Brian Bendis on Superman

[Ascended]

Only problem is that not everyone is like you Ascended.

I know. It a shame, isnt it?

There are many people who wont even touch Hawkman if his books are written the same way Green Arrow comics are written.

Do you mean writing Carter with the same kind of left-leaning opinions that Ollie has, or with the same kind of focus on Carter's politics? Because I dunno how I'd feel about Carter taking such a hard-left stance given he's traditionally been right-leaning when not apolitical. If you mean the latter.....well, there are people who wont/wouldn't read Arrow for the same reason. To that, I suppose its merely a case of "not every character is for everyone." If people miss out of a quality book simply because the protagonist doesnt share the same political views, that's their loss. DC will survive not getting their revenue. (if it were me, I'd simply publish a book on the opposite end of the spectrum so I still get their money )

It will be the subject of negative press 24/7.

At this point, everything gets bad press. The hard right and the hard left are both so delicate and bruise so easily they bitch and moan about everything, even when the thing in question actually doesn't fit the narrative they're building around it. Screw 'em all.

I have no issue with politics itself. My issue is with writers who just insert their own views and agenda in terrible hamfisted ways and that too just to get a headline. Bendis I put in that category of writer.

Ive never really noticed that in Bendis' writing myself, but I dont tend to stick with his books for long, if I pick them up at all. And low quality is a concern, but I feel like that's a different thing. Low quality will kill any topic, be it politics or science or generic, "safe" superheroics. Quality is the problem here (or the lack thereof), not necessarily the subject material.

Now some posters are telling me that I'm preventing writers from telling their stories or something by thinking like that lol.

Well, if you're saying there are subjects that should not be brought up at all, you are limiting their options. Of course, that's not a bad thing in and of itself; the job of an editor involves telling people what they can and cannot do. As with most things, the devil is in the details I guess, and the trick is recognizing what works with a IP and what doesnt....which is a subjective concept, so ultimately its just about reading the landscape and making the story that will most appeal to your target audience.

[SpideyCeo]

I think that a lot of problems stem from the fact that superhero comic books will never really get rid of the the implication that they are supposed to have an educational purpose. In general, literature is not supposed to be educational because one of its purposes is exploring the human condition, and - thankfully - literature cannot avoid representing under a sympathetic light nasty people; that is, people whom in real life we would find utterly disgusting. There are wonderful pieces of literature (and cinematic works) which make you root for criminals and rapists.
I think that in superhero comics the audience has way greater problems in separating their personal views and impressions from the sympathy for characters who make controversial choices because, well, superhero comics aren't literature, generally speaking. I am not saying they shouldn't be literature (I craved for a more mature DC for entire decades before giving up), just that the publishers rarely present particularly complex moral challenges in superhero books and the general audience really don't expect them. Rather than literature, superhero books are a very simplistic form of entertainment for a relatively old audience. Basically, it's wrestling on paper.

The "social crusader" Superman thing is somehow misleading because in the Golden Age Superman's choices were never really particularly complex nor controversial to make (and I'd say that even his "social crusader" incarnation didn't last for such a long time, either). He just did - in a colorful and enjoyable way - what people would have wanted to do if they had had Superman's powers. Punishing violent husbands? Kicking Hitler's ass? Who wouldn't have wanted to do that? I mean, even the "Superman vs the Klan" thing (which doesn't have much to do with comic books anyway) happened in an extremely peculiar situation and with an organization which was already controversial (and in decline in comparison to the 1920s). GA Superman's moral choices are not that different or more complex than Segar's Popeye's - and I would add that Popeye's stories are generally better drawn, better written and funnier (even if I like GA Superman).

Aside from that, even if we accept that GA Supes was, in his own simplistic way, a Super-social crusader-Popeye, modern-day Supes doesn't even have that vaguely social flavor. And that's because on one hand the publishers cannot set Supes' adventures in a world as naive as the one where GA Superman lived, and on the other hand they don't want their character to make controversial or potentially divisive choices. What would Superman think about Trump? Even better: what would Superman think of Amazon? I mean, Jeff Bezos isn't even vaguely as controversially colorful as Trump is, but I think that we can all agree that huge companies like Amazon are changing a lot of things regarding the society we live in, including small or medium-sized enterprises. Are these changes for the better? Nobody really knows, even in real life. What would Superman think or do about these massive companies? When you think about it, you realize that if a writer REALLY wanted to create a story on this premise and developed it in a clever way, at one point Superman would make a controversial choice. And that isn't something the publisher, nor Superman's target audience really want to happen. They don't want superheroes to be characters; they want them to be symbols. And symbols (even for commercial purposes) are supposed to be for everyone.

