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One thing I think is overlooked a lot regarding Kylo is the affect a manipulative presence such as Snoke would have had on his formative years, and how that would certainly have affected him as an adult. Anyone who spends their childhood being manipulated and encouraged to see things in a certain way would certainly have had that continue to affect them into adulthood.
Snoke likely found it very easy to do this. We know from canon that a young Ben was left in the care of droids as shared in one of the novels – something which I am sure is completely normal for SW, however it does leave him more isolated, and I don’t think would have been the best scenario for him (The lack of constant human presence on a child has a massive affect regardless of additional malevolent presences).
This would make it easier for Snoke to talk to him, without question. From the young Ben panels in The RIse of Kylo Ren, Snoke was already talking to him with familiarity, so it was hardly a new thing at that point and must have started quite a bit earlier.
No doubt his parents thought Snoke to be an imaginary friend at first, later becoming suspicious but by then it was likely a case of ‘Don’t tell them about me or they will take me away’. We haven't seen this explicitly yet, so one can only assume it will be in line with how groomers usually manipulate their victims.
There’s a possibility of Snoke being a Luke clone, as seen from the Darth Vader comic. If true, it makes it easier for Snoke to slip in there, feeling more familiar and friendly in the force to Ben. Children are usually targeted by those who know them, as that familiarity makes it easier. In the following panel from Darth Vader #11, the hand being preserved in Luke's, and the speech is Palpatines. The other panel shows attempts at creating Snokes. There is an implication here, but it has yet to be expanded on or explained.
Young Ben panels show that Snoke can feel his emotional state, which is usually something personal but for him, is something shared with this other ‘friendly’ figure.
Those panels also show Snoke manipulating the young Ben into thinking that Luke views him as a child who hasn’t realised his nephew’s potential. (Never mind that Snoke constantly calls Kylo a child, but that's after he has secured Kylo as his own, after he has manipulated him straight into his arms)
That ‘He isn’t seeing your potential’ later changes to ‘He fears your strength’ Snoke has had 10 years to change message. Who knows what else he managed to get in there at the same time, do we really think it was only this?
He also points out that they ‘both’ thought this would happen, regarding the Luke going to him with a drawn weapon. It wouldn’t have just jumped to this. That’s not a normal process for someone to think ‘Oh my uncle will try kill me’. A hint that Snoke has planted this seed in his mind, that he framed it as them both thinking that.
Given how Snoke is shown in this comic, the implication is that Snoke manipulated this view into being. I wonder how that would have affected him from then on – just who could Kylo trust? Clearly only Snoke is trustworthy. Snoke warned him about Luke, after all.
When Kylo gets to Snoke, everything Snoke does is manipulation. Overly familiar embrace, to calling him a special friend. They’re interrupted and Snoke takes that to remind Ben that he has other friends, stoking jealousy. Snokes word choices ensure Kylo isn’t aware of it all.
In other panels Snoke is shown accepting Ben for who he is. Embracing him. Giving him ‘love’ and ‘affection. Using these as tools to lure him in, make him feel safe and wanted, before suggesting that he goes to the Knights of Ren.
I mean, the guy chose to flee to Snoke over his own mother, rejecting the suggestion when it was offered as an option to him by Geegee. Snoke, a disembodied voice in his head which is somehow so much more familiar and friendly than his own mother.
Ben would have never been alone, growing up, as he had his Snoke. Kylo was never alone either, as he had Snoke. Snoke was a constant presence that he thought was perfectly fine and normal. This was known by his parents, as suggested when Leia felt Snoke's presence whilst she was pregnant and later on in the TFA scene as they both talk about him, but I don’t think they would have ever understood the extent even after Kylo fled to him.
This presence would have had a profound affect throughout his life. It’s difficult for anyone to brush off things you experience as a child, when an adult. Some people use that to do better – others, such as Kylo, used it to do bad.
The character never lived for himself, is essentially what canon tells us about him. Even right at the end. Later on, this friendly presence of Snokes became more abusive, as seen in other media. Yet Kylo just accepts this and acts as though it is normal.
That alone is quite horrific. Once more, Snoke has turned something ‘’innocent’’ and friendly, into something hurtful, and treats Kylo like the child he claimed Luke treated him as.
Snoke had his manipulations to the point that Ben felt like Snoke was his only friend. He told Tai everything in that comic, apart from telling him about Snoke. Is that not odd? Even Tai picks up on this when they are both by the lake, and tries to poke his friend for more information. And given that the comic explicitly says multiple times that the two share a bond, the fact that he never mentioned Snoke to Tai helps show how deep Snoke was in his mind. Tai knew something was up, he could feel it, but he couldn't 'open the box'.
Also, I wonder how by chance Ben's meeting with the KoR was. Ren admits knowing Snoke and doing jobs for him, and after that meeting Ben never managed to forget Ren. Snoke also seemed to want Ben to go to the KoR after they met.
I do wonder if this initial encounter was set up by Snoke.. Like why would Ren even leave his mask behind and not go back for it? Why would Ren single out this child in that whole fight when the legend in the flesh Luke Skywalker was right there?
It would be fitting, seeing how Snoke has manipulated other major events in Kylo's life - either to happen, or to shape how he thinks of them.