Would Bendis Be More Well Liked As a Writer if He Didn't Use "BendisSpeak"?

[Timothy Hunter]

Would Bendis be more well liked as a writer if it weren't for his unconventional dialogue?

One of the major criticisms of Brian Michael Bendis is his dialogue. It's very prolonged, it's very redundant, and can be quite obnoxious to some. I would say, it annoys to me to no end as well. Nevertheless, I still consider Bendis to be a solid writer 2/3rds of the time. I enjoyed his run on the Morales iteration of Ultimate Spiderman, I maintain the view that his X-Men run is probably the greatest since Morrison, and I even liked his Guardians of the Galaxy.

Even though his dialogue can be irksome and his lack of respect for continuity is vexatious, he can still write solid character moments even to a profound level. Take this snippet of narration for instance in issue two of his relaunched Superman series:
Green Arrow once privately asked if my life was hell. "Hell?" I asked.
"Actual hell! Because you can never turn off your super hearing.
"You can't not see the madness of the world without your supervision.
I don't. I never have and I never will.
But I can. We all can.
I could leave the planet and never come back.
And yes.
Some days it does feel like madness.
The screams for help never stop.
The hate never stops.
Oh and the ignorance.
The ignorance sometimes never stops, and it just breaks my heart.
But, and it was my wife who pointed this out...
...She said everyone knows there is suffering and hurt and war and disaster.
All the time.
Somewhere, someone out there is hurting someone else.
People help.
People reach out.
More times than not, a scream- -and someone helps before I can even lift a finger.
People do their jobs. It's stunning to see. Beautiful, really.
The police, firemen, EMTs, politicians, even.
Nothing is perfect, and it never will be but...
The world works.

This scene proves that Bendis can still do phenomenal character work. Recent comics of his, Naomi #1 and his story Detective Comics #1000 were excellent as well. However what gets in the way far too often is his twee sense of humor and his godforsaken dialogue.

So, I once again must ask: If an editor stepped in, and said to Bendis: "stop writing dialogue with your typical mannerisms and write said dialogue in a more conventional manner" and he listened, how much in quality would his current comics improve?

I'm reaching out to more of the critics and detractors of Bendis rather than his actual fans. If you like his means of doing dialogue, that's perfectly fine.

[Kuwagaton]

I don't think it's nearly as big a deal as pacing issues, a standardized big shock, and incidents where he uses plot to move character when many feel it should be the other way around.

Though sure, I'd say that it's completely likely that even if he constructed his stories better people would still pick his dialogue as a hill to die on and that if his dialogue was the only bit of change, you'd see less complaints.

[Jackalope89]

Its a problem, but not the only one. Certainly, pages where there's a bunch of dialogue, but nothing actually said, is an issue. But ignoring established continuity, massively changing characters' personalities to suit his stories, introducing his own "exciting" characters that are blander than rice cakes, etc. all contribute to it as well.

[Adset]

his dialogue can get... weird, but it usually doesn't take me out of a story. he's got some quirks i think are strange (his characters shout "Ho!" a lot, which confounds me) but i can get past it. after reading his marvel stories for 15+ years, my two notorious red flags are:

1. when bendis has mentally moved on to other projects but still needs to wrap up his current work. see: the end of the avengers, guardians, or iron man. the final arcs on these were nearly unreadable. the beginning of his x-men run was actually quite creative/ambitious; the end wasn't as bad as some of his other work, but even still the effort just wasn't the same.

2. overworked bendis. he likes to juggle a lot of books, and this isn't always good for the reader. i've really been enjoying his super books, and young justice, so we're still OK here, but there's definitely a part of me that's starting to get nervous now that he's got 5-6 monthlies going on.

