Author Scott Snyder can tell you exactly why DC Comics has been dominating rival Marvel Comics commercially and critically over the past two years. The architect of DC’s Absolute Universe believes that the publisher’s “creator-forward” approach right now is giving it the edge over Disney-owned Marvel, which many readers feel is stuck in a rut.
Speaking with Popverse, Snyder enthusiastically described the Absolute line’s core strength: creators who “have a real voice and a vision.”
Readers are “just hungry for passionate, original takes on this stuff,” according to Scott Snyder. And in that regard, the Absolute Universe has the edge over all but a few Marvel books right now.
Scott Snyder Cites The “Creator-Driven” Ethos Of DC’s “Absolute” Comics As Key To The Line’s Success
Snyder Is The Author Of Absolute Batman And One Of The Architects Of The Absolute Line
Marvel Comics isn’t creatively bankrupt by any stretch of the imagination. It puts out its share of great comics every year. Absolute Batman author Scott Snyder cites Marvel’s Ultimate line, which inspired DC’s Absolute Universe, as an example of the same “bold, visionary takes” on classic comic canon that fans are eagerly devouring right now.
DC Comics also puts out plenty of books every year that are…just totally fine. Fun as quick reads, but not necessarily memorable, or “bold” stories. So, what’s to be made of Snyder’s assessment of DC’s current success? For starters, let’s take a look at the writer’s full quote:
A lot of the stuff [we’re announcing] has to do with creator-forward books. We’re trying to bring in people who have a real voice and a vision. Some people we’ve never worked with, some people that we haven’t worked with in a long time and allowing them to really flex and take these characters and say something about this moment. I believe that we’re in a really special moment in comics right now.
The retailers seem really confident, [by] the way they’ve shown up, I mean, our last issue is hovering around almost 200,000 copies. That sort of wave, where all the Absolute titles, and the Ultimate universe titles, Energon Universe, all that stuff, is bringing in so many new readers. You realize they’re just hungry for passionate, original takes on this stuff. And it doesn’t mean throwing out the main universe or doing anything like that. It just means bold, visionary takes. Whether they’re in continuity, out of continuity. But not corporate-driven spinoff stuff quite as much in my opinion. Really organic kind of creator-driven work.
The key takeaway: Snyder emphasizes “creator-driven work” as a selling point.
To understand what he means by this, it is first important to consider what Scott Snyder isn’t saying. Some readers took the “corporate-driven spinoff” part of the comment as a dig at Marvel, but that’s not really the case. Because what Snyder is setting up is a dichotomy. “Creator-driven” vs. “corporate-driven.”
Like Marvel, DC Comics is owned by a larger corporation: Warner Brothers Discovery. In a corporate-creative ecosystem, creative control doesn’t always rest with the actual creators. According to Snyder, an essential part of Absolute Batman’s success is that DC, and WBD, have put absolute faith in the creative team’s “vision” for the series.
Marvel’s Best Comics Are “Creator-Driven,” Longrunning Titles Too, Something Marvel Needs To Embrace
Marvel’s Product Needs A Quality Check
As mentioned before, Marvel Comics produces its share of “great” comics every year. That’s true. But it’s also fair to say that Marvel has more of a “quantity over quality” mentality right now. Marvel puts out a lot of books every year. A few are bound to be great, while most are good-to-average.
Given Marvel’s habit of axing titles at the ten-or-twelve issue mark, unless they sell exceptionally well, many good series never get to live long enough to be great. The ones that do tend to share an interesting behind-the-scenes trait: writers and artists who are granted a greater degree of creative control.
Look at Jonathan Hickman’s House of X/Powers of X. Jed McKay’s current extended Avengers run. Al Ewing’s ongoing Thor saga. Marvel’s best books are the ones where it lets the authors cook. It gives them time and space to cultivate their “vision.” Marvel’s best books are just like DC’s best books. “Creator-driven” stories that are allowed to evolve organically.
DC’s “Absolute” Comics Refine A Concept Marvel Introduced 25 Years Ago
Applying What The Ultimate Universe Did Best To Batman And Superman
There’s a classic Stan Lee anecdote about the origin of Spider-Man, where Lee’s boss at Marvel Comics told him all the reasons a character modeled after a spider wouldn’t work as a hero, and nixed the idea. Lee went ahead and put the character in Amazing Fantasy #15 anyway. Marvel was a very different company back then.
The point is, DC and Marvel Comics have always operated on a top-down creative model. It’s just the level of editorial and corporate interference, and the degree of creative freedom offered to creators, that fluctuate over time. Which is a factor in the success of DC’s current Absolute line, to bring the conversation back to today’s comic landscape.
The Absolute Universe is a drastic reinvention of DC’s top heroes and villains. It is a creative strategy Marvel fans have become familiar with over the past several decades, since the introduction of the pioneering Ultimate Universe. For DC readers, it is startlingly fresh. And for more casual fans, it has proven to be a spectacle they can’t ignore.
As Scott Snyder noted himself, Marvel has been having similar creative success with its rebooted Ultimate Universe, which has been a high point for the publisher since 2022. The books have sold well, but haven’t reached the same surprising level of success as the Absolute line, perhaps because its familiar branding masks its innovative creative content.
Marvel Is Keeping Too Many Series From Reaching Their Full Potential By Canceling Them Early
Part Of A “Creator-Driven” Model Involves Patience
The one thing that is certain: Scott Snyder is thrilled about DC’s “creator-forward” approach to the Absolute line. Absolute Batman’s sales, in particular, have justified the company’s investment in the series, and ensured that the creative team will continue to have the freedom to pull off its wildly novel reinterpretation of the Batman mythos.
The “ongoing” part of serialized superhero storytelling is often forgotten as an important ingredient for success these days, especially by Marvel. It’s possible DC Comics’ Absolute achievement will prompt Marvel to re-evaluate the merits of more “creator-driven” storytelling, part of which means giving creators time to strive toward their vision.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
