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Why Scott Snyder Doesn't Write Damian Wayne Much
In All-Star Batman #1 out last week, Batman made some statements to his new protege, Duke Thomas. The internet took them one way, writer Scott Snyder meant them another.
@Ssnyder1835 I really liked ASB, but why all the "robin hate"? Did bruce and Damian fight or something? 🙁
— Skywalker (@crolzinha) August 16, 2016
@crolzinha wait what robin hate? i'm lost. https://t.co/YIx8jGY2GB
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
bruce saying duke os better than robin and that he doesn't need a robin :/ not actually hate just not love either haha
— Skywalker (@crolzinha) August 16, 2016
whoa whoa! Bruce is saying he's trying something better than the approach he had before. not that duke is 1/? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
better than robin! duke WAS a robin already in W.A.R. Bruce has realized (across the books) that he needs full 2/? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
allies, not a sidekick. Instead of training Duke to be his side-man, he's training him to be his own hero 3/? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
As he did with each Robin before Duke when he or she was ready to move on. He's saying, I'm altering my thinking 4/? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
– I need full grown heroes beside me. Damian has made him proud. Tim, Dick, all of them. He's tweaking the 5/? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
program to be more about his trainee figuring out who he/she is as a hero in full than training them at his side https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
All of us writing Bruce felt instead of having more Robins (b/c Damian wears that mantle proudly in TT), this 6/? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
would make sense as a way for Bruce to grow a new generation of heroes. Make sense? https://t.co/jm8nDouQqt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
@crolzinha Yeah, a lot of Fans have been turned off and pissed at the fact that Batman said that Duke was "Something Better"
— Bruce Alonso (@DarkKnight398) August 16, 2016
Had no idea! Would never have implied that. Bruce is talking about the program itself being better. https://t.co/tzX7Z1fTkp
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
And one other thing – I sometimes get flack for not writing Damian in to our run. To clarify, I didn't write Damian much for 3 reasons 1/?
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
1 – Batman and Robin was all about him and his relationship to Bruce. That was Pete and Pat's rich emotional material to mine and they
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
did it amazingly. So me doing it would have been encroaching, IMO. And editorial felt that way too and wanted solo Bruce from Batman (as
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
they largely do now). And 2 – I love reading Damian, some of my favorite stories are Damian ones, but I have trouble writing him for
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
personal reasons. You put yourself into the books when you write, your fears, etc., and my son is about Damian's age, and him getting hurt
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
or fighting people beside me – it's just something I have trouble with. It's too upsetting to me and it throws my Batman writing off.
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
I get too shaken by it and the stories fall apart. You can tell when Damian is the first person Bruce runs to in DotF at the end. Hugs.
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
He's only 10 and my son is 9, and weirdly, I'm protective of Damian, b/c of his age, and maybe myself, in avoiding writing him.
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
I put children in peril all the time in my creator owned work – I often do it to scare myself – but something about writing from the
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
POV of a dad having it happen in front of his eyes all the time… it's just too hard for me. @PeterJTomasi and @patrick_gleason B and R and
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
Grant's Son of Bats, B and R and INC? Some of my top Batman reads ever. But 1, Damian was mostly off limits anyway b/c he was in those
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
books and Batman was meant to be solo. 2, I'm too soft on him as a dad of a kid the same age (tho, yes, I know he's turning 13 now) and 3
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
he was also mostly dead during our run… :)
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
Hope that clears it all up. Never meant any character better than another. Simply that Bruce felt this training prog. might be better.
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
So if you were writing Superman, you'd struggle with the same feelings for Jon?
— Ian Cameron, Agent of G.I.R.L. SJW Obviously (@KalelData) August 16, 2016
Yes, and @PeterJTomasi and I have talked about this a lot. He mines those feelings (having a son of similar age). https://t.co/bLCo95RNyS
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
For me to do it, like him, the stories would become heavily about that relationship. And w/Bruce Dam. that was B & R https://t.co/bLCo95RNyS
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
Yeah, I took it to mean he was perfecting his training regiment. Always improving, analyzing, and revising…
— 🎃 RDB 🎃 (@RichardDBK) August 16, 2016
That's all I meant. Hope by this point in my tenure it's clear to folks I'd never imply anything otherwise. https://t.co/9xH6wKsZJJ
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
Hypothetically do you think you'd struggle writing traditionally aged Dick as Robin or do you think relationship is different?
— Kevin Chiat (@kevinchiat) August 16, 2016
I think Damian older I could write much more easily. Ten is very small. My son still sleeps with stuffed animals. https://t.co/5EpQURqpmB
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
Imagining someone punching him in front of me, shooting at him, hurting his little body, it makes me nauseous https://t.co/5EpQURqpmB
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) August 16, 2016
Of course, Damian Wayne just jumped from ten to thirteen in DC Universe Rebirth so that he could lead the new Teen Titans. Just.
I confess to having similar problems watching Pixar's Up, regarding child endangerment. Is it a coincidence that Damian Wayne was created by a writer who doesn't have kids? I've certainly been told I've mellowed since I became a father.
Do we all need to go to therapy? Probably.