[Yoda]

I generally don't mind it, or rather can look beyond it, but I think it definitely works against him in certain circumstances. Action 1004 being probably the most glaring recent example where Lois sounded like a typical Bendis character, didn't say a whole lot over the course of the issue for scenes that really needed her to explain and sell her motivations and Clark to respond and accept them for whatever reason. Instead, a lot of words were said but none of them actually justified the characters actions in any real way. And things just happened. This compounds the plot before character problem because if you're going to have them act a certain way you should be able to justify it and he often doesn't even try. Compare 1004 with like Ultimate Spider-Man 13. You knew what the characters meant and how they felt and reacted to each other and it was all Bendis Speak. I personally think it's one of his best issues. Same with the bookend to it, the Mary Jane issue after their breakup.

The biggest pet peeve I have with his writing is his tendency to have the "bad" characters say really awful things in witty ways that makes it come off as funny or cool. This really came up in Action 1002 and in the past with his treatment of Tigra and Ms. Marvel over in Avengers, and some of the dialogue about Lois in Action. He justifies it as being the "bad" characters that say and do this stuff but presents it in a way that is either sensational or makes the villain come off as cool, like was the case with Tigra, or funny or quippy like with the comments about Lois.

The pacing can be maddening in the short term, but I do like the way his stories read when completed so it's kinda a mixed bag for me there.

[Artemisfanboy]

For me, my current problems with Bendis's Superman revolve around two issues; Aging up Jon this much and the rumors/concerns over where he's going with Lois and Clark's relationship(and the two issues are somewhat tied together). If Jon hadn't been aged up or not as much(I'd say thirteen is the limit I'd be comfortable with) I think I'd be a lot calmer on the whole. I could understand that as them wanting to skip over the "boring" pre-teen years to puberty. He'd still be in Damians age group so I wouldn't be worried about their dynamic the Supersons being gone for good. With him being seventeen it seems like they just want to get him out from under Lois and Clark's feet and possibly sent off to the future with the legion.

As for the future of Lois and Clark's relationship, while I'm willing to believe he isn't going to break them up for real, there are rumors of legal divorce or a sham break up. First of all I hate the idea and find it nonsensical for them throw away tier marriage for no good reason. I also hate the idea of Lois creating a public image for herself that she's nasty cheater who used and disposed of Clark. Also if these rumors are true, I have no faith that other people at DC might not use a stepping stone since hard parts(the legal divorce and Jon not being directly effected by having a broken home) would already be solved. Once again, if Jon hadn't been aged up to the point he's practically an adult and no longer in need of his parent's guardianship, I'd feel a bit safer on this front.

People brought up other issues related to bendis in addition to "bendis speak", such as ignoring continuity, changing personalities, pet oc's, but I'd could be forgiving of these(depending on how big each issue is) to an extent. But I really don't like what he's done to Jon and want it undone eventually and am nervous about other things.

[Miles To Go]

As for the future of Lois and Clark's relationship, while I'm willing to believe he isn't going to break them up for real, there are rumors of legal divorce or a sham break up. First of all I hate the idea and find it nonsensical for them throw away tier marriage for no good reason. I also hate the idea of Lois creating a public image for herself that she's nasty cheater who used and disposed of Clark

Another potential red flag is the Lois solo...we all know Selina's book required her to be single and we got the Bat-Wedding bait and switch. We don't want the same happening to Lois, let's see how they can make the book interesting while allowing her to retain her distant, yet loving, "modern" relationship with Clark.

[Stardust]

Would Bendis be more well liked as a writer if it weren't for his unconventional dialogue?

One of the major criticisms of Brian Michael Bendis is his dialogue. It's very prolonged, it's very redundant, and can be quite obnoxious to some. I would say, it annoys to me to no end as well. Nevertheless, I still consider Bendis to be a solid writer 2/3rds of the time. I enjoyed his run on the Morales iteration of Ultimate Spiderman, I maintain the view that his X-Men run is probably the greatest since Morrison, and I even liked his Guardians of the Galaxy.

