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Bendis is an idea man, first and foremost. He can create an appealing story which allows for a great marketing strategy.
But
He can't write. At least not when he's spread this thin across so many books not about Spider-man. Give him one book to write, you'll get Daredevil or Alias. Give him 7, you'll get Age of Ultron and Moon Knight.
[QUOTE=Bor;2018048]Although is either of the two actually members right now? Logan is dead and although there is a spider-man on a team it is not Peter.
I do think to you should remember that some of those Things you mention really had nothing to do with Bendis. Like Thor changes these last few years.
The criticism of his dialogue is the fact that it can feel VERT VERY VERY VERY VERY stretched to many readers.
Dont get me wrong I like a lot of his Work, Ultimate Spider-man is one of my favorite long runs ever, but there are some issues that are just to much. But considering how many issues of various titles he has been on that is not really that strange.[/QUOTE]
Ahh, I was talking about Thor's return in Straczynski's run, and I haven't been keeping up with the current books (in my OP I stated I stopped after Secret Wars and started working backwards through time). I do however, agree with you about Bendis' decompressed type of writing, his Ultimate Spider-Man was uber guilty of that; I would chew through 10 issues in 30 minutes. But, I do not see that in his New Avengers, yes there is a lot of dialogue, but that is what is so enjoyable (to me) about his run and I understand it might not be for some. I see his run as an extended tv show, they aren't constantly fighting, they have quiet times between mega fight scenes.
[QUOTE=L.R Johansson;2017934]I actually loved his run - it's what got me into the Avengers! = ) Having read his Ultimate Spider-man and his Daredevil before, he's what brought me into being a really, really big Avengers-fan.
Regarding the criticisms, most of what can be said has already been said - I would say most of it is exaggerated and uncalled for - while a certain part is probably correct - towards the end, he wrote like, 20 issues that really didn't have much purpose - he was done with the team - his run ended with Dark Avengers and Siege - that was the story he wanted to tell, and towards the end, he ACTUALLY LEAVES the Avengers looking very, very similar to what they were before his start on the book.
That's something which I'm not sure all of the fans are aware of - he's actually got a philosophy when writing these iconic characters, which he mentions on the podcast Wordballoon: "I try to put the toys back in the box like I found them. The trick is to not break the toys - 'cause it's the best damn toy-box in the world". (or something to that effect)
And his writing-style is his writing-style - it's very unusual in mainstream comics, so either you love it, or you hate it.
That's actually something he's got in common with Jonathan Hickman - which, I'm guessing you're not aware, is actually one of Bendis PROTEGÉS! He's a mentor and friend to him, and he pretty much got him into mainstream comics when they co-wrote Secret Warriors. Hickman is also that way, that since his writing is fairly unique and unusual, it becomes something of a shock for some fans, so they hate it - "too complicated!" "too drawn out!", etc. But the fans that actually enjoy it - they enjoy it a lot. They re-read his comics three times, they make their own notes to follow the storylines, they study his extra-material meticulously... like me.
Moon Knight is actually one of the few books of his that I haven't quite enjoyed... And definitely the only solo-book he's written that I didn't love. It's a bit of an odd misfire from him - and to this day, I think it might be because he never actually intended to write MK, it was just because his pal Joe Quesada is a really big fan of the character, and he had wanted him to do MK for YEARS - going on about it.
His heart was never quite in it...
Regarding the thing with Joe Q (which I actually think is among the top 3 EiC's in Marvel's history) I believe he pretty much actually sad it outright in the interviews for the launch of the series.[/QUOTE]
I did not know that Hickman was a protoge of Bendis, thank you for that info! I now understand how their runs flow so well together. I also am one who re-reads runs a lot, I re-read Hickman's run 4 times, I re-read Morrison's Batman run at least twice a year.
Bendis, like every writer, has his strengths and weaknesses. He can do noir and street level characters well. Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, that's where he lives, that's his lane......and man I wish he would stay there.
