Poll: Which is the better run: Geoff Johns Rebirth or Brian Bendis run

[Jackalope89]

Basically everything I would say has been said, so I'll keep it short;

Jurgens/Tomasi hands down. Bendis has done just about all the wrong things for me as a writer and storyteller.

[Kuwagaton]

I’ll be the weirdo who prefers Jurgens’s Rebirth run over all of the above. Really underrated if you ask me.

Agreed on both counts. Only I’m not even impressed by Invisible Mafia as some. Just a poor man’s Intergang without the awesome 4th world elements of you ask me.

I'm not sure the OP really meant to include Rebirth but I'm with you there. As confused and rushed as the narrative was, it still had coherence as a Superman story under Jurgens. I think the plotting under Kaminski proved that things could be significantly better with a better office environment and without the double shipping nuttiness. Good stories just don't come out of double shipping, generally speaking.

Bendis did and does come off as a great guy but he's all over the place. I don't think he should be writing more than three comics a month at this point. Think the last issue of Action I bothered to read was 1009 and I only skim Superman because of the big, clear, decompressed storytelling with all the major beats I already know from spoilers making it so easy to double check. Tbh I sort of started tuning out when I saw the combo of Guardian getting bum treatment to go along with dwelling on Kate Manhunter. It was just lined up to be that kind of Bendis comic.

Johns... Eh. Aside from his Legion stories I think at best we get Superman lip service. Even the Legion story I don't reread really because I don't want to get bored of it. I liked his pre flashpoint run quite a bit more until I got deeper into Superman and realized that he never seems to have done the same.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I've liked a lot of Bendis stuff, and I like a lot of Johns work with Superman, too. They both have their flaws, but I'll give the edge to Bendis currently because he's been more forward thinking and his Superman is just straight-up funnier. Johns's Superman was funny, but too dour at times and obsessed with recreating the past.

[exile001]

Bendis, easily.

Superman feels like a big deal. Check. Supporting cast each having an individual role. Check. Clark being a useful character and effective journalist. Check. Superman saving the Earth, Galaxy, etc. Check.

Now, he needs to work his magic on Steel. Remember when he and Superman were partners? Good times.

It is overwritten, which is honestly a bit tiring but is Bendis' style, however the ideas are big, the stakes are big, and by god I feel the love for Superman in his work.

Jurgens ran out of things to say on Superman by the late 90's and nothing in the Rebirth run made me think otherwise. His opening arc was entertaining enough but it and everything after was pretty predictable. While I'm sure the Jor-El reveal was an editorial edict, his choices in The Oz Effect were very strange and perhaps the least interesting way that could have played out.

A part of it is probably a little bias of mine, I cringe when I see DC bringing back guys like Jurgens, Dixon, Perez, etc, when (almost) every time I am disappointed. I want to see new names and fresh ideas on the main titles. DC (and Marvel) could do with a 'Legends' line each, where classic creators could play to their fans old and new.

Of course, Jurgens' work is has always been very well crafted, he has always put together a very competent comic. I'm not saying Jurgens couldn't have a huge return to form, or that he doesn't have fans, or even that he is a relic of the past. I love the guy's work, and consider him one of the most important creators of the 90's and in my top-10 most important Superman creators of all time.

I'm not overly sure about Geoff Johns' part in this, but lets just leave it with the further he is from Superman (and Batman) the better. He could probably do with a career revitalisation by going to Marvel fro a few years (in the same way that Bendis desperately needed to move to DC).