Even though his dialogue can be irksome and his lack of respect for continuity is vexatious, he can still write solid character moments even to a profound level. Take this snippet of narration for instance in issue two of his relaunched Superman series:
Green Arrow once privately asked if my life was hell. "Hell?" I asked.
"Actual hell! Because you can never turn off your super hearing.
"You can't not see the madness of the world without your supervision.
I don't. I never have and I never will.
But I can. We all can.
I could leave the planet and never come back.
And yes.
Some days it does feel like madness.
The screams for help never stop.
The hate never stops.
Oh and the ignorance.
The ignorance sometimes never stops, and it just breaks my heart.
But, and it was my wife who pointed this out...
...She said everyone knows there is suffering and hurt and war and disaster.
All the time.
Somewhere, someone out there is hurting someone else.
People help.
People reach out.
More times than not, a scream- -and someone helps before I can even lift a finger.
People do their jobs. It's stunning to see. Beautiful, really.
The police, firemen, EMTs, politicians, even.
Nothing is perfect, and it never will be but...
The world works.

This scene proves that Bendis can still do phenomenal character work. Recent comics of his, Naomi #1 and his story Detective Comics #1000 were excellent as well. However what gets in the way far too often is his twee sense of humor and his godforsaken dialogue.

So, I once again must ask: If an editor stepped in, and said to Bendis: "stop writing dialogue with your typical mannerisms and write said dialogue in a more conventional manner" and he listened, how much in quality would his current comics improve?

I'm reaching out to more of the critics and detractors of Bendis rather than his actual fans. If you like his means of doing dialogue, that's perfectly fine.

My problem with this isn't the Bendis speak, but the assumption that the world works.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I think the simple answer is that Bendis would be more liked as a writer if he were less popular. I mean that both as a comment on fandom and a comment on the fact that being extremely popular gives Bendis a bit too much carte blanche when it comes to established characters. I'm generally all for creator freedom but when it comes to major established crators, some directorial control is a good idea, just to make sure that there is some consistency with what came before.

And I, for one, love Bendis' dialogue.

[Miles To Go]

I think the simple answer is that Bendis would be more liked as a writer if he were less popular.

That's ridiculous. The man has legit flaws as a writer.

[Yoda]

That's ridiculous. The man has legit flaws as a writer.

Yeah, but if he wasn't as popular and wasn't on as many big events or major characters, his flaws would be more forgivable. Like look at Tom King's recent trajectory, Batman and HiC have brought out huge contingents of people who now don't like his work as much and pick at his increasingly obvious shortcomings as a writer relentlessly.

Bigger the profile, bigger the microscope on their work.

[Vordan]

For his Superman run it hasn’t been too bad imo. It was absolutely awful in his X-men, GOTG, and Iron Man runs though. Bendisspeak worked great for Peter Parker because Pete is a smart ass kid who gives everyone lip as Spidey. But when Bendis writes grown men doing it, it just sounds awful. I remember one time he wrote the Illuminati with absolutely atrocious Bendisspeak.

His USM uses Bendisspeak extensively and that was a huge success. His Daredevil uses Bendisspeak and that’s good too. So no I don’t think Bendisspeak has held him back.

[Timothy Hunter]

My problem with this isn't the Bendis speak, but the assumption that the world works.

Bendis wrote those narration captions to exemplify Superman's outlook on life. It may not be what you or I believe but you wouldn't call Supernan a pessimist would you?

[Stardust]

Bendis wrote those narration captions to exemplify Superman's outlook on life. It may not be what you or I believe but you wouldn't call Supernan a pessimist would you?

Captions like that make Superman either a naive rose colored glasses type.
He doesn't have to be a pessimist to not be that.

Or dismissive of suffering
B ecause with all of Superman 's senses saying: THE WORLD works, is incredibly dismissive of the suffering of those for whom it doesn't work.
I prefer my Superman to be less cynical. He shouldn't tell those people: "you don't count " with a sentence like this. A sentence like this is only patting yourself on the back and ignoring the less fortunate.

Had he written the system works, I doubt people would like it. In my opinion "the world" isn't much better.

[Snoop Dogg]

Brian's dialogue not letting some jokes land is worth the ones that do, and more than worth it for the flow of his dramatic scenes. He has bigger issues.