The Bendis Tapes. First long form interview is out.

[Miles To Go]

If anything it might be like the drama he injected into Jessica and Luke's marriage at the beginning of his second volume of Jessica Jones.

So he won't break them up, but there might be some marital difficulties or tension.

Don't forget he wrote some difficulties with Miles' parents also, which he very recently tied up in a damn fine issue

[Sacred Knight]

Hopefully he still does the balance, a lot of Clark in Action, a lot of Superman in Superman. I don't want him to get things back to the man overruling the super, so to speak. But a balance is fine.

If by being worried about the marriage at the very least means he'll add some spark back to things and part of the way it'll happen is tension, then I'm all for it. Nothing's changed since pre-FP in that regard; as soon as they're married their relationship becomes extremely saccharine and bland. Its why I grew to dislike it in the first place. Its safe, sure. But its not interesting. I'm not saying extremes of having the two fight all the time and cheat on each other or any of that crap, but when everything is perfect, there is no story, and when there's no story, its pointless.

And I can't say I'm disappointed that he seems to have little to nothing to say about Jon. Far less focus on the kid seems to be further confirmed every day, and for me, that's a great thing.

Actually discussing in-story the return of the trunks actually has the potential for a lot of groaner material, I think. I just have the feeling they're going to overdo it.

[Knightsilver]

As long as it's not a breakup or cheating,I can live with there being some disagreements between them. I want the Supermarriage in tact.

[Miles To Go]

Hopefully he still does the balance, a lot of Clark in Action, a lot of Superman in Superman. I don't want him to get things back to the man overruling the super, so to speak. But a balance is fine.

If by being worried about the marriage at the very least means he'll add some spark back to things and part of the way it'll happen is tension, then I'm all for it. Nothing's changed since pre-FP in that regard; as soon as they're married their relationship becomes extremely saccharine and bland. Its why I grew to dislike it in the first place. Its safe, sure. But its not interesting. I'm not saying extremes of having the two fight all the time and cheat on each other or any of that crap, but when everything is perfect, there is no story, and when there's no story, its pointless.

I disagree. I think their bond at this point in their lives is far too special to be bogged down by tension, angst and drama. There's plenty of ways to make a story captivating without all of that, and it's one of the reasons I've enjoyed Jurgens and Tomasi's runs.

Let's stop trying to turn the clock back to when Lois had sass...she can have all that while still maintaining a happy marriage.

[SJNeal]

I really wish Zircher was sticking around on Action Comics, as Gleason's art isn't what it used to be. Imho.

But they could've done a lot worse.

[Sacred Knight]

The biggest reason their bond is special and a living classic though is specifically because there was always tension. Their dynamic became what it was not through them being married, after all. It became so special due to the triangle and the rivalry. All aspects that kept a significant tension in their relationship. If you're going to marry them off, the last thing you want to do is treat it like a delicate ceramic figure on the mantelpiece to be looked at but not touched. To me its a complete betrayal of their classic dynamic in the first place.

[Miles To Go]

Part of the reason their bond is special though is because there was always tension. Their dynamic became what it became not through them being married, after all. If you're going to marry them off, the last thing you want to do is treat it like a delicate ceramic figure on the mantelpiece to be looked at but not touched. To me its a complete betrayal of their classic dynamic in the first place.

That "classic dynamic" is something they outgrew years ago. Like I said, stop turning the clock back, it doesn't propel us forward, it presents characters who have evolved as unlikeable, and it wastes our time.

[Sacred Knight]

Moving on isn't always a good thing. If "moving on" results in a worse state, then I don't support it. If the end result isn't as good as what once was, I don't even consider it growth. Growth should have positive ramifications, not negative. I consider the castrating of all the major selling points of their relationship a very negative ramification. So I'm not seeing growth. I'm seeing major stagnation, and frankly, neglect. And I'm not saying the only way to get that back is to not have them married. That's what I prefer, everyone who knows me knows that, but its not the only way. They can be married and still be interesting. If Bendis can succeed there but it takes some rocking of the boat, I'm all for it. Because treating them like some Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover sure as hell isn't doing good by their relationship, and further if things are going to focus less on Jon from here on out, there's no longer going to be that mask hiding the fact that things are as dull in their relationship as they were before it was retconned out in the first place. So here's hoping the spark comes back.

[Lvenger]

As if I didn't have enough reasons to dread Bendis writing Superman already. I'm glad I'm not buying any of Bendis' Superman comics if this is what he wants to do with the Super Family. There's already been plenty of tension in the marriage in the past, do we really need any more? Is this because Bendis doesn't want to write a happy family and thus insert all his usual cliche relationship dramas he's done in the past? I wouldn't be surprised if Bendis just wants familiar ground to stand on. Or in this case trample Superman under his feet.

