in June 2013.
Snyder left the Swamp Thing series as of issue #18 (May 2013) and began writing The Wake, a 10-issue, ocean-based horror miniseries drawn by Snyder's American Vampire: Survival Of The Fittest collaborator Sean Murphy. The series follows marine biologist Lee Archer, who along with the Department of Homeland Security, discovers a potential threat to humanity that may involve strange, humanoid creatures that inhabit the ocean depths. The story shifts between three time periods: the near future, two centuries in the future and the distant past. The covers of the first five issues form a mural when placed side by side.
The same month, DC published a Free Comic Book Day sneak preview of Superman Unchained, an ongoing series written by Snyder and illustrated by Jim Lee, which was later published on June 12, 2013, and intended to coincide with the feature film Man of Steel, which opened two days later. Snyder explained his approach to the series: "The way to approach a character as iconic as him is you just come at it from a standpoint of what you love the most about the character, and then write a story that explores that, tear it down and build it back up."
Snyder was one of the co-writers of the Batman Eternal series which launched in April 2014. The second run of Batman Eternal, retitled as Batman & Robin Eternal launched on October 7, 2015. During this time, Snyder and Detective Comics collaborate Jock launched the Image Comics series Wytches, the media rights to which were purchased by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment in October 2014. In 2016, Snyder and artist John Romita Jr. collaborated on the All-Star Batman series as part of the DC Rebirth relaunch.
Snyder and Greg Capullo launched the Dark Nights: Metal limited series in August 2017. Snyder and artist Andy Kubert created the New Challengers, part of The New Age of DC Heroes line. Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque crafted "The Fifth Season" chapter in Action Comics #1000 (June 2018).
Snyder co-wrote Justice League: No Justice with Joshua Williamson and James Tynion IV, with art by Francis Manapul. Following that, Snyder re-launched the main Justice League series with art from Jim Cheung and Jorge Jimenez, while Williamson and Tynion wrote the companion series Justice League Odyssey and Justice League Dark, respectively.
In 2018, Snyder, along with co-writer Tony Patrick and artist Cully Hamner, launched the mini-series Batman and the Signal, featuring Duke Thomas as Gotham's daylight protector, The Signal. A spin-off limited series from Dark Nights: Metal, The Batman Who Laughs, was launched by him and Jock in 2019. In 2020, he and Greg Capullo released the DC Black Label miniseries Batman: Last Knight on Earth, described as "the grand finale" of their New 52 run. That same year, the two launched the follow-up to Dark Nights: Metal—Dark Nights: Death Metal.

### 2020s–present

Snyder's Image series Nocterra, drawn by Detective Comics artist Tony S. Daniel, was launched in March 2021 following a Kickstarter campaign for the first issue. A television adaptation is currently in development at Netflix.
In July 2021, Snyder announced an eight-title digital first deal with comiXology Originals, all to be published through his creator-owned imprint Best Jackett Press, with the books set to receive print versions via Dark Horse Comics. The first three, We Have Demons with Greg Capullo, Clear with Francis Manapul, and Night of the Ghoul with Francesco Francavilla, debuted in October 2021. In October 2022, Deadline reported that a film adaptation of Night of the Ghoul was in development at 20th Century Studios.
Snyder was among a group of creators with whom fellow comics writer Nick Spencer formed a deal in August 2021 with the subscription-based newsletter platform Substack to publish creator-owned comics stories, essays, and instructional guides on that platform. Snyder indicated that he would offer advice to aspiring writers in his published pieces.
An animated television series adaptation of Wytches was announced by Amazon Prime Video in February 2023, with Snyder serving as co-showrunner.
DC revealed in July 2024 that Snyder would return to the company to spearhead DC All In, an initiative that would introduce the Absolute Universe characters and titles, including Absolute Superman written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Rafa Sandoval, Absolute Wonder Woman written by Kelly Thompson and drawn by Hayden Sherman, and Absolute Batman written by Snyder and drawn by Nick Dragotta. Snyder was also announced as the co-writer, alongside Joshua Williamson, of DC All In Special #1, an oversized one-shot flipbook with art by Daniel Sampere and Wes Craig that will kick off the initiative.

## Personal life

Snyder has a wife named Jeanie and two sons. On March 3, 2019, Snyder announced that they were expecting another child in May. Their child, a son, was born on May 4, 2019.

## Awards

* 2011 Eisner Award for Best New Series (with Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque for American Vampire)
* 2011 Harvey Award for Best New Series (with Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque for American Vampire)
* 2012 Eagle Award for Best Writer
* 2012 Stan Lee Award for Best Ongoing Series (Detective Comics)
* 2012 Stan Lee Award for Best Writer
* 2012 Stan Lee Award for Man of the Year
* 2014 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series (with Sean Murphy for The Wake)
* 2019 Inkpot Award
* 2023 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic (with Tula Lotay for Barnstormers)

### Nominations

* 2011 Eagle Award for Favourite Newcomer Writer
* 2011 Eagle Award for Favourite New Comic Book (with Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque for American Vampire)
* 2011 Harvey Award for Most Promising New Talent
* 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Graphic Novels & Comics (for Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls)
* 2013 Harvey Award for Best Writer (for Batman)
* 2014 Eisner Award for Best Writer (for Batman (DC); American Vampire, The Wake)
* 2023 Ringo Award for Best Writer
* 2023 Harvey Award for Digital Book of the Year (with Tula Lotay for Barnstormers)