Personally speaking, I think that the moment when the publishers decided that their heroes were supposed to be role models rather than characters is what ultimately killed superhero books as a genre. They castrated what could be potentially interesting characters and they crystallized them in a version which is completely harmless. Except for VERY rare occasions, no superhero story has said something interesting or provocative in decades, especially in stories with the characters which are the most "symbolic" ones: Superman, Wonder Woman and so on (Cap America was slightly luckier, thanks to Ed Brubaker). As usual, the "noir" characters (Daredevil, Batman) have been more interesting because they are somehow "allowed" to behave in a partially controversial way. I'm always perplexed when someone says that The Dark Knight Returns is an abomination because Batman in that story is a fascist. I mean, OK, let's say for the sake of the discussion he is a fascist. So what? It's a challenging, strong, provocative story where Batman's behavior is coherent with the world the character lives in and the character himself isn't even supposed to be entirely sane or sympathetic. The story itself isn't supposed to be educational. I really don't know who could take Miller's Batman as a role model in his/her real life (even if there are moments in everyone's life when we can share some of that character's feelings), but if there was such a person, well, I'd say that he/she had really serious problems which no comic book could ever correct.

Wow this is something I've never heard before, so insightful.

[Miles To Go]

#

Daniel Craig voice: 'Agent Bendis, reporting for duty.' today is the day! I am officially a member of the @DCComics family (I'm still working on my last marvel's because December was not my friend) thank you all for making this surreal journey so much fun. art by @Oeming

https://twitter.com/BRIANMBENDIS/sta...cs-official%2F

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

This is likely just a coincidence, but Bendis mentions Oeming in that tweet and a few days ago Oeming did a Superman sketch.

[Lvenger]

Sigh the signs continue to add up for Bendis taking over Superman. Wouldn't be surprised to hear an official announcement sometime in January when the April solicits, including Action Comics #1000 drop.

[The Learner]

Sigh the signs continue to add up for Bendis taking over Superman. Wouldn't be surprised to hear an official announcement sometime in January when the April solicits, including Action Comics #1000 drop.

I am still hoping Bleeding Cool is wrong. Not against a creative team change but Bendis getting his hands on Superman of all the characters, it's repulsive to me. There was a rumour of Hickman coming to DC, if it was true, I would be happy to see him on Superman.

[Kuwagaton]

I'm not repulsed by the idea of a comic writer writing a comic, but I am opposite in the sense that I'd much rather have Bendis than Hickman.

And I've been hoping that the friendship would come into play between him and Oeming. I think Oeming would write or draw a killer Superman. I'd love to see him get the other title if Bendis comes on.

[Frontier]

Bendis and Oeming on Superman or Action sounds like a dream team, even if I'm still not sure I can see Bendis writing a good Superman .

[Lvenger]

I know Oeming from his writing on the Thor Ragnarok story back in the mid 2000s before House of M and Civil War but I didn't know he was an artist as well.

[Superlad93]

Very glad to see Bendis made a full recovery!

Also, wow. We're getting so close to this being real. It would be so sick if Bendis got Oeming to do like back-ups or something for the book. He'd kill it on a Superboy and Krypto back-up or a back-to-basics classic Superman adventure back-up.

I'm so hype to for something new creative-wise coming to the Superman line!

[Sacred Knight]

All I know is someone needs to take over something and soon. At this point I don't care who it is and if its Bendis, well I'm willing to give him as much a shot as I would just about anyone else. The only change I wouldn't be at least cautiously receptive to at this point would be Johns himself. Outside of that though, ANY new voice is welcome with as stagnant the Superman line is.

