Scott Snyder vs. Tom King: Who is the better writer?

[johnpeelgothisgun]

I'll take Snyder's fanboyish excesses over King's Feelings Porn and devil-may-care attitude to canon, continuity, and characterization any day.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Scott Snyder's by far.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Batman: The Black Mirror is a true classic.

[Arnoldoaad]

I believe this is an unfair comparison as the runs couldnt be more different to each other
but overall Snyder had the stronger run, In my opinion mainly due to the fact that it was much more focus on the stories that he tried to tell
from Black mirror, then Court of Owls, then City of Owls then DotF, and finally Superheavy, pretty much all of them are self contained, all part of the same overall story but they do can stand on their own feet

King on the other hand has a huge problem of pacing later on.
I am Gotham, I am Suicide and I am Bane are perfectly fine and follow the same beats as Snyder does, I love this 3 arcs, then War of Riddles and Jokes is where the problems start to emerge, the story itself is fine the biggest problem is that it lacks focus and is extremely predictable, I feel King knew this very well because the story tries to throw a twist at the end that doesnt really work well.
The next few stories all deal with the same theme which is that Batman and Catwoman are engaged, and this works until it doesnt work.
the idea is fine, and the execution is good enough but then all goes to hell on chp 50
personally my problem with this is that chp 50 scentially makes both Rules of Engagement and The Gift into pointless stories
ironic because the point of these two arcs is to show the challenges of it all
everything else after chp 50 is just hard to evaluate as it feelsa little aimless until City of Bane which has its own strenghts but also its own problems that make it hard to recommend

Overall I feel like the worst problem of King's run was the route that he choose tell a story and not his capacity to tell it
I can imagine a very very different opinion of his run if Batman had married on chp 50

[BruceWayneJr.]

Both runs made me quit due to poor quality, so it wouldn't be fair for me to choose.

[gregpersons]

King's run feels like it must be the most decompressed to ever appear in "Batman." But really, each arc works well enough on its own, even if you went in knowing nothing. "Everyone Loves Ivy" is a complete story. And King's had some better home run single issues, like Annual 2, the Superfriends double date, The Brave and the Mold, etc.

Snyder was very compressed, each issue was dense, sometimes exhaustingly pedantic, but definitely louder and bigger. It was more traditional but to me felt more basic.

Ideally, would love to see a blend of the two approaches in the next run... and also would like to see a run that doesn't involve some sort of "evil twin brother/evil father from twin dimension" from the Wayne family.

[Uncanny Mutie]

I have major problems with both's takes on Batman, but if I must pick one, I'd go with Snyder over King................

[Scott Taylor]

Well, I don't miss Snyder but kind of miss Capullo (best part of that run). When the King run is over I won't likely miss Janin but will kind of miss King (best part of the run). Art was stronger with Snyder, but the stories almost never stuck the landing. With King, the stories are weaker and more predictable but they pretty much always end on point with something interesting or controversial.

So ... King?

[failo.legendkiller]

I think King is a better writer in general. I loved some of his works as Grayson and Omega Men.
Speaking about batman Tom has totally derailed, all his flaws in writing are emerged out strongly. I tried to like this run and i’ve enjoyed some issues, but overall this is King’s worst book among the one i’ve read.
He succeded in the arduous task of doing worse than Snyder, one of the writer i hate the most.

[adrikito]

I prefer Snyder(as batman writer) because despite I don´t like his characters(duke, bluebird) I enjoyed the run.

[exile001]

Their writing styles are both so different it's almost comparing apples and oranges. Tom King writes a slow, methodical, character driven piece, whereas Snyder blasts you in the face with awesome non-stop action (I appreciate he didn't do this in Black Mirror).

On personal preference I'll give it to King, as I prefer substance and depth over concepts and action, but they're both fantastic.

[millernumber1]

Better? Hard to tell. Both have very powerful strengths and very apparent weaknesses. King's strengths appeal to me more than his weaknesses annoy me, so I prefer him. But I don't think one is necessarily more skilled than the other.

[Celgress]

Scott Snyder without question, IMO.

[Batman Begins 2005]

If we did a poll of the past three Batman writers: Morrison, Snyder and King. I fancy Morrison to be a clear victor.

[Fan of Mystery]

If we did a poll of the past three Batman writers: Morrison, Snyder and King. I fancy Morrison to be a clear victor.

I would personally still vote Snyder, but I'd probably be in the minority on that. I like Grant Morrison's Batman work for the most part, but I don't adore it like so many other people seem to.