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Yes, there’s a lot to criticise about Bendis, maybe continuity, maybe it’s interpretation, I don’t know which. But his New Avengers, I took as Bendis showing what the Avengers do on there off-days, when there’s little to do. Avengers have to do something between Kang and Thanos, so Bendis does ninja’s and the Hood. I was fine with that. In fact I really liked Bendis New Avengers. Bendis did New Avengers first in Secret War, and then completed it after Finale. Bendis added history and dimension to the characters, that they would never normally get with Busiek or Johns. Busiek and Johns (like Hickman) gave caricatures and adventure, but Bendis gave soul and vulnerability to the Avengers. It’s not for everybody. Bendis’ best Cap was a small appearance in Alias, where Cap was filmed having a conjugal visit to a client of Jessica Jones.
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My thoughts:
I didn't really like *anything* in V3 post-Busiek. I thought the book was driving down towards pre-Heroes Reborn levels of quality, which was a shame, because Busiek had the Avengers as one of Marvel's premiere franchises again (after taking *most* of the 90s off). I had to drop the book at one point, came back for Once an Invader b/c I love me some Invaders action, but realized quickly the quality had certainly not improved. So I actually welcomed Dissassembled. Why not? The franchise was not in a good place.
The first year on New Avengers was fine. I thought it dipped a bit after that (The Collective? Was that what the third arc was called?), but I thought the Civil War tie-ins were pretty outstanding and probably better than the event itself (that actually became a Bendis trend I picked up on -- Marvel has had some pretty awful events over the years, but I think Bendis always shined doing peripheral/smaller moments of otherwise bombastic stories). The Secret Invasion lead-in stuff was, at least, interesting; as was the dynamic with being opposed to Iron Man's Mighty Avengers and later Norman Osborn's SWORD. As with many Bendis properties, I do think it fell off hard at the end. I barely remember how New Avengers ended.
But all in all, it was a nice departure from a very [I]meh[/I] period of Avengers; the randomly assorted group of heroes was interesting, and then seeing the team on the run from the law was a nice departure from the norm. If nothing else, New Avengers reads as a definitive guide through mid-to-late 00's Marvel, from pre-Civil War through the end of Dark Reign.
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[QUOTE=ARkadelphia;4529983]If you prefer character-driven books, you probably dislike bendis for the most part
If you like plot-driven books, then you may like bendis[/QUOTE]
Ohh, I like this take on Bendis.
Thinking back on his run, you're totally right he's a big ideas man when it comes to long term story telling; yet his character work lacks. I think this is why people say all of his characters sound the same.
But I don't think anyone can say Bendis cannot orchestrate amazing events and the lead in thereof.
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[QUOTE=jackolover;4532420]Yes, there’s a lot to criticise about Bendis, maybe continuity, maybe it’s interpretation, I don’t know which. But his New Avengers, I took as Bendis showing what the Avengers do on there off-days, when there’s little to do. [/QUOTE]
yes because after a month wait for the next issue, what i'm looking for is the stuff that happens when the Avengers aren't doing anything.
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[QUOTE=charliehustle415;4532886]Ohh, I like this take on Bendis.
Thinking back on his run, you're totally right he's a big ideas man when it comes to long term story telling; yet his character work lacks. I think this is why people say all of his characters sound the same.
But I don't think anyone can say Bendis cannot orchestrate amazing events and the lead in thereof.[/QUOTE]
not that impressive when there are several writers who can do both. DC can keep him.
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Bendis run on USM was golden. That run was the main reason I got back into comics during that period. One of the reasons I feel that book worked was that that was his world. It was His title to build from the ground up. I also loved his “Powers” series. So damn good and addictive and again....his works to build. His New Avengers stuff was hit or miss. He wrote a pretty bad 616 Spider-Man. He essentially just turned him into his Ultimate counter part and couldn’t differentiate between the two. All I do like Bendis and obviously he does sell. However the guy does struggle to give characters their own individual voice at times and doesn’t seem to have a good grasp of continuity. That’s exactly why I feel he works best when given his own sandbox to I play in rather then jumping on something that’s already been worked on by others.
