Snyder's Batman goes from 'Zero' to hero in new issue

Brian Truitt | USA TODAY

Scott Snyder is admittedly having the thrill of a lifetime introducing a young Bruce Wayne to his various Dark Knight treasures, from the tricked-out Batman outfit to the expansive Batcave to some spiffy handwear that are an homage to the design by the original Bat-creator, Bob Kane.

"The gloves are my favorite part," says Snyder, the acclaimed writer of DC Comics' popular Batman series. "People make fun of them sometimes and I adore them, and he actually defends them in issue 26 to Alfred where Alfred's like, 'Sir, your gloves…' And he's like, 'Don't make fun of a man's gloves, Alfred.' And Alfred's wearing gloves so he's like, 'Right you are, sir.' "

Snyder's current "Zero Year" story line, which began in issue 21 and is set six years in the past, continues into later issues, but Batman No. 24 — available Wednesday digitally and in comic shops — is a massive, 64-page spectacle featuring the work of two artists (series illustrator Greg Capullo, plus 13 pages by American Vampire's Rafael Albuquerque) and the first honest-to-goodness appearance of Snyder's Batman, gloves and all.

What the writer aims to do with "Zero Year" overall is take iconic moments and make them different and modern, much like Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" in the 1980s or the recent Christopher Nolan Batman films.

Those "masterpieces" out there "do his origin in ways that are way beyond my capability," Snyder says. "But at the same time, knowing those things exist and being inspired by them, you know we're giving 100% on this thing to the degree that we can't sweat over it or bleed into it anymore."

In issue 24, fans will get to see the Batcave being set up — they already saw the iconic giant penny a few issues back — as well as whether or not the mysterious disguised leader of the Red Hood Gang that's been plaguing Gotham City is actually the Joker, before he garnered his green hair, maniacal perma-grin and supervillain reputation.

The madman's connection to the Red Hood moniker dates to 1951, when in an issue of Detective Comics it was said that the criminal fell into a vat of chemical waste, causing his skin to turn white and him to be transformed into the Joker. (A variant cover to Batman No. 24 by artist Guillem March showing the Red Hood leader in a similar situation seems to nod toward this series of events.)

Whether or not this current Red Hood is tied to the Joker will be answered definitively in the new issue, according to Snyder.

"Not to spoil which direction we're going, but any deep Batman fan wants to resist any origin to the Joker," he says. "Part of the mystery around him is the fun, and it makes him so scary and timeless. But adding a possibility at the very least is something that's a real honor and a thrill.

"It's not so much about saying, 'This explains the Joker,' because to me that often diminishes the villain a lot of the time, if you give him an origin that is any way sympathetic or even explains their psychology."

While his coif may not be green, Bruce Wayne will be sporting a freshly shorn new haircut underneath the cowl, and the Batman wardrobe he puts on for the first time "honors the original Bob Kane design but it's really modern and militaristic," Snyder says.

"From his personal look as Bruce to the look of the Batmobile, the suit and the cave, all of it is meant to be what a Bruce Wayne who is becoming Batman today in 2013 would act like," the writer adds. "Even though the story takes place six years ago, we really felt like it was important if you were going to redo the Bat-mythology to not worry so much about making it feel like 2007."

Batman No. 24 wraps up the first section of "Zero Year," in which Bruce becomes Batman and accepts what the hero needs to be for Gotham.

A coda for the issue drawn by Albuquerque shows the Riddler for the first in full costume and teases the next section, which ramps up the clever bad guy's nefarious plans for the city. And the third part ties back into the glimpse of Gotham seen in issue 21, where the town looks almost prehistoric.

"It's going to be really fun and bombastic but also a deeply revealing story where you're going to get a lot about Bruce's past and the past of his supporting cast, from Alfred to some of the villains, that will really shed light on how we're handling Batman," Snyder says.

One of the things that he's really enjoyed is writing young Bruce in an unformed state — relatable in a sense due to the fact that he's learning and figuring out how to be a superhero on the fly.

"He's so angry and out of control, and when I started writing him, you realize you're so used to him being this consummate, controlled, self contained, mission-oriented, stoic guy who is so focused, you can't really rattle him easily," Snyder says.

"He curses and yells and blows up at people, and the way he looks and the way he wants Batman to be is different than older Batman. He wants him to be intimidating in a way that's more peacock-ish, also — he's faster, he's more rock 'n' roll, he's a little more aggressive."

Miller's "Year One" arc still holds a lot of power for Snyder, who was growing up in New York City at the time and was shocked by the visceral nature of a vice-ridden Gotham full of graffiti and prostitutes.

He's taking the same tact in modernizing Batman for the youngsters being introduced to the character in today's comics.

The problems aren't necessarily the same as they were in "Year One," Snyder says, "but are about things like large-scale random violence and terrorism and the kind of fears that we have in modern cities."

The goal is to "represent them in ways with supervillains and gangs that fit the mythos, but at the same time are symbolic of the kinds of things that Batman would face in a world today."

Many projects over the years have tackled why a man would become a Batman and what turns Gotham into a hotbed for the worst of the worst in terms of humanity — for this generation of pop culture there are the Nolan films, of course, and Fox is currently developing the TV show Gotham about the earliest days of longtime Bat-confidante Jim Gordon in the city's police department.

"The idea is that everybody wants to see what it would be like done over and again," Snyder explains. "You want those figures like Batman to play with. You've seen him done countless times in film and TV and comics, and when one revered and beloved franchise ends, you want to see it picked back up."

For the writer, it's fun to revisit these icons in different ways, much like Superman recently was reimagined for the movie Man of Steel.

"You want them to be evergreen for children," says Snyder, who recalls Christopher Reeve's 1978 Superman movie as the first movie he ever saw with his dad and also remembers hanging with his dad for a showing of Tim Burton's Batman flick in 1989.

"My son is 6, and my hope is when he's a little bit older I get to take him to the first of the Ben Affleck Batman movies and we can wait in line and see that mythology begin for him in his eyes."