Like others have said, he's not good at writing teams, female characters, and settings outside of street level. He sells books and gets really good artists, but books like Guardians leave a lot to be desired. I haven't heard anything bad about Iron Man so far, but I would dread him writing Thor.
His avengers run was okay. I didn't hate it, but it was okay.
Speaking of the Hood, I almost forgot the questionable beating of Tigra that Bendis writes in New Avengers. He sure seemed to dump on a lot of the female Avengers not named Jessica Jones. Tigra is pistol whipped and doesn't even land a feeble defensive blow throughout. Hood smacks her around, Tigra screams, rinse and repeat. The artist doesn't help matters by showing the gratuitous cleavage. The whole scene was borderline misogynist to me. There was even a column about this scene by [URL="http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/11/07/question-about-new-avengers-35/"][COLOR="#0000FF"][B]Brian Cronin here at CBR[/B][/COLOR][/URL]
[URL="http://s5.photobucket.com/user/IronMaiden99/media/MB%20comic%20Scans/New%20Avengers/NewAvengers35_pg16.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/IronMaiden99/MB%20comic%20Scans/New%20Avengers/NewAvengers35_pg16.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
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[URL="http://s5.photobucket.com/user/IronMaiden99/media/MB%20comic%20Scans/New%20Avengers/NewAvengers35_pg18.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/IronMaiden99/MB%20comic%20Scans/New%20Avengers/NewAvengers35_pg18.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Yeah, the Tigra scene with the Hood was horrible and badly written. Bendis usually use the Woman in the Fridge trope in many of his plots (this, Avengers Dissambled and Mighty Avengers are huge examples of that)
Also Bendis usually creates or write the most boring villains and always try to make them baddass and awesome. but in the end they become generic and boring (his run of Guardians of the Galaxy has a lot of examples of this, like Yotat, Peter's father, the Kree accuser of the first issues of his second run...)
[QUOTE=charliehustle415;2018235]I did not know that Hickman was a protoge of Bendis, thank you for that info! I now understand how their runs flow so well together. I also am one who re-reads runs a lot, I re-read Hickman's run 4 times, I re-read Morrison's Batman run at least twice a year.[/QUOTE]
You're in LUCK!!! So much luck!! Listen, after you finish reading Secret Invasion and his Avengers run during that time, go back and re-read everything from Avengers Disassembled on. There are hidden clues EVERYWHERE!!!! No one in comics has ever done anything like this to this level. It is his Masterpiece.
I'll give you some hints. They are not so SPOLIERY, they are just hints. Avengers Disassembled, during the battle scenes, there are Skrulls in the explosions for seemingly no reason. Wrong. They are purposefully planted there. The skrulls were behind the disassembly. It's part of the war tactics the Skrulls enacted, secretly infiltrating positions of power. Skrulls caused the Breakout. Skrulls caused the kerfluffle in the Savage Land and Japan. Skrulls were in the Civil War. (Hank Pym, issue #1 final page) And there's lots more to see.
More hints: Iron-Man in Disassembled mentioned how Ultron could inhabit new forms and technologies, creating a clusterphuck of a problem for the Avengers, which he later did in Mighty Avengers. Ultron appeared again in the Avengers first arc where they fight the Ultron of the future! Look at the battle scene, you will see the "Young Cyclops" that Bendis years later put in to his brilliant "All New X-Men." In the scene where they talk timelines, there's lots of X-Men and Secret Wars hints. In Age of Ultron, this is actually the 3rd/4th time the Avengers fought Ultron. Age of Ultron is his 1 epic finale. His other finale is Avengers Vs. X-Men, where removing Professor X was a brilliant move.
Hint: Read the Secret Invasion Directors Cut, issue #1 contains 8 extra pages.
