Batman vs. Batman: Contrasting the Morrison and Snyder Runs

 So I recently happened upon a lot of Scott Snyder Batman books on Shopgoodwill and happened to the be the only bidder so I picked up the slipcase of volumes 1-3 plus volumes 4-7.  Another lot netted me 8-10 so I picked up the whole saga for well below cover price.

As I read it, I couldn't help comparing and contrasting it with the other big Batman run I've read in the last few years, Grant Morrison's.  

Before someone readies their attack dogs, I enjoyed both runs but they're very different.  Grant Morrison's is a love letter to Batman's long history while Scott Snyder pretty much makes up his own history.  Bat-scholars will get more out of Morrison's run than casuals but seasoned vets and newbies alike can get the full effect of Snyder's run. Both runs deal with secret societies that have somehow evaded Batman's detection: The Black Glove in Morrison's run and the Court of Owls in Snyder's.

Big stuff happens in both runs and Batman goes missing and/or dead in each. By the end of both runs, status quo is restored or very nearly so.  The biggest threats in Morrison's run are new while Snyder plays the greatest hits, to a degree.

In Snyder's run, I kept thinking he made The Joker and the Riddler a little too formidable.  It's hard to imagine them going back to doing regular crimes after what went down.  Morrison's run had more crazy crap in it, like Man-Bat ninjas and the Batman of Zur-En-Nah or whatever he was called.  Snyder's was infinitely more accessible but the cases still felt huge.

Will either run be talked about in another twenty years?  Hell, I have no idea.  I enjoyed both runs.  Morrisons' might be a little more memorable just because of all the weird shit going down.  Snyder's was a bunch of summer blockbusters but does anyone remember those the following summer?  Snyder's run is a great run of monthly comics.  Morrison's is trying to be more than that but does it succeed?  I read it last year and I only remember bits and pieces of it.

Which would I rather reread?  Probably Morrison's but that's mainly because I know I missed stuff the last two times around.  Morrison's is more layered, I would say.  Snyder's is pretty straightforward.

At the end of the day, both men created great Batman runs with their respective creative teams.