Brian Bendis on Superman

[KC]

I would not mind if DC gave Bendis his own Superman title to work on with whoever he wants, like Scott Snyder's All-Star Batman.

[Sacred Knight]

That'd be cool too. In fact the more I think about it, preferred. It'd be nice to have more options again. In the past at least if one didn't like the status quo there was other options out there. For instance if one wasn't a fan of the direction in the 90s, they were in luck because Elseworlds was a big thing back then. In the immediate present there's nothing but the current status quo. Even the New 52 era provided other options like the Adventures digital run or Smallville Season 11, or American Alien. Right now its family man Superman or nothing, which is a pretty bum deal.

[Eto]

Wow, this is awful news. Hopefully it'll never ever happen.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I don't really have much feeling on Bendis, one way or the other, I'm just familiar with his work under the Ultimate line. I'll see what he'll have to say about Superman.

[JudasFanny616]

I'm a fan of his Daredevil run for Marvel, so I'm open to see what he can do for Supes.

[SiegePerilous02]

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.

Hoping for a new, exciting creative direction for a character you are interested in and want to read about but aren't due to lack of interest in current output isn't the same as having an agenda against the living people making the comics. Would you accurately describe yourself as having an agenda against creative teams and story decisions for Superman that you didn't like in the past?

[WontonGirl]

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.

Yes but sometimes, if something doesn't work out, a company is not going to go back to it.

[WontonGirl]

I will check out a Bendis Superman book. Seems interesting!

[Sacred Knight]

Yes but sometimes, if something doesn't work out, a company is not going to go back to it.

Oh I didn't mean to suggest the New 52 will come back. I was speaking in much more general and non-specific terms, that the way things are in comics, before you know it something happens where people who were happy suddenly aren't, and those who weren't happy are suddenly interested.

[Thor-Ul]

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 .

For sure it would sell a lot. And DC would be happy with that.
I'm not only worried with him writing Superman but also writing the world of Superman:that means Lois, Jon, Jimmy, Perry, Lana, John Henry...
Now I thought about it,I would be curious of him writing the Daily Planet.

[DragonPiece]

For sure it would sell a lot. And DC would be happy with that.
I'm not only worried with him writing Superman but also writing the world of Superman:that means Lois, Jon, Jimmy, Perry, Lana, John Henry...
Now I thought about it,I would be curious of him writing the Daily Planet.

Honestly, I think it's the supporting cast he would do justice with rather than Superman. I feel like Bendis was literally born to write Lois and the family dynamic currently going on in Superman.

[Ascended]

Honestly, I think it's the supporting cast he would do justice with rather than Superman. I feel like Bendis was literally born to write Lois and the family dynamic currently going on in Superman.

I think I agree.

Under Bendis, I think the supporting cast would shine, and Metropolis itself might see more development and attention than it has in a long time.

But Clark himself? I dont know if Bendis could capture the more.....fantastic....elements that I like to see in Clark. I think the "human" side of Superman would be just fine, but the "Super" part is questionable. Would we get to see Clark casually tinkering in the Fortress with a Time Sphere the same way your grandfather might've tinkered with a tractor or old car? Talking to the Unknown Superman of the future? Traveling to other planets on diplomatic missions? Making first contact with higher-dimensional energy beings? Trying to find a different food source to lead a swarm of sun eaters away from earth's solar system? I doubt it. And these aren't really all that "high concept" by the measure of Superman.

So basically I expect a Bendis written Superman to resemble the Triangle era a lot. Which isn't a bad thing. I loved that era. But it was lacking in some of the high-concept stuff that so many associate with pre-Crisis and I like to see out of my Superman.

Its not the worst thing that could happen to Superman by a long shot. But its not quite what I *want* to see either. Now, if Bendis could give us a Triangle era revisit and also include those wild, big ideas? That'd be perfect. But I have yet to see Bendis do cosmic well.....and would rather see him not do it at all than do it poorly.

[Kuwagaton]

There was a lot of that stuff, but I think it's pretty overlooked because of the overall emphasis on Earth.

Similarly I don't think Bendis would write "Doctor Who in a cape" more or less like how say, Slott did with his Silver Surfer. But I did dig into Guardians a little since this thread first came about and I don't think sci-fi adventure fans should count him out just yet.

[Ascended]

There was a lot of that stuff, but I think it's pretty overlooked because of the overall emphasis on Earth.