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[QUOTE=jackolover;4532420]Yes, there’s a lot to criticise about Bendis, maybe continuity, maybe it’s interpretation, I don’t know which. But his New Avengers, I took as Bendis showing what the Avengers do on there off-days, when there’s little to do. Avengers have to do something between Kang and Thanos, so Bendis does ninja’s and the Hood. I was fine with that. In fact I really liked Bendis New Avengers. Bendis did New Avengers first in Secret War, and then completed it after Finale. Bendis added history and dimension to the characters, that they would never normally get with Busiek or Johns. Busiek and Johns (like Hickman) gave caricatures and adventure, but Bendis gave soul and vulnerability to the Avengers. It’s not for everybody. Bendis’ best Cap was a small appearance in Alias, where Cap was filmed having a conjugal visit to a client of Jessica Jones.[/QUOTE]
Thanos was never really an Avengers villain.
And i disagree about Bendis making the Avengers more vulnerable, he made them too street level. As for Busiek, i like my super hero teams to have larger than life caricatures and adventures since not every superhero needs Spider-Man's ''relatable factor''.
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[QUOTE=CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree;4532980]Thanos was never really an Avengers villain.[/QUOTE]Well maybe initially to some degree but it was clear he was a cosmic level baddie.
[QUOTE]And i disagree about Bendis making the Avengers more vulnerable, he made them too street level. As for Busiek, i like my super hero teams to have larger than life caricatures and adventures since not every superhero needs Spider-Man's ''relatable factor''.[/QUOTE]Really, how many of the Avengers have a relatable factor in their background? Hawkeye? Nope. Wasp? Nope. Iron Man? Hell no. Captain America? Not unless you're 100 years old now. Thor? I say thee nay. I think you have start looking at somewhat newer characters before you do. She-Hulk is relatable. Spectrum is too. Other than that, I really struggle with the pre-power background of any Avengers making them relatable to the ordinary person. Gods, aliens, mutants, androids. Kind of hard to relate.
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[QUOTE=davew128;4533113]Well maybe initially to some degree but it was clear he was a cosmic level baddie.
Really, how many of the Avengers have a relatable factor in their background? Hawkeye? Nope. Wasp? Nope. Iron Man? Hell no. Captain America? Not unless you're 100 years old now. Thor? I say thee nay. I think you have start looking at somewhat newer characters before you do. She-Hulk is relatable. Spectrum is too. Other than that, I really struggle with the pre-power background of any Avengers making them relatable to the ordinary person. Gods, aliens, mutants, androids. Kind of hard to relate.[/QUOTE]
That's my point. A superhero doesn't always need to be relatable to be engaging and successful.
My favorite Marvel hero is Thor, who is pretty underrated compared to Wolverine and Spidey.
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Deleted. I probably responded to this before, so no need to repeat myself.
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I think Bendis tried to “Frank Miller” the Avengers a little and make them street level. For me - it worked. Secret Invasion and Dark Reign are fantastic ideas...his execution was a little off but a lot of the films and current series’ owt it to what he set up.
Bendis problem was that he overstayer his welcome.
His story was done when Siege ended and he got the team finally back.
Everything after that just meandered.
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bendis avengers is lit except for heroic age new avengers where he wrote the cast well but they always got the wack plots compared to the main team
avx tie-ins were dope, tho
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A big problem is Bendis comes up a with a good idea, but he never sticks the landing. I don't think he ever landed one of his big or event books well at all. Even if he had a decent ending he padded the middle of the story out so much (Secret Invasion) by the time you got to the end you were bored and didn't care. Bendis needed a good editor to keep him on track, and as everyone knows the editors at Marvel the last 15 years are just basically empty desks that never tell a writer no on anything.
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I was not reading comics when Bendis first came into the fray, but I find that his best work has always been--and probably always will be--his run on Daredevil. After he left that series, I did not see the same fire or passion in any of his work since. Once he got to Avengers, it just seemed as though he was only trying to meet Marvel's quota.
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[QUOTE=Zero Hunter;4533448]A big problem is Bendis comes up a with a good idea, but he never sticks the landing. I don't think he ever landed one of his big or event books well at all. Even if he had a decent ending he padded the middle of the story out so much (Secret Invasion) by the time you got to the end you were bored and didn't care. Bendis needed a good editor to keep him on track, and as everyone knows the editors at Marvel the last 15 years are just basically empty desks that never tell a writer no on anything.[/QUOTE]
Ever since the Quesada era editors would rather make fun of oldschool fans on Twitter and Forums rather than fixing a writer's mistakes. Work is hard and snark is easy.