Bendis and the "Guardians of the Galaxy" Explore "Planet of the Symbiotes"

[CBR News]

Brian Michael Bendis tells CBR about his "Guardians" plans, including a trip to the "Planet of the Symbiotes" and the fate of Richard Rider.


Full article here.

[sifighter]

Did Bendis just hint at a cosmic event involving The Guardians of the galaxy, Star-lord(his ongoing series), Nova, Captain Marvel, and Cyclops?

That actually sounds really cool when I think about it, and I think I'd actually like to see what would be done.

Other then that, excited for the Original sin tie-in and Planet of the Symbiotes.

[TheVenomSite]

No, you know what it is? There was a time when Venom was so overused. He was like the poster boy for everything that was wrong with comics in the '90s. It was just one of those things where it was selling so well and the visual had captured so many people's imaginations that Marvel, almost with an anger, was shoving as much of it out there as possible.

It seems like Marvel does this with every character that becomes popular, I'm looking at you Deadpool.

Hopefully, with a good story and exposing Agent Venom to Guardian fans will put him back into the spot light and we can get another ongoing.

[harashkupo]

With Valerio Schiti working I'll definitely pick up those issues. It must be nice to be Bendis cuz I swear he gets all the good artists.

[Fokken]

Did Bendis just hint at a cosmic event involving The Guardians of the galaxy, Star-lord(his ongoing series), Nova, Captain Marvel, and Cyclops?

That actually sounds really cool when I think about it, and I think I'd actually like to see what would be done.

Yes! I'm pumped!

With Valerio Schiti working I'll definitely pick up those issues. It must be nice to be Bendis cuz I swear he gets all the good artists.

Wait -- Valerio is drawing? What's the drawing??

[Tekkaman Blade]

I really enjoyed this interview especially the part where Bendis discussed the sometimes sheer devotion/outcries some fans have for Abnett and Lanning plus the part about Nova and ultimately those 2 writers being the ones responsible for the demise of Rider. Bendis even states that he is the only one interested in writing about that particular character but I have a feeling that some fans will most likely see this as being an untrue statement.

And I am very glad that Bendis addressed the art/fill-in issue the book has had since issue #2. I really hope that the upcoming regular art team will be more consistent (and more long term without change after a single arc) down the line.

[harashkupo]

Wait -- Valerio is drawing? What's the drawing??

Here ya go

Then in November's "Guardians of the Galaxy" #21, Bendis and artist Valerio Schiti kick off a story that takes the team and its newest member, Agent Venom (civilian name Flash Thompson), to the homeworld that his famed alien symbiote hails from, in an arc appropriately titled "Planet of the Symbiotes."

Valerio can do no wrong in my book so I'm definitely excited to see his take on the symbiotes.

[Superkreep]

Have there really been that many fill-in artists?
I know recently there has been, but I thought Pichelli was pretty much the constant artist throughout most of the run.
Other than the recent "3 artists an issue" thing this book didn't seem to switch artists any more than the average Marvel NOW title did.

Most will agree that the biggest problem with this series isn't that the Guardians are doing something "different" from DnA's run it's that they seem to be guest stars in their own book. Since the beginning it's not just that everybody's personality has changed it's that they had next to no personality at all. This is not only MY assessment this has been stated many times over by official reviewers right here at this website. I see this partly being the result of having to share page time with guest stars like Iron Man, Angela, the entire roster of X-Men and now Venom but Bendis also does seem to hint that he expected "a rocky road" with these characters (he certainly did stumble with them) but the annual meetings with the movie's creative helped inform him with where they were going so he could loosely follow suit if he chose to. Bad thing about that is when James Gunn was finally brought on board he did significant re-writes, particularly to Quill. Remember, the first movie summary had "a Pilot (most likely Quill) gets swept into space and finds himself involved with fugitives on the run that posses something everyone wants". Peter most of all is the one I've had the hardest time with when it comes to "hearing his voice" during the Bendis run. Perhaps now thanks to the film we've settled on who Pete will be (not to mention how he will look) things will go smoother.

I really think the movie has helped put some things in context for not only Bendis but for readers in general. If they are going to just ape the movie personalities then so be it, at least there will be some defining qualities to them now which up to this point has not really existed. The movie aesthetic certainly helps sell Star Lord as a resourceful rogue-ish character far more than the blue Prince Gatchaman outfit he was wearing up to this point did. The current look lends itself to the kind of trickery Star Lord should be known for that the Blue Lightning outfit did not. Humphries already has used the movie look to his advantage over in his book. That's a good thing, it adds to the unique nature of the character and makes the story feel more "his" rather than a generic Avengers/X-Men story with GotG characters awkwardly inserted.