There were bits of "cosmic" in the Triangle era, but they were few and far between. Most of what the era did that they seemed to consider "cosmic" didn't measure up. Superman lost in space? Great story (I still really like Massacre as a villain!) but that wasn't "cosmic" by Superman standards. Maybe you could call being lost in space "cosmic" if you're Batman. But for Clark? That's what he does before lunch on Thursday, yknow?

Fighting the original Monitor (who has become a vampire) on a level of reality so far beyond ours that the entire multiverse is contained in a soda bottle is cosmic. Opening a Boom Tube through time and pushing a sentient manifestation of a universal abstract and a evil AI planet from the future into the Big Bang is cosmic. The Triangle era did damn little of that.

But you're right, the early post-Crisis era did hit the cosmic chord a few times. Not often though.

Similarly I don't think Bendis would write "Doctor Who in a cape" more or less like how say, Slott did with his Silver Surfer. But I did dig into Guardians a little since this thread first came about and I don't think sci-fi adventure fans should count him out just yet.

Im not counting him out, I just havent seen him do anything "cosmic" that Ive really enjoyed. He has fun ideas sometimes, like bringing the original X-Men into the present day. But from what Ive read, he usually fumbles the ball with stuff on that scale (like bringing the original X-Men into the present).

But just because I haven't read a cosmic story from him so far doesn't mean he can't do one I'll enjoy. Im not counting him out on this, Im just saying that from my experience with his work, it doesn't appear to be his strong suit and if that's the case, I'd rather he stick to what he's good at than tell a bad story trying to be something he's not.

EDIT: Oh, he did write that one-shot annual with his time traveling mutant. I forget her name. That was a good read. That was close enough to Superman level "cosmic" I'd be happy to see it in Action. So okay, he's done one good issue of cosmic that I enjoyed.

[Kuwagaton]

There were bits of "cosmic" in the Triangle era, but they were few and far between. Most of what the era did that they seemed to consider "cosmic" didn't measure up. Superman lost in space? Great story (I still really like Massacre as a villain!) but that wasn't "cosmic" by Superman standards. Maybe you could call being lost in space "cosmic" if you're Batman. But for Clark? That's what he does before lunch on Thursday, yknow?

Fighting the original Monitor (who has become a vampire) on a level of reality so far beyond ours that the entire multiverse is contained in a soda bottle is cosmic. Opening a Boom Tube through time and pushing a sentient manifestation of a universal abstract and a evil AI planet from the future into the Big Bang is cosmic. The Triangle era did damn little of that.

But you're right, the early post-Crisis era did hit the cosmic chord a few times. Not often though.

My post before I edited it was a little different, because I figured you were mentioning more or less All-Star. Then I remembered that the examples you give line up kinda closely with events from post-crisis stories ( Superman #29, Action #664, Man of Tomorrow #11, Action Annual #7, Adventures #494, Adventures #620 respectively). That last part you mention in this snippet sounds like OWAW, which was still sporting triangles. But I can agree that even if there was more wacky cosmic stuff overall, proportionately there was less of it than with a short story like All Star and it definitely didn't focus on Superman being more powerful than his most powerful.

Meanwhile the Bronze Age went epic and crazy for so long that it was basically a more extreme opposite. The best Bendis I can imagine will be dipping into Spider-Man as often as he dips into Guardians.

Im not counting him out, I just havent seen him do anything "cosmic" that Ive really enjoyed. He has fun ideas sometimes, like bringing the original X-Men into the present day. But from what Ive read, he usually fumbles the ball with stuff on that scale (like bringing the original X-Men into the present).

But just because I haven't read a cosmic story from him so far doesn't mean he can't do one I'll enjoy. Im not counting him out on this, Im just saying that from my experience with his work, it doesn't appear to be his strong suit and if that's the case, I'd rather he stick to what he's good at than tell a bad story trying to be something he's not.

EDIT: Oh, he did write that one-shot annual with his time traveling mutant. I forget her name. That was a good read. That was close enough to Superman level "cosmic" I'd be happy to see it in Action. So okay, he's done one good issue of cosmic that I enjoyed.

At least imo, the wacky time travel stuff throughout the X-Men wasn't so badly executed as it just didn't have great motivation or characterization to back it up. Really I didn't like much at all about his X-Men run besides some amazing art and do agree that it seems infinitely easier for him to write Spider-Man. But I'm not so much thinking of your comments here over some of the comments that Bendis will prove incapable and actually *ruin* things.