Brian Bendis on Superman

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

It was just announced that Bendis is now DC exclusive.

He's a big name writer that could potentially get nearly any book he wants. How would you feel about him getting either Action or Superman, from either Jurgens or Tomasi/Gleason?

[Miles To Go]

We can expect a lot of talking per issue

[daBronzeBomma]

Depends.

Does he genuinely love or even like Superman, even if only in his own unique way?

Has he ever, even informally, expressed a fondness for Superman?

Because if not, why would he suddenly "get" the character now?

So it depends ...

[Sacred Knight]

He's a big name, on a big exclusive deal.

He'll be on a Bat book. I'd almost guarantee it.

I'm not super familiar with his work to the point I'm saying that out of disappointment or even relief or anything, just the reality of how DC operates when it comes to its big names.

[sunofdarkchild]

He'd be perfect for a series that focuses more on the Daily Planet.

[Stanlos]

He'd be perfect for a series that focuses more on the Daily Planet.

Why can we not get a Warren Ellis SUPERMAN or Daily Planet run? I revisit the NEW MAPS OF HELL trade so many times just for the Superman and Daily Planet parts. They are exquisite.

[Ascended]

I'm not actually convinced that Bendis can't do cosmic.

I dunno man. I've been trying to think of something cosmic he's done that I really enjoyed and nothing comes to mind. Bringing the original X-Men into the present? Genius. That they didn't go home after two years? WTF?

I think "fate of the city" is about the most Bendis can handle before his grip starts to slip. Which is fine. Chuck Dixon is like that too in my experience and I love his work. So that puts Bendis on solid triangle era material, which I can deal with.

Tomasi doesn't hit it unless he's focusing on Jon and/or Robin and Batman. Which is more than enough for me to make the decision that he probably shouldn't be writing a title called Superman.
More importantly though, Superman or no Superman, comics or no comics, I am glad Bendis got good news with his recent procedure.

Come now, even if his run has turned out to be uneven as hell, he has written some excellent Superman. Sure, most of those good issues do involve Jon (at least) but he still nails Superdad when he's on his game.

[Kuwagaton]

Eh, Ultimate Spider-Man was great, Daredevil was great, and Avengers was fun... until he left street level. His Sentry was awful. I'd try him but not expect much, although he has never spoken about Superman before.

Maybe it helps that he's good friends with Loeb

[DochaDocha]

I'm not interested in a big name signing on to do a Superman title for 12 months and then skedaddling. I mean, it's great like giving a diabetic one shot of fast-acting insulin, but eh. But maybe something good will come out of this.

[Ascended]

It would depend, honestly.

Bendis doesnt do cosmic well, which means I dont want to see him tackle the kind of big Silver Age/Morrison style stories I prefer in my Superman.

And odds are if Bendis knows anything about the character in the first place (Ive never heard him mention Superman before) he favors a more Clark-centric, post-Crisis approach than I do. But so does Tomasi and I've enjoyed his run, so that's not a deal breaker.

I think there's two ways Bendis could tackle Superman that I would be okay with; as either a "family book" like Tomasi is writing where there is big crazy sci-fi but it's not a focus, or if Bendis wrote the social crusader aspect of Superman and had him tackling corrupt politicians and businessmen. Akin to the Golden Age but with all the trappings of the modern day.

Actually, the idea of Bendis writing an out-of-continuity Golden Age Superman, with those power limits, is actually pretty interesting. I think he could actually do good work with a project like that.

[Patrick Gerard]

Depends.

Does he genuinely love or even like Superman, even if only in his own unique way?

Has he ever, even informally, expressed a fondness for Superman?

Because if not, why would he suddenly "get" the character now?

So it depends ...

Yes. Frequently on Twitter and Instagram. And he's always expressed frustration at the direction shifts. Also, when Bendis was an artist, he was kind of a John Byrne imitator.

Honestly, I'd expect a run by him to be kind of like John Byrne's but without the forced clunky bits (Sleez, executing Phantom Zoners, Pocket Universe), with more Whedon-esque dialogue, and with more embrace of modern continuity and new developments.

That said, there'd be something to be said for putting him on Nightwing, one of Batgirl's books, Titans, or JSA -- something where you might expect to see a bigger sales jolt. Superman sales have a high floor, especially when done fairly competently. The more B and C list characters (in terms of broader public awareness) get more boost out of a big name like this.

[Patrick Gerard]

Also, I do get a bit excited about the idea of, say, cutting Superman back down to monthly (seems it would fit with the creative team's pace easier) and putting Bendis on a Lois Lane book.

After ACTION #1000, I think there might be a good opportunity to scale back on the double shipping in favor of four monthly books that crossover a few times a year again, like we had in the 90s and early 2000s.

[DetectiveStrange]

I'm not saying Bendis will definitely be good for superman or a definitely will be bad for Superman, but I will say that I have no doubt he really loves the character. I've seen him post multiple times about every incarnation of the character over the years, whether golden silver bronze post crisis or modern. I think Bendis would take a very similar approach to the character that johns did in his run on the character with Gary Frank

[Clark_Kent]

We can expect a lot of talking per issue

Considering most DC books can be read in about 5 minutes these days, I would welcome it.

[DetectiveStrange]

"I just had a landmark (50th) birthday and I had lost a lot of weight and I was thinking about what else I could do to scare myself," he said. "What could I do next? DC was coming at me pretty hard with offers that were hard to resist. But it was not until I walked into the library that everything came together. I remembered how much I connected with Superman, how I was an artist during the 1988 Superman convention in Cleveland (The Neverending Battle celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Man of Steel.)"

Bendis said he stopped into the library to talk to officials about an offer they made for an exhibit of his work, when he saw Superman everywhere.

"Somehow, I did not know about the exhibit," he said. "When I walked in and saw it, I felt like the library was my own personal museum that I needed to see and walk through. I then realized I had to take DC up on their offer, it was so head-turning that I really could not refuse."

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainme...cs_photos.html

There's no doubt in my mind he'll be writing Supes. I'm interested to see where he goes with it.