Before all the more venomous Rider fans show up to blast BMB for saying "THEY (DnA) killed him! Not me!" I'll answer civilly: They supposedly "killed" Star Lord, Drax, and Thanos too, didn't stop those 3 from showing up again.

For those just tuning in, this whole "Richard Rider thing" is not just because he was seemingly "killed off" while the others he was trapped with weren't. It has more to do with the near ERASING of this character's entire presence in comics and all other related media, therefore delegating one of the best story arcs in Marvel's recent history "The Annihilation Saga" to a nearly retconned footnote in favor of a "new" creative direction that is really just re-telling the same stories with different faces. It all very much feels like the current creative is involved simply because they wanted to hop on the Cosmic "Gravy train" that the GotG movie was starting up while it was still hot rather than a desire to actually tell well thought out science fiction/cosmic stories which often require a solid respect for continuity.

The few LEGIT ways Bendis gets roasted here for Nova is if he makes Richard die like a scared punk. THAT would be WAAAAY out of character for him. The other worry is if he gets the Nova force powers wrong, which so far Marvel has not been able to get right anywhere else since Rich "died" so I'm kind of expecting this to be the case here too.

Most reasonable fans understand that Rich's presence would hinder this "lawless galaxy" that the new creative teams wanted to play with. We get that these guys wanted to work with characters they can easily understand and that teh Nova concept might be too much for them. If that's the case just put Rich behind a desk for a while, and have the new guy report to him if you want.
We'd have accepted Rich in a non-active "paid administrative leave" (like Multiple Man is enjoying) much more so than getting erased from existence where even his death and subsequent absence is not acknowledged or lamented. This guy was the star of the Annihilation era the story arc that lead to the amazing GotG movie! He even told Tony Stark to f*k off about his petty antics during the Civil War event. He deserved better than the "never mention him again" Chris Benoit treatment (wrestling reference here).

[Cmbmool]

Have there really been that many fill-in artists?
I know recently there has been, but I thought Pichelli was pretty much the constant artist throughout most of the run.
Other than the recent "3 artists an issue" thing this book didn't seem to switch artists any more than the average Marvel NOW title did.

Most will agree that the biggest problem with this series isn't that the Guardians are doing something "different" from DnA's run it's that they seem to be guest stars in their own book. Since the beginning it's not just that everybody's personality has changed it's that they had next to no personality at all. This is not only MY assessment this has been stated many times over by official reviewers right here at this website. I see this partly being the result of having to share page time with guest stars like Iron Man, Angela, the entire roster of X-Men and now Venom but Bendis also does seem to hint that he expected "a rocky road" with these characters (he certainly did stumble with them) but the annual meetings with the movie's creative helped inform him with where they were going so he could loosely follow suit if he chose to. Bad thing about that is when James Gunn was finally brought on board he did significant re-writes, particularly to Quill. Remember, the first movie summary had "a Pilot (most likely Quill) gets swept into space and finds himself involved with fugitives on the run that posses something everyone wants". Peter most of all is the one I've had the hardest time with when it comes to "hearing his voice" during the Bendis run. Perhaps now thanks to the film we've settled on who Pete will be (not to mention how he will look) things will go smoother.

I really think the movie has helped put some things in context for not only Bendis but for readers in general. If they are going to just ape the movie personalities then so be it, at least there will be some defining qualities to them now which up to this point has not really existed. The movie aesthetic certainly helps sell Star Lord as a resourceful rogue-ish character far more than the blue Prince Gatchaman outfit he was wearing up to this point did. The current look lends itself to the kind of trickery Star Lord should be known for that the Blue Lightning outfit did not. Humphries already has used the movie look to his advantage over in his book. That's a good thing, it adds to the unique nature of the character and makes the story feel more "his" rather than a generic Avengers/X-Men story with GotG characters awkwardly inserted.

Before all the more venomous Rider fans show up to blast BMB for saying "THEY (DnA) killed him! Not me!" I'll answer civilly: They supposedly "killed" Star Lord, Drax, and Thanos too, didn't stop those 3 from showing up again.

For those just tuning in, this whole "Richard Rider thing" is not just because he was seemingly "killed off" while the others he was trapped with weren't. It has more to do with the near ERASING of this character's entire presence in comics and all other related media, therefore delegating one of the best story arcs in Marvel's recent history "The Annihilation Saga" to a nearly retconned footnote in favor of a "new" creative direction that is really just re-telling the same stories with different faces. It all very much feels like the current creative is involved simply because they wanted to hop on the Cosmic "Gravy train" that the GotG movie was starting up while it was still hot rather than a desire to actually tell well thought out science fiction/cosmic stories which often require a solid respect for continuity.

