Scott Snyder is no stranger to the Caped Crusader. The writer first helmed Batman's story in 2011 during his stint on Detective Comics, which also marked the beginning of his exclusivity with DC as a whole. Since then, he's penned several stories about the Dark Knight, including the New 52 Batman title, Gates of Gotham, Batman Eternal, All-Star Batman, The Batman Who Laughs and more.
However, when talking about 2017's Dark Nights: Metal series, Snyder revealed he believed the story would fail with general audiences.
"I said if I was going to stay on and if Metal didn't flop – which I thought it would – is that my goal going forward was to tell a story that went from Metal all the way to 2020," Snyder said in an interview with CBR. "I wanted to do that Hickman-esque thing where we had a story that stretched from Justice League to Odyssey to Justice League Dark. And even Batman Who Laughs and Batman/Superman and all the stuff we're doing on the side – all those books wind up being part of the story while still being great individual reads."
For the uninitiated, Dark Nights: Metal, drawn by Greg Capullo, tells the story of Batman discovering another facet of the DC multiverse --only this multiverse is much darker than the one fans are used to seeing. In Snyder's tale, the two multiverses are connected through different metals Bruce has found throughout the years. As Bruce delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, he even discovers a dark reflection of himself. Eventually, the Justice League allies themselves with the Caped Crusader to defeat the dark god Barbatos and stop him from unleashing darkness across every Earth.
Throughout the story, Snyder throws in beats from other stories to provide that feeling of interconnectedness he describes as "Hickman-esque." In the end, Metal became the success Snyder wasn't quite suspecting, leaving fans wondering if a sequel could ever be possible.
Currently, Snyder's work can be found in a story which saw its roots in Metal, The Batman Who Laughs. Illustrated by Jock, issue #5 of The Batman Who Laughs is scheduled to go on sale on May 8 from DC.