Extra Reading: Civil War The Confession is the finale to Civil War and is critically rated as Bendis's best written comic. It's a must read. Illuminati #1 is the prelude to Civil War. There's an Avengers comic you may have read in the omnibus that was only available to US Soldiers where the Avengers fight the Kree. Read the Initiative after Civil War. Read the Illuminati mini series before Secret Invasion. Read Sentry, The Hood, Alias, Young Avengers, Daredevil for extra fun. Especially Sentry and Hood since they tie in HUGE. HUGE! Read Secret War by Bendis, its a fully painted book and ties in as well. House of M ties In.
See, when you consider all these books as 1 big run, it's clear that this is the ALL TIME BEST run on Avengers ever. (Of course, after Stan & Jack for establishing it) Don't let detractors fool you, they don't know ****. ;)
Look me up on Facebook or YouTube, we'll talk more. Look up his bibliography on Wikipedia and try and read everything in order by date.
[QUOTE=Johnrevenge;2017889]As I said before, Bendis only knows to write two kind of characters: Useless Wallpallers or Mary Sues. And all the ladies you mentioned were Mary Sues the instant that Bendis wrote them (although he turned Victoria Hand into wallpaller during heroes reborn and ended killing her off for a sad attempt of drama factor).[/QUOTE]
I don't see how any of those women were Mary Sues under Bendis (except maybe Jean, but I can't say for certain I didn't read All New X-men). Oh, okay I could see an arguement for Tempus, but again she looses too much to really be a Mary Sue. And I don't consider Osborn, Daredevil or Cyclops Mary Sues. In fact I think all three runs left them ultimately failing. Bendis writes very flawed leads (in a good way). :)
[QUOTE=Kieran_Frost;2018494]I don't see how any of those women were Mary Sues under Bendis (except maybe Jean, but I can't say for certain I didn't read All New X-men). Oh, okay I could see an arguement for Tempus, but again she looses too much to really be a Mary Sue. And I don't consider Osborn, Daredevil or Cyclops Mary Sues. In fact I think all three runs left them ultimately failing. Bendis writes very flawed leads (in a good way). :)[/QUOTE]
I meant that he only writes two kind of female characters, and the only things memorable that Moonstone did during the Dark Avengers run was getting into bed with other members of the team (Noh-Var and Daken for example) and Magik always did nearly everything perfect (during the battle against Dormammu, when she "lost control" over Limbo, she ended regaining it by herself and ended defeating a powerful Lord of Hell by herself, even if odds were against her. I think that's enough proof of a Mary Sue).
And don't make me talk about Emma, who was constantly "I love/I hate Scott Summers", but in a more annoying way than Ross and Rachel relationship in Friends...
I liked:
The artwork.
Luke Cage as a member.
Spider-Man as a member.
I didn't like:
Sometimes, Luke's leadership seemed nominal at best. There was a one-issue story where the team comes to Detroit (Highland Park), MI. This was supposedly part of Luke's plan to "hang out" in danger-prone areas of the country, just to let the community around know they were available. I think it only lasted that one issue.
Luke Cage frequently getting slammed several football-fields away.
Arcs where Luke gets gravely injured and "regular" surgery won't work.
I haven't had time yet to read everybody's responses to this thread but here's my quick two cents. I grew up on the classic Avengers and Bendis' take just didn't work in a lot of ways. Some of it actually did work and was interesting. I think he got a lot of the classic Avengers' voices just flat out wrong. In my opinion his voices for the X-Men was a lot more correct. His X-Men read to me very similar to the X-Men that I grew up with unlike how most writers have them speak. Back to his Avengers I feel it was very hit or miss with some very cool moments along the way. I'm glad he's not writing the Avengers anymore but I actually miss his take on the X-Men. BTW, I never thought that was something I say when it was originally announced that Bendis was taking over the X-Men.
Not just Bendis, but many of the writers at Marvel (and at DC) seem inexperienced and/or disinterested in superhero storytelling, so they consistently simplify the characters so they're "easier" to write. There are plenty of books and comics I can read about regular people. I like the over-the-top, over-dramatic elements that superhero comics possess personally and I never cared about "relating" to every character.