The few LEGIT ways Bendis gets roasted here for Nova is if he makes Richard die like a scared punk. THAT would be WAAAAY out of character for him. The other worry is if he gets the Nova force powers wrong, which so far Marvel has not been able to get right anywhere else since Rich "died" so I'm kind of expecting this to be the case here too.

Most reasonable fans understand that Rich's presence would hinder this "lawless galaxy" that the new creative teams wanted to play with. We get that these guys wanted to work with characters they can easily understand and that teh Nova concept might be too much for them. If that's the case just put Rich behind a desk for a while, and have the new guy report to him if you want.
We'd have accepted Rich in a non-active "paid administrative leave" (like Multiple Man is enjoying) much more so than getting erased from existence where even his death and subsequent absence is not acknowledged or lamented. This guy was the star of the Annihilation era the story arc that lead to the amazing GotG movie! He even told Tony Stark to f*k off about his petty antics during the Civil War event. He deserved better than the "never mention him again" Chris Benoit treatment (wrestling reference here).

Well said as I came into the series during the Annihilation era of Marvel cosmic, but left once Bendis started writing and I'm glad he tried to clear things up in this interview.

Still bugged about the Planet of the Symbiotes title, couldn't they put a 2 on there or rename it Planet Venom just so it doesn't confused with the 90's title of the same name ?

[MarvelMaster616]

So Flash Thompson is finally going to get to be more than a secondary character in this series? I'm all for that. I think he's been under-utilized since he first came aboard. He hasn't contributed as much as Iron Man did when he was with the team. Plus, the home planet of the symbiotes hasn't been explored that much. It's always been clear that they're alien in nature, but that nature often gets obscured. This is a chance to develop it more and have Flash flex some Venom muscle. I'm certainly on board with that.

I'm also on board with Richard Rider appearing in a comic again, even if he's not coming back on a full-time basis. I imagine this is going to make Richard Rider fans even more vocal, but it's better than nothing.

[griffinlad]

Does this mean we are done with Nick Bradshaw? Amazing; I may be able to start buying this book again!

Ditto what others have said; Bendis could learn much about these characters' personalities from the movie.

[Myetche]

So, from what I understand, every symbiote seen so far had been spawned from the original Venom symbiote, which was tailor-made to resemble and mimic Spider-Man's appearance and powers. If this is the actual homeworld of the species, then I would think that the symbiotes seen would not resemble Spidey at all (though Marvel will probably be lazy and just make them all look like the black original).

[RobertoDaCosta]

So, from what I understand, every symbiote seen so far had been spawned from the original Venom symbiote, which was tailor-made to resemble and mimic Spider-Man's appearance and powers. If this is the actual homeworld of the species, then I would think that the symbiotes seen would not resemble Spidey at all (though Marvel will probably be lazy and just make them all look like the black original).

THIS!
those symbiotes shouldn't look at all like Venom...
they should just be a lot of black goo..

[harashkupo]

So, from what I understand, every symbiote seen so far had been spawned from the original Venom symbiote, which was tailor-made to resemble and mimic Spider-Man's appearance and powers. If this is the actual homeworld of the species, then I would think that the symbiotes seen would not resemble Spidey at all (though Marvel will probably be lazy and just make them all look like the black original).

They're going to be sitting around a table eating take out having great conversations.

[Rocket Raccoon]

I really enjoyed this interview especially the part where Bendis discussed the sometimes sheer devotion/outcries some fans have for Abnett and Lanning plus the part about Nova and ultimately those 2 writers being the ones responsible for the demise of Rider. Bendis even states that he is the only one interested in writing about that particular character but I have a feeling that some fans will most likely see this as being an untrue statement.

And I am very glad that Bendis addressed the art/fill-in issue the book has had since issue #2. I really hope that the upcoming regular art team will be more consistent (and more long term without change after a single arc) down the line.

Sorry, but that's complete crap coming from Bendis. The Marvel creative team (which Bendis is part of) cancelled all of Abnett and Lanning plans for Guardians when plans for the movie came about.

http://comics.cosmicbooknews.com/con...ardians-galaxy

Bendis run has been lackluster to say the least because the books has no heart. Instead of keeping the characterizations that Abnett and Lanning created and made the team popular, Bendis decided to do exactly what he does to all his books: put his own stamp and decompression. He is treating Rocket like if he was a character with one-liners like Deadpool or Spider-Man instead of being the man with the plan, the strategist of the team. And like someone mentioned here, the team is being portrayed like guest characters in their own book. First it was Iron Man getting the spotlight (with Bendis writing a stupid line in which he completely trashes/dismisses Captain Britain), then Angela, then Captain Marvel and now Venom. There's no sense of cohesion and chemistry in the team like there was in the previous run.

Thank God that James Gunn decides to based the movie on the stuff Abnett and Lanning wrote instead of Bendis' idea of what this team should be.