>CBR: So, Scott, I know in the past you’ve talked really extensively about how much Metal has been seeded through your run on Batman in the New 52, but I think both The Forge and The Casting have made it pretty apparent that you’re mining from much, much more than that. What other books would you recommend completionist readers take a look at to prep for this summer?
>Scott Snyder: That’s a great question! I’ve tried really hard to make it so that you don’t have to read anything but Metal — but! To be perfectly honest, it ties to stuff going as far back as The Return of Bruce Wayne, and even earlier than that. It ties to Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, to work by Grant [Morrison], it ties to Greg and I’s work… [Laughs] I don’t think there’s a lot of things you could read that you’d then feel like “Oh, this doesn’t work.” It ties to all of Geoff Johns’ Hawkman stuff, too. It’s — [Laughs. It’s really a giant love letter to the DCU!
>But really, I think it’s just that the prevailing wisdom has always been “it’s always better to go dark” and “scare ‘em into the store” — you know, put the characters in the guillotine and ask “whose head is gonna get cut off?” And I get that! It worked on me! I was the one putting my quarters into the pay phone to see if Jason Todd was going to live or die — though I canceled out my own vote, I voted once for yes and once for no — But I honestly believe, and maybe this is just me, but it has been a really tough year all around. Not because of my politics, which are pretty obvious on Twitter, but for everybody. The divisiveness, the stress, the anger, it’s just been tough. I think that’s why movies like LEGO Batman and Wonder Woman, stories that are irreverently uplifting, are popular. I genuinely believe that it has nothing to do with being escapist, a movie like Wonder Woman isn’t escapist, but it’s also not grim and dark, it feels inspiring and celebratory.