[QUOTE=MarvelMovieCritic;2018387]You're in LUCK!!! So much luck!! Listen, after you finish reading Secret Invasion and his Avengers run during that time, go back and re-read everything from Avengers Disassembled on. There are hidden clues EVERYWHERE!!!! No one in comics has ever done anything like this to this level. It is his Masterpiece.
I'll give you some hints. They are not so SPOLIERY, they are just hints. Avengers Disassembled, during the battle scenes, there are Skrulls in the explosions for seemingly no reason. Wrong. They are purposefully planted there. The skrulls were behind the disassembly. It's part of the war tactics the Skrulls enacted, secretly infiltrating positions of power. Skrulls caused the Breakout. Skrulls caused the kerfluffle in the Savage Land and Japan. Skrulls were in the Civil War. (Hank Pym, issue #1 final page) And there's lots more to see.
More hints: Iron-Man in Disassembled mentioned how Ultron could inhabit new forms and technologies, creating a clusterphuck of a problem for the Avengers, which he later did in Mighty Avengers. Ultron appeared again in the Avengers first arc where they fight the Ultron of the future! Look at the battle scene, you will see the "Young Cyclops" that Bendis years later put in to his brilliant "All New X-Men." In the scene where they talk timelines, there's lots of X-Men and Secret Wars hints. In Age of Ultron, this is actually the 3rd/4th time the Avengers fought Ultron. Age of Ultron is his 1 epic finale. His other finale is Avengers Vs. X-Men, where removing Professor X was a brilliant move.
Hint: Read the Secret Invasion Directors Cut, issue #1 contains 8 extra pages.
Extra Reading: Civil War The Confession is the finale to Civil War and is critically rated as Bendis's best written comic. It's a must read. Illuminati #1 is the prelude to Civil War. There's an Avengers comic you may have read in the omnibus that was only available to US Soldiers where the Avengers fight the Kree. Read the Initiative after Civil War. Read the Illuminati mini series before Secret Invasion. Read Sentry, The Hood, Alias, Young Avengers, Daredevil for extra fun. Especially Sentry and Hood since they tie in HUGE. HUGE! Read Secret War by Bendis, its a fully painted book and ties in as well. House of M ties In.
See, when you consider all these books as 1 big run, it's clear that this is the ALL TIME BEST run on Avengers ever. (Of course, after Stan & Jack for establishing it) Don't let detractors fool you, they don't know ****. ;)
Look me up on Facebook or YouTube, we'll talk more. Look up his bibliography on Wikipedia and try and read everything in order by date.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the Secret Invasion Directors Cut, I didn't even know that was a thing. I'll keep a look out for those Skrulls.
[QUOTE=Johnrevenge;2017854]Yeah it was one of the things that angered me from Bendis' work. And if you have read Guardians of the Galaxy, you can also see that in the way he write Gamora. In all the fights she takes part, she ended nearly all the time beaten up and must be saved by the rest of her male teammates.[/QUOTE]
Is it possible female heroes were being over emphasised since the 1990's, and all Bendis was doing was cleaning house with too many over representation in the books, being reduced to a proper level?
[QUOTE=Frontier;2018010]Let's look at what Bendis did to Wanda, Janet, and Jennifer:
He had Wanda lose control over her powers and go crazy, eventually causing The Avengers to break up and the Decimation of the Mutant Race, all of which still hangs over her head even now.
The biggest thing Bendis did with Janet was killing her off and then bringing her back. And there was that Might Avengers Secret Invasion tie-in where he portrayed her as a drunk who left Hank.
He had She-Hulk destroy Vision in Disassembled and now he's apparently killed her in Civil War II.
The only major contribution Spider-Man made to The Avengers was quips. That's usually all he was there for.[/QUOTE]
Spider-Man saved the team, when their jet lost power, or people needed a net.
I think people were unfamiliar with the reality Bendis tried to put into his characters, like Janet's getting drunk on Occassion, or Carol being overcome when her world was turned upside down in Dark Reign. It's not a put down of the characters as much as just letting them appear to have flaws, but people don't seem to like that.