Its like that scene in a very early Simpsons episode where Homer is mulling over losing his dental plan with the fact Lisa needs braces. The Superman line for the past year can be summed up with a repeating tired narrative: "Jon is powerful and going to go bad! Mr Oz! Jon is powerful and going to go bad! Mr Oz!

[SiegePerilous02]

All I know is someone needs to take over something and soon. At this point I don't care who it is and if its Bendis, well I'm willing to give him as much a shot as I would just about anyone else outside of Geoff Johns returning to one of the titles.

Yeah, same. I'm not thrilled about it and I'm super bummed that the rumors of Hickman joining DC haven't lead to anything yet (my ideal scenario would be him writing Action/Superman and Legion of Superheroes and treating them as linked titled like his Avengers/New Avengers run), but anything new instead of the directionless thing we have now would be good.

And, all whining about silly comic book desires aside, I'm glad he made a full recovery.

[Miles To Go]

All I know is someone needs to take over something and soon. At this point I don't care who it is and if its Bendis, well I'm willing to give him as much a shot as I would just about anyone else. The only change I wouldn't be at least cautiously receptive to at this point would be Johns himself. Outside of that though, ANY new voice is welcome with as stagnant the Superman line is.

According to who? To me the line is just fine. Fun stories, good characters, a real endearing vibe, and sales are decent. I don't know where this agenda against the current creative team is coming from. Just admit the comics aren't made for you anymore and drop them.

[TheNomadicOne]

According to who? To me the line is just fine. Fun stories, good characters, a real endearing vibe, and sales are decent. I don't know where this agenda against the current creative team is coming from. Just admit the comics aren't made for you anymore and drop them.

I'm fine with the current line too, my only real problem with them is that the endings to some arcs just go really fast (Not the biggest fan of Imperiex Lex).

Anyways back to Bendis, I haven't read a lot of his works so I am intrigued what he could 'potentially' bring. That said, I know about his reputation and I would really hate it if everything that worked so well so far just disintegrates.

[Sacred Knight]

According to who? To me the line is just fine. Fun stories, good characters, a real endearing vibe, and sales are decent. I don't know where this agenda against the current creative team is coming from. Just admit the comics aren't made for you anymore and drop them.

According to me. We've been over this before. None of us here are five years old, we all know what a personal opinion is when we see one without having to label ad nauseum. And its no agenda, I just think one book sucks and the other is just okay. Its possible to dislike something without some mustache twirling ulterior motive going on. I think the line is extremely underwhelming, period. Its nothing against the creators outside of the purely creative criticism that I don't feel they're telling interesting stories. To me they're telling repetitive, boring stuff on a loop. That either feature an annoying kid way too much, or focus on a years-long mystery character whose ultimate reveal and intentions fell horribly flat. Now if one wants to counter that creative criticism with sales, that's more than fair too. I think they're doing okay. So from that POV they're not in dire straits, but, then again, I don't think DC should strive for "just okay" with Superman. But they've been content with that for well over a decade now. But more than anything else its just a creative criticism and a desire for a change from that viewpoint.

And I already have dropped Superman. I dropped it months ago. Action still has enough good grace with me to keep up for a bit longer despite the Oz failure. But its still nothing I'd consider really good. Passable would be a better descriptor of my feelings on it right now. But dropping something doesn't mean that one can no longer voice an opinion about them and hoping they get better. There are ways to find out how the stories are progressing without purchasing them via summaries online, sites like scans_daily, etc. So I know what's going on, to me its boring, and to me it needs a change. Plenty will disagree, which is also fine. But this idea that those who don't like something should just shut up and leave needs to die. You would think those who were in the same position when the New 52 was a thing would understand that. Things are cyclical. What some like others won't. Then it will switch. Then it will switch back. And whatever side of the pendulum one is on at any given time, any one of those fans has every right to voice their opinion, negative or positive. Mine right now happens to be negative. I'll drop what I don't like but I sure as hell won't just stop talking about it. I'm still a fan of the character, its not so easy to just give up entirely when you've loved something for most of one's life, so I'm not going to just give up. I imagine that's the same reason that from 2011-2016 there was a different set of people that were complaining all the time. Maybe one day I'll feel there's little reason to not just call it a fandom and walk away completely, but for now, I'm going to be around. Just like everyone else.