Welcome to Scott Snyder's world. You might never sleep again.

Two of his comic-book treasures were released this week in hardback compilations: "Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls" (DC, $25) and "Severed" (Image, $25). While unrelated, the books share one element in particular: horror -- which makes sense, coming from Snyder, the author of the horror anthology "Voodoo Heart" and Vertigo's "American Vampire." Oh, and they share one other thing: They're both riveting.

DC Comics relaunched its 52-title superhero line in September as "The New 52," all beginning again with first issues. In that sense, this is a new Batman, one who has been around for only about five years.

But in most senses, he's the same Dark Knight we saw in "The Old 52." Of all DC characters, Batman was affected least by the relaunch, even keeping most of his pre-New 52 creators -- among them Snyder, who has under his utility belt a highly acclaimed run on "Detective Comics" and an important miniseries titled "Batman: Gates of Gotham."

The latter explored Gotham City in the Gilded Age, its richest founding families and the architecture they were responsible for. Those families were the Waynes (which later gave us Batman), the Cobblepotts (Penguin), the Elliots (Hush) and the Kanes (Batwomans I & II, Betty "Flamebird" Kane and -- interestingly -- Bruce Wayne's mother). With "Court of Owls," Snyder is going back even further into Gotham's past, establishing an evil organization that has always controlled Gotham from its founding almost 400 years ago, and is so deeply hidden that it's known to Gotham's citizens only as the subject of a creepy nursery rhyme.

What the Court of Owls puts Batman through -- well, the word "horror" pops up again, and it probably would have destroyed anyone without the mental toughness of Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, Snyder has also dropped hints about the backgrounds of the Grayson family (which gave us the first Robin, now Nightwing) and the Pennyworths (Alfred). Could there be Waynes, Graysons or Pennyworths behind the masks of the current Owls? That answer could profoundly change Batman, and not in a good way.

Scott Snyder co-wrote "Severed" with Scott Tuft, a screenwriter. In it, a one-armed man in the present flashes back to his boyhood during World War I and his encounter with a cannibal drifter who passes himself off as a traveling salesman. The drifter attaches himself to the boy, who is riding the rails in search of his mysterious father -- a search that isn't what it seems, and imperils everyone the boy cares about.

As with "Court of Owls," Snyder mixes mystery with horror for maximum chills.