What do you think of Bendis' work so far?

[Ascended]

Im enjoying the books so far. Action is definitely the stronger of the two titles, but Superman is still pretty solid.

Action has done a fantastic job of building up Metropolis and making it feel like a real, breathing setting. The villains in the book are intriguing and fun.

Superman is doing all the cosmic stuff, and that's always been a weak point for Bendis. And the pacing is slower than I'd like, his main villain is not impressive, and aging Clark's son up.....its too early to tell how that'll play out. It has potential, but ten-year-old Jon was a national treasure and Im not sure yet if what we've got now will make up for the loss. But overall the title is still fun enough for me to stick with.

Bendis has a great handle on Clark's voice and brings in interesting, fun ways to use the powers. He's trying to build something different with the Kent family that may turn out to be really interesting (the pacing is too slow for me to decide yet).

The previous creators (Tomasi and Jurgens) did a very traditional family unit with the Kents and Bendis is going in a totally different direction that feels.....it's like if Silver Age Superman had married Lois and had a kid. It's that kind of weird, wild family dynamic. They're still a rock solid family, but their lives are so.......Superman........that sitting down for dinner at 6 just isn't always in the cards.

So far, I think Action has continued to get better while Superman is tripping over its own feet a little. But all the ideas have potential and I'm as invested in the stories as I was when Grant Morrison (the greatest Super writer of the modern age, IMO) and Tomasi (who actually made me enjoy the family) were on the books.

[objectivewatcher2013]

He lost me when he put the idiot trunks on Superman. I hate hate hate hate hate hate HATE those things. I'm also annoyed at him trying to bring back the Silver age in 2019. Also aging Jon to 17 was an idiotic move.

[JonSBF]

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Bendis's sales are dropping because more and more people are fed up with the direction those books are going. The fact that his sales for Superman at this point in his run are lower that Tomasi's were at the same point is an indicator of how people feel. The market is speaking.

For comparison. By month, Tomasi's Superman in its 11th month: May 2017 Superman #22 51,938 May 2017 Superman #23 51,264. Around Superman #38, in its 19th month it was selling around 42k.

Superman was shipping twice a month, the first issue of the month always getting more sales than the second, and was one dollar less expensive.

Bendis is, likely, paid more per issue than Tomasi though.

[DragonPiece]

For comparison. By month, Tomasi's Superman in its 11th month: May 2017 Superman #22 51,938 May 2017 Superman #23 51,264. Around Superman #38, in its 19th month it was selling around 42k.

Superman was shipping twice a month, the first issue of the month always getting more sales than the second, and was one dollar less expensive.

Bendis is, likely, paid more per issue than Tomasi though.

what do sales have to do with a opinion thread?

[new_onslaught]

what do sales have to do with a opinion thread?

If the sales are bad you can't like a book!

[JonSBF]

what do sales have to do with a opinion thread?

Sales show engagement with a particular book, which, yes, do not always correlate with quality. However, they do change the likelyhood of an earlier "shake up" by the publisher, like a stronger editorial grip or even change of team working in a book.

For people who don't like Bendis' run on Superman, it gives hope of having the book with a different team, instead of two books with the same writer.

[Arsenal]

Action Comics under Bendis has become one of my most anticipated releases every month which is much higher than it was previously.

On the otherhand, the Superman book has become more hit or miss for me so it's fallen a bit lower than it previously was.

[Flash Gordon]

The very best the Super books have been since Morrison.

It's nice to see actual quality coming from the Superman titles, whether it's to my interest or not. I'm not terribly interested, but I can't deny that it is good work.

[beetee]

Sales show engagement with a particular book, which, yes, do not always correlate with quality. However, they do change the likelyhood of an earlier "shake up" by the publisher, like a stronger editorial grip or even change of team working in a book.

For people who don't like Bendis' run on Superman, it gives hope of having the book with a different team, instead of two books with the same writer.

Does he sell well in the trades/digital? That may make up for things. At this point in his career is Bendis "Too Big To Fail"?

[Thor-Ul]

I'm more interested in his work on Action and his take on the cast of Metropolis and the Daily Planet and the Invisible Mafia than the way he is working in Superman.

[rpmaluki]

Action is the better of the two books. I preferred it to Superman. I now think my need for answers re:Jon/Jor-El is driving my curiosity for Superman much higher than it was at the start.

[qwertyuiop1998]

His Action Comics is better than what his doing in Superman comics as far as I see, Superman comics now have too many pointless scenes, I mean there were some interesting scenes like Ultraman but only few stories related to the main plot.

[DrNewGod]

I have enjoyed the way Bendis has written Kal-el/Clark (bit of a shock to me actually). I have hated The Knockoff-Doomsday-With-The Bad-Teeth he inflicted upon us.

[mikelmcknight72]

It is Bendis, so you know that characterization serves the story instead of story serving the characters. That is just how it is. While it has worked out better than I expected, my big complaint would be what he is doing to the marriage and Lois. The public kiss, the trip with Jor-El, her leaving that early and abandoning her son and marriage (temporarily), etc. I'm holding off on a final opinion about aging up Jon, but I'm leaning towards a negative on that. One, the aging up trope is old and tired. Two, the friendship with Damian makes the aging up problematic for a well liked dynamic. They could have aged up Jon and Damian both, but only to about 13-14. That'd be old enough to merit LSH involvement, but not so old as Jon is now. Realistically, he'd be more of a big brother to Damian than a friend now.

At least his upcoming LSH appears to be a next-gen re-imaging. At least he won't be screwing up the existing characters, so they'll be handy for another writer to pick up some day