Brian Michael Bendis moves from Marvel to DC
 

http://comicbook.com/dc/2017/11/07/b...dis-dc-comics/

This is an interesting development. I wonder if he got tired of all the editorial drama at the House of Ideas.

Maybe he was ticked off at the push to bring Tony back since he was writing Riri Williams?

Wonder if this means Mary Jane can go back to the Spider-Man comics also? (though the prospect of her being used by Slott again fills me with dread)

Huh. I wonder what he'll be writing.

Some details on the real reasons Bendis left the company

-His books weren't selling as well
-All of his close friends had long departed
-He did not agree with the "diversity doesn't sell" comments from David Gabrielle
-Marvel are planning to take Miles book away from the character and make it yet another book starring Peter in 2018.
-DC offered him a position working on their movies

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/11...vel-dc-comics/

I'm a big fan of Brian Bendis, for his work on Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil, if not his recent output. And Congratulations to him, but the big news here is Marvel comics. After a rough few years since Since the end of Secret Wars, the public engagement blunders (diversity comments, fan-creator relationships via twitter), and event-backlash from fans, this is just the worst time for them to lose someone like Bendis.

A well respected and liked guy like Brian, well, you can bet he's going to have some influence on his current Marvel colleagues. I wouldnt' be surprised to see more writers and artists jump from Marvel to D.C. in the next year or so. Whenever contracts expire. Marvel is in deep doo-doo lately. They need a serious overhaul of editorial or upper-mgmt. What else can be said at this point?

As for D.C. - another major win. Between the fan-favorite Rebirth launch, well received event "Metal", the more niche pop-up imprints like Young Animal and Wildstorm, and the return/acquisition of talent such as Grant Morrison and our new friend, Brian Michael Bendis, D.C. is really going all out. It's as if they woke up one morning and decided "hey, let's actually try and make the greatest damn comics possible in today's industry" and set out to do it. I'm along for the ride.

I've never read any of this guy's stuff but I've heard nothing but bad things about his work from people whose opinions I value. He sounds like a hack, formerly the Marvel equivalent of Geoff Johns but even worse. And now DC has two Geoff Johns.

His Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil runs were truly special comic book runs. I haven’t enjoyed anything from him in years, but he does have his strengths. I think it may be more of a Marvel problem in recent years than a Bendis problem, when it comes to his lack of quality work.

Johnathan Hickman has been offered a contract

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/11...fer-dc-comics/

The dark side of me wants to watch current Marvel Editorial burn. I love Marvel comics but you just don't get the feeling they respect the fans over there.

I know they have to deal with a lot of crazy, unreasonable fans, but I'm not one of them, so I find it pretty upsetting the way they will lie to/disrespect the fanbase.

I did a double take when I saw this thinking it was an April's Fool's Joke not on April 1st to allow it to work. Mr. Marvel of the Modern Age goes to DC. Both of the companies have corruption and drama. Dan Didio will not retire for one thing.

I wonder what caused this and what assignments he will be given to start this deal.

I've read plenty of his work. He can be hit or miss, but he has talent, it's just that he has too many of his tics or quirks, so he can occasionally put out work that feels immediately like a Bendis comic, if that makes any sense at all. Still, dude deserves a lot of credit for Ultimate Spider-Man, which for a long time pre-BND was the Spider-Man comic to read if you wanted something consistently good and everyone and their grandmother loves his Daredevil run. What I've read of his stint with X-Men was really good too and the only reason I stopped bothering is because they apparently cut it short for a return to "OMG EXTINCTION IS NIGH" that didn't work out anyway. His long time with the Avengers was a peaks and valleys situation, but lets not kid ourselves; his approach, as well as fielding a team of Avengers that was the undeniable A list of Marvel heroes, saw them actually become the team franchise for Marvel when they were always just kind of the B team.

Still, losing him is going to hurt, because he's one of the last names they had left. Now it's down to Jason Aaron, who has been my favorite writer in Marvels stable for YEARS, and mainstays like Mark Waid. At one point, it seemed like Marvel had all the up and coming stars in comics, but that's slowly shifted with most of them leaving, Bendis going to DC, rumors Hickman will be following him after being out of Marvel for a couple years, the new guys at DC and the younger guns of Marvel not quite able to carry the company on their back yet like the names that left.

They lost Bendis to the competition at a time they really couldn't afford to.

I would actually be really stoked for that. Hickman goes big and crazy. Perfect for DC. I love that sort of stuff anyway, which probably explains my love for the work of Grant Morrison.

Bendis is definitely talented, especially with the more street-level characters, but I feel his overall output has gone downhill the more of a workload he's taken on. He's a huge name at Marvel, he's often writing 6 or more titles a month, and he's bounced around between almost all of their properties and it hasn't always been the best fit. Marvel got very reliant on Bendis to carry their line, and it increasingly hasn't been to his or Marvel's benefit.

