The first chapter in Dark Nights: Metal, this summer’s hottest comic book event, kicks off August 16, but fans will be happy to know that Metal is only the beginning of what Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV have planned for Batman and the DC Universe.
Several new titles will be spinning out of the event including Batman: The Signal, Dark Matter and a new title starring Snyder’s creation, Duke Thomas.
Scott Snyder spoke in a recent interview about how Dark Nights: Metal feeds off of the energy and enthusiasm of Rebirth and pushes it to the next level
Oh yeah… [we’ve] really been working on taking advantage of the goodwill that we’ve had and making a plan. This weekend alone, we’ve cemented plans – me and Dan DiDio and a bunch of other writers – for stuff that we’re going to do right after Metal that spins out, really, through most of the end of 2018 and into 2019.
We’re really trying to create a design that will allow us to keep things exciting.
We want people to feel like DC understands the kind of goodwill and sees it, from “Rebirth.” And our way of saying thanks is to say, “We just want to up the ante and do more comics that, in the same spirit of ‘Rebirth,’ push forward and do stuff that’s not only celebrating classic and reconnecting you to the comics and the characters and storylines you loved before, but giving you brand new ones that have that same sensibility carrying forward that Kirby-esque, out-of-control, bonkers fun that DC is so good at doing.”
He also spoke about his big plans for Hawkman:
We have big plans for him (Hawkman). He’s a character that I’ve had designs on for a long time, since I started thinking about this story. There was even a point where I thought about writing him after Batman.
Then with all the stuff we were planning, it didn’t quite work out.
But in terms of the DNA of what we’re doing for that character and the stories that are going to spin out of it for him, I couldn’t be more excited in the directions that the people who are going to work on him are taking. They’re better than anything that I could have done. It’s really impressive.
What is most interesting is that he also mentions there are big plans for Shazam (Captain Marvel) and the whole Marvel Family. This is particularly interesting because DC officially changed Captain Marvel’s name to Shazam during the New 52.
Snyder goes on to talk about the many Easter eggs he’s left along the way leading up to this event:
I hope it will get people excited to go back and look at some of the stuff that we did in Batman, but also it has a lot of Easter eggs that openly tie to Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and some of the other runs going on around the DCU.
There are ties to what Tom [King, current Batman writer] is doing in fun ways, so I hope people will go back and check out his stuff.
But also, there are little things that tie to Aquaman, which I think is an incredible book right now. Wonder Woman, which is obviously a real shining point. And it ties hugely to Detective Comics also, where James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows have just been doing an incredible job.
And there are Easter eggs all through our run on All-Star Batman – with the Blackhawks, with Duke, with Metal itself.
Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to hear Scott Snyder speak, can tell you they can hear the enthusiasm he has for these characters. The way he speaks about this story is no different:
I really believe in this one. When you see the first issue, it’s got a real sensibility and tone – it’s meant to say, “Let’s make comics fun in a different way than we’ve tried.” In “Rebirth,” it’s been that way, but can we take that to the next level and say, in dark times or spooky times, like now, regardless of what kind of side you’re on politically, I think everybody is stressed out all day by the news, regardless of your affiliation.
And so, there’s sort of, at least to me, in the air, a real need for comics to remind us of that kid-joy that we felt when we were immersed in a story.
That doesn’t mean the story can’t be pertinent to right now either, and Metal certainly is personal and has connections to things that Greg and I talk about that are in the air a lot. But we want to lead with the sense of dinosaurs and Land of the Lost and laser dragons and all that kind of stuff.
We want readers to dive into this incredible, crazy, imaginative world, created for us by all these amazing people who put these comic characters together – and then make some our own new stuff.
