DC Comics undertook a major reinvention of its universe back in 2011 when it cancelled and re-booted every major series under its banner as part of the "New 52" initiative. That's given DC's creative teams the opportunity to tell new stories for some longtime and hugely popular characters, and now writer Scott Snyder is planning to tackle the Dark Knight's origin with the upcoming Batman: Zero Year storyline. Comics Alliance recently sat down with Snyder to talk about the controversy and challenge behind re-writing Batman's origin — while Snyder is respectful and quite aware of the challenge of making a story that will live up to Frank Miller's famed Batman: Year One arc from 1987, he's also quite confident in his work. "This is the best story that I have come up with, in my opinion, for Batman," Snyder said.
However, the changes that the New 52 timeline presented made a re-imagining of the Year One events necessary. "Nobody was more protective of Batman's history than those of us who were working in the Batman books," Snyder said, but he hopes to create a story that "we can be proud of, and that's different and new, without treading on Year One, without tearing it apart." Throughout the interview, Snyder is extremely forthcoming and candid about the challenge of taking on the history of a character as iconic as the Dark Knight, but given his passion for the character, it seems Batman is in good hands.
Update: An earlier version of this story mistakenly called the new storyline Year Zero. It's actually known as Batman: Zero Year. We apologize for the error.