[Sacred Knight]

Tension does not necessarily equal a not-happy family. I don't know what his go-to's are in the "tension" department, I'm not that familiar with his work, but relationships aren't perfect, and portraying them as such doesn't mean that it can't be happy at the same time. I mean, if it goes overboard I'll be the first to call that out too. But until I see anything like that, for the time being I'm hopeful. I just think the mindset of marrying them off then treating that union like a sacred cow doesn't do either character individually or their dynamic any favors. It never has.

[rosawater]

So I think this is just about word for word what he said: So many people are worried about the state of their marriage and the state of their family. You should be. What they are attempting to do is so enormous and it is so delicate, and so precious, and there is so much pressure on them coming from so many different directions. You absolutely should be scared for that delicate, beautiful relationship.

So in full context this sounds more like they will have pressures, disagreements and tension. Their relationship has experience all that before. So for me this isn’t a big deal. As long as the execution isn’t sloppy and it doesn’t get soap operish, I’m fine with this.

That aside, more focus Perry, big plans for Jimmy and his suggestion that he will dive deep into Lois? He has my attention. I’m guessing these are all his plans for Action. I still wonder what will be his plans for Superman.

[Sacred Knight]

Yeah, I fail to see anything concerning or unreasonable there at all. Its all about execution in the end, and as far as I know that could just as easily fall on its face at this point than succeed, but the thought process is more than fine and the right direction.

[rosawater]

I can certainly see why people would be concern or worried. DC tried to undo the marriage not too long ago and some feared that it would never come back. So if a creator comes along, with no previous work on the character and says one should be worried about the relationship, it is of course going to cause some people to be concerned or agitated. That's a natural reaction. I'm just stupidly optimistic that based on what he said 1) it will be more or less regular relationship stuff that all relationships tend to face and that this particular relationship has faced in the past and 2) DC would not try so soon to break them up especially when they got praise for bringing back all the iconic couples AND people highlighting this is as one the reasons why they prefer DC to Marvel.

But yeah, for me it's all about execution. Listening to the podcast, he didn't sound like he was unreasonable or sought to undo or seriously damage the marriage.

[Sacred Knight]

I'm operating under the feeling that after just bringing it back, they're not going to get rid of it so quickly. Now, when we hit the five year mark? Who knows. I didn't think they'd undo the reboot after five years and they did, so my rule of thumb now is after five years rule out nothing. But the marriage has been back for about 2 at this point. Its still good. The worst Bendis can do is cause conflict, he certainly won't be able to retcon it out or separate them. And as if I've said, some form of conflict I think is not only welcome but at this point necessary. One, they are fiercely independent people. Two, they are fiercely stubborn and passionate people (this point should not only cause conflict sometimes but also make for some, well, y'know, the other kind of passion. The really good kind). Three, no marriage is easy. Four, one spouse is Superman, and I don't care how long one is married to him, that presents major difficulties in its own right. These are all things that should be explored not only from a place of simple sense of who they are, but from a pov of interesting storytelling in the first place. If Superman and Lois are going to be married, keep them true to who they are and don't ignore the natural challenges. Exploring challenges doesn't suddenly mean they're not in love or happy in general. But there's happy and then there's bookend happily ever after. The latter is what's irksome. Its boring and it makes them boring together. For a long time they've been presented as basically not having a care in the world when it comes to their marriage. Its perfect in every way. That's easy to write (or a lot of times, makes it easy to flat out ignore), but its not intriguing. And it certainly doesn't make any semblance of sense, even for a primarily escapist lore.

[Knightsilver]

I can certainly see why people would be concern or worried. DC tried to undo the marriage not too long ago and some feared that it would never come back. So if a creator comes along, with no previous work on the character and says one should be worried about the relationship, it is of course going to cause some people to be concerned or agitated. That's a natural reaction. I'm just stupidly optimistic that based on what he said 1) it will be more or less regular relationship stuff that all relationships tend to face and that this particular relationship has faced in the past and 2) DC would not try so soon to break them up especially when they got praise for bringing back all the iconic couples AND people highlighting this is as one the reasons why they prefer DC to Marvel.

But yeah, for me it's all about execution. Listening to the podcast, he didn't sound like he was unreasonable or sought to undo or seriously damage the marriage.

Yep. DC basically debooted Superman to bring back pretty much everything(like the marriage) that Flashpoint erased,and it's proven to be very successful for them. Odds are,no writer would be allowed to just undo everything.