Brian Bendis on Superman

[sakuyamons]

I honestly don't know what book I'm most/least comfortable with him on .

Well, he did say we got projects, in plural but he will reveal them eventually.

[Kuwagaton]

I think Action is one of the best books in publication. I would like Jurgens to write Thor again.

I think Marvel could certainly use jurgens back, what with all the consistency trouble they have.

Meanwhile, regarding the article

Superman can certainly use Reis back, regardless if Bendis.

[Ra-El]

Worst case scenario something like this will happen:

Superman is actually the son Jax-Ur and Lara;

Clark and/or Lois have a affair;

Superman have a mental breakdown.

Best case:

Bendis write something as good as his Daredevil run and we end up having one of the best Superman run ever written.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Considering his track record at Marvel I fail to see how the two aren't mutually exclusive. No disrespect but you don't understand how poorly suited Bendis is for Superman. This isn't just apprehension about a new, untested writer on Superman. This is someone who is colossally overrated, makes major changes that go against previous character history and seems unable to write a standard superhero comic without convoluted plot twists. I know you're finding Tomasi and Jurgens boring but Bendis is not going to be an improvement, I can guarantee that.

No disrespect but you don't seem to understand the difference between facts and opinions.

[Lvenger]

No disrespect but you don't seem to understand the difference between facts and opinions.

No disrespect but have you ever read any of Bendis’ non street comics? They all suck hard. He cannot write high concept or cosmic superheroes for the life of him. Just ask fans of the Sentry, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men if you don’t believe me.

[KurtW95]

I sincerely hope this doesn’t happen. Or if it does he’s not allowed to inflict any long term damage.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

No disrespect but have you ever read any of Bendis’ non street comics? They all suck hard. He cannot write high concept or cosmic superheroes for the life of him. Just ask fans of the Sentry, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men if you don’t believe me.

Fine but that's still opinion. For what it's worth, I have been enjoying the current direction of Superman (the Dr Oz reveal notwithstanding) and I do largely agree that he's better with street-level characters - even if I have enjoyed what very, very little I've read of both X-Men and Guardians. That doesn't mean, however, that he can't write a character like Superman if he approaches it correctly. Bringing a more grounded approach to the Man of Steel, for example, could very well work to his strengths and continue what are really the best parts of Tomasi/ Gleason's run: the quieter, family and character-driven moments.

I think Bendis slips when he has too many characters to juggle and most especially when he writes "events" that are supposed to change the direction of the entire fictional universe. It's why I haven't read a single event by him since Secret Invasion. The powerset has nothing to do with it - neither the Guardians nor the X-Men, save for Jean Grey, are as powerful as Superman but many of the superbeings in Powers are.

Regardless, all this is opinion. People are allowed to think differently about him to the way you obviously do.

[Lvenger]

Fine but that's still opinion. For what it's worth, I have been enjoying the current direction of Superman (the Dr Oz reveal notwithstanding) and I do largely agree that he's better with street-level characters - even if I have enjoyed what very, very little I've read of both X-Men and Guardians. That doesn't mean, however, that he can't write a character like Superman if he approaches it correctly. Bringing a more grounded approach to the Man of Steel, for example, could very well work to his strengths and continue what are really the best parts of Tomasi/ Gleason's run: the quieter, family and character-driven moments.

I think Bendis slips when he has too many characters to juggle and most especially when he writes "events" that are supposed to change the direction of the entire fictional universe. It's why I haven't read a single event by him since Secret Invasion. The powerset has nothing to do with it - neither the Guardians nor the X-Men, save for Jean Grey, are as powerful as Superman but many of the superbeings in Powers are.

Regardless, all this is opinion. People are allowed to think differently about him to the way you obviously do.

Fine it's my opinion. My main point is generally, people's opinion of Bendis as a writer is that he's good at street level heroes, not so good with high level superheroes. I also don't think Bendis' grounded style would work in the same way Tomasi or Gleason's does. They ground Superman through the family dynamic whereas Bendis grounds his characters by having them act as caricatures of what he thinks everyday people are supposed to be. As for powersets, Bendis is notoriously poor at writing super powered fight scenes. He changed Sentry's powerset more times than you can shake a stick at, gave Young Jean Grey some sort of TK/TP blend and wrote Thanos being beaten up by the Thing. That doesn't inspire confidence that he can handle Superman's powers well either IMO. People are allowed to think differently but I'm allowed to stress how much I think Bendis is a poor fit for Superman. I won't buy a single issue he writes and I rarely do that for a new writer on a character I like.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Fine it's my opinion. My main point is generally, people's opinion of Bendis as a writer is that he's good at street level heroes, not so good with high level superheroes. I also don't think Bendis' grounded style would work in the same way Tomasi or Gleason's does. They ground Superman through the family dynamic whereas Bendis grounds his characters by having them act as caricatures of what he thinks everyday people are supposed to be. As for powersets, Bendis is notoriously poor at writing super powered fight scenes. He changed Sentry's powerset more times than you can shake a stick at, gave Young Jean Grey some sort of TK/TP blend and wrote Thanos being beaten up by the Thing. That doesn't inspire confidence that he can handle Superman's powers well either IMO. People are allowed to think differently but I'm allowed to stress how much I think Bendis is a poor fit for Superman. I won't buy a single issue he writes and I rarely do that for a new writer on a character I like.

And that's your prerogative.