Civil War II was especially abysmal, and even compared to his weaker work, it felt like his heart wasn't in it. I don't even blame him necessarily -- the thing reeked of cynical, forced movie synergy, and it came at a time when the fans were especially sick of "heroes fighting each other" events. I find the alleged clashing with David Gabriel interesting, too -- Gabriel's the "diversity doesn't sell" guy, and I'm almost certain Bendis would take issue with that. (And if you look at the timing of Marvel's recent sales downturn, I'd attribute it to CW2 backlash and event/tie-in fatigue more than anything.)

It seemed to hit its peak when Marvel started losing its "architects". Once guys like Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen and Johnathan Hickman started leaving, it seemed like they turned to Bendis to pick up the slack and, I mean, realistically there's only so much you can do without quality suffering.

I've been saying for a while that it seemed like the bottom was dropping out from under them in regards to events. They've simply relied on them too much, to diminishing returns, and the entire line has been weaker as a result. This on top of the fact that relying on constant relaunches seems to have broken the collectors habit in a fair number of people - which comics RELY on to some extent - because Marvel's been making each volume feel so short that number ones mean nothing now and no comic ever actually sticks around, so why should the reader care? I think it's generally that the world is less interesting right now too, though. They lost a lot of big idea writers and the buzz went with them, plus it's felt like the only story Marvel has in the tank right now is the "replacement hero".

But they're never going to admit that, because it's essentially admitting that they've been cannibalizing themselves for years. Scapegoats are easier. Either way, they need to snap up some promising independent comic voices again, like they did before, and see what they can cultivate before things get bad.

I'll never understand DC alienating Mark Waid, and all the old guard of his caliber that DC was all too happy to replace with Geoff Johns' frat boy friends and various TV hacks. Dude is awesome. A long time ago I watched Mark Waid come to the mic at ECCC under the guise of being "just a fan" and went to the mic to ask Geoff Johns an honest question about "Will we ever see Pol Manning, the alter ego again of Hal's seen in the 58th century in the earlier comics" and Geoff was just so smarmy, so sanctimonious to him it was sickening. Geoff isn't fit to carry Waid's jock strap, as a writer or a thinker or anything else.

Morrison can do no wrong, really.

Not sure why they kind of edged him out. He'd been with them for twenty years and wrote some damn fine comics. Perhaps that's part of it; he was an old hand and the mid aughts to the early tens were about the newer wave, only Marvel ended up snapping most of those guys up too. I wonder, occasionally, if Waid will go back at some point. His love for DC and its properties runs deep. Especially Superman.

Pretty much. He's my favorite comic writer, full stop. I don't think I've read anything from him I didn't like (but I haven't read his entire bibliography, since he's done a lot of stuff over the years). I think the weakest of all the things I've read is maybe Joe the Barbarian, which isn't to say it's even bad. It just felt like it lacked a little flair, maybe. Still, it was a fun little fantasy thing, and is probably the easiest of his work to ever recommend along with WE3, just because it's so straightforward.

I also like Gerard Way, one of his friends, too. He has similar sensibilities. Though I'm more than a little annoyed we still don't have more goddamn Umbrella Academy, even as a Netflix series is on the way.

There was plenty to enjoy with the Spider-Man line pre-BND besides Ultimate. There was JMS, Mark Miller on Marvel Knights, Marvel Adventures, Sean Murphy's Spidey Loves MJ, DeFalco on Spider-Girl etc.

BND kicked off the wretched period we're still enduring.

The weakest of Morrison's titles would be Final Crisis. That was a convoluted mess and did not have the same epic feel that Infinite Crisis did despite Darkseid conquering Earth for one month. Its not necessarily his fault, but what he had to work with.

Also, I suggest you check out his Animal Man run from 1989-1991. That is a hidden gem among DC's archives.

I never miss a chance to hop on the Grant Morrison-Love train. The dude is inspiring.

To me, his comics are the best of the best because he captures the two key elements: They have mind-bending, out of this world concepts, but he never leaves out the heart, the emotion, and those one-liners that seem to speak to the audience as well as the characters.

In Morrison's "Batman and Robin", Dick Grayson attemps to take Bruce Wayne's supposed body to a Lazarus Pit and bring him back to life, despite the chances of dire consequence. He explains to Batwoman:

"...Me and Batman, we had an arrangement... If he was in trouble, I got him out. If there was a death trap he couldn't handle on his own, I was there to get him free. He knew he could count on me. That's how we worked. He was my brother, my best friend. I had a job to do and I never let him down...
So when we located a potential Lazarus Pit, maybe the last one in the world, what choice did I have? If someone gave you a chance, no matter how small, of bringing back someone you loved, you'd have to take it....(Dick looks to Batwoman/the reader, immersing us into the story) wouldn't you?"

Hell yes, I would.

Beautiful stuff. And Morrison is full of it.

Oh please! That's like the ultimate litmus test right there for comic readers: "What do you like better, Infinite Crisis or Final Crisis?" Do you like "Epic!" but empty-headed double-splash page cotton candy from Geoff Johns' hacky little fingers, or do you enjoy something far more nuanced from a true storyteller and craftsman who is continuously able to draw upon a lexicon of DC's 80 years of history to tell a story of the end of the world? You're probably upset there wasn't a fistfight with Darkseid. Final Crisis is far from my favorite Morrison story but it's wayyyyy better than anything Johns has