Scott Snyder

Early life

At the age of nine, Snyder 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, and George Saunders.

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."

Prose fiction

His 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.

Snyder teaches writing at New York University, Columbia University, and Sarah Lawrence College.

Comics

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.

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.

His 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 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. In 2016, Snyder and artist John Romita Jr. collaborated on the All-Star Batman series as part of the DC Rebirth relaunch.

Snyder and Capullo launched the Dark Nights: Metal limited series in August 2017. In December 2017, Snyder will collaborate with artist Andy Kubert on the New Challengers, part of the Dark Matter line.

Personal life

Snyder is married, with two children.

Awards

Nominations

Interviews