Personally, I'm definitely willing to give him a shot precisely because it is such an odd fit. It may well be absolutely atrocious but Bendis pushing himself generally leads to better Bendis comics.

As for powersets, this comes down to the old argument of Superman being too powerful to write as a sympathetic character, which is only remotely valid if you see Superman as nothing but the sum of his powers and that he can only be written in a very particular (and to my mind, boring) type of story. Yes, Bendis will probably fail if he tries to go the "Super Brawler" route for his run or even if he tries to match the sheer imagination of someone like Grant Morrison but if he tackles Superman more in line with comics like Secret Identity, For All Seasons or Tomasi/ Gleason's current run (which has gotten by purely from the smaller moments: the actual plots have been meh at best), then it could work really, really well.

And, again, I have no problem with you stating your opinions but - and I'm sure you're not doing this intentionally; it just comes out that way - you've presented your opinions as irrefutable facts that anyone who sees things differently clearly just don't know what they're talking about and have no right to their opinion. It's similar to the way those who hate the new Star Wars tell other fans who love it that if only they "understood" the problems with the film, they would hate it too; never considering that their way might not be the only way to look at it. Sorry if I'm misrepresenting you but that's just the way your past couple of posts have come across to me.

[Lukmendes]

He'll ruin whatever Superman title he's writing for as long as he's on it. Marvel used to be fairly conservative with their editors too before Marvel Now but that didn't stop Bendis from ruining plenty of characters in his time there. He made Scarlet Witch into an unstable reality warping psycho who almost wiped out the entire mutant race. He made Sentry a gibbering rabid dog who suddenly turned 'eeevil.' He iced Tony Stark to replace him with an empty gimmicky shell aka Riri Williams. And then there's the infamous turning Iceman gay incident where Young Jean turns Young Bobby gay by just repeating that he's gay several times after reading his mind and him suddenly accepting it. Despite Iceman never being gay beforehand. These are just a few examples off the top of my head and there are more out there. So given his track record of ruining established characters and their pre existing history, I think I'm perfectly justified to be a little apprehensive about what Bendis will do to Superman.

The Jean thing, she didn't brainwash him into being gay, I guess that impression can happen, but even adult Iceman himself was considering that he's gay. The retcon itself is still really dumb, just that it's not "We'll brainwash him into becoming gay" thing, not to mention having someone else to say their sexuality is just bad, and the reasons why he's gay basicaly boiling down to "His relationships with women always ended, therefore, gay", yeah, really dumb lol.

[TheSupernaut]

I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think Tomasi & Gleason would be more than happy to just be doing Super-Sons, rather than have to deal with the pressures of writing one of DC's flagship books, but it's also possible that they're simply doing a reshuffle of all the creative teams.

If Superman is going back to monthly so Reis can finally be back on a regular title again rather than bouncing around doing fill-ins, then it stands to reason that we might see an Adventures of Superman title back, in addition to a Man of Steel book (which could feature John Henry Irons, Lana & Natasha now that their book is cancelled).

Twice a week shipping was a good idea to keep Rebirth's momentum, but it is clearly having an impact on quality and makes any kind of writer/artist team mojo an impossibility.

[SuperCrab]

I've really strongly disliked the Superman title since Rebirth started (With the exception of the brief multiverse arc) and have stopped even collecting back issues on sale. A new writer potentially offers new hope. Bendis likely has the clout to be able to change up the tone and the type of stories told and the way they are told a little bit, even if he isn't granted any earth-shattering authority to alter the actual status quo of the characters substantially.

I don't have much hope of things going back to the New52 days that I really enjoyed, but maybe they could at least go in an all new direction that I'd dislike less than Rebirth, or they could retain the Rebirth cast of characters and relationships but make it come off a little less "Boring super-conservative man defends the societal status quo and his family while playing second fiddle to stories about his young son with cartoony artwork and cheesy storytelling. We think he may work at a newspaper or something." and a little more "Broody champion of the oppressed kicks butt in the name of truth and justice while having a hot romance with his wife and reporting on social justice stories for the Daily Planet- with more lifelike artwork and serious storytelling. And he happens to have a son.". A good writer with clout can do a lot to shift the quality of a book even if he isn't allowed to change the core elements.

[Miles To Go]

I've really strongly disliked the Superman title since Rebirth started (With the exception of the brief multiverse arc) and have stopped even collecting back issues on sale. A new writer potentially offers new hope. Bendis likely has the clout to be able to change up the tone and the type of stories told and the way they are told a little bit, even if he isn't granted any earth-shattering authority to alter the actual status quo of the characters substantially.

I don't have much hope of things going back to the New52 days that I really enjoyed, but maybe they could at least go in an all new direction that I'd dislike less than Rebirth, or they could retain the Rebirth cast of characters and relationships but make it come off a little less "Boring super-conservative man defends the societal status quo and his family while playing second fiddle to stories about his young son with cartoony artwork and cheesy storytelling.

Superman storytelling is inherantly cheesy. Even the stuff you enjoy.

And keep the social justice crap out of my comics thankyou. Learn lessons from Marvel, not inherit their disastrous decision making

[Barbatos666]

Even Batman comics dont bother with that social justice non sense normally. I want to see Superman save people and fight villains not play politics.

Besides most of these writers dont even have the talent to write socially relevant stories. Priest is a one of a kind writer. Even Morrison ditched that angle aftr 2 issues and went straight to Brainiac and the 5th dimension.