2013 Comic Book News Archives

September 11, 2013: Scott Snyder Talks Wraith in "Superman Unchained"

Superman Unchained #4 Comic book writer Scott Snyder has introduced a new character (villain?) into the world of Superman within the pages of the new ongoing series "Superman Unchained". Known as Wraith, the writer spoke with ComicBookResources.com to tell fans where the idea for this being came from...

    Q: "Superman Unchained" #4 is out next month, and you've said before that if you got just one chance to tell a Superman story, this is the one you'd tell. What was the genesis - did this story begin with the idea of the new character you've introduced, Wraith?

    Scott Snyder: Yeah, he has been in my mind for a while. The idea really came from me looking over a couple of old Superman books that I had. They're collections I've had since I was a kid, they're big hardcover books that are just "The Greatest Superman Stories" and another one just says "Superman" on the spine. They collect some of the earliest Siegel and Shuster storylines, and I was noticing as I was looking back at some of them how political they were. Superman fights the Nazis; some of the images on the covers of them were Superman swimming towards a Nazi sub or holding up the Liberty Bell fighting Nazis, things like that. They were so politically invested and so ideologically of-the-moment it got me thinking of this almost ghostly Superman that doesn't exist anymore. This Superman that was a big part of world events, and did fight on the side of the United States in the War.

    It also got me thinking about the big question of whether or not Superman today would participate in the kinds of military operations we might be involved in, and whether or not it could be compared to the more black-and-white ethics of the comic strips back in the day where he was fighting Nazis and it was just good and bad. So I started coming up with this character, Wraith, who is almost a ghost in American history, he's this hand that moves American military history forward. I wanted him to be stronger than Superman and older, and also have a similar physiology so he has powers that Superman might develop down the line and he can teach Superman how to use more effectively. So yes, he's been a character in my head for a really long time and I'm very excited that he's finally out in the world.

Read the entire interview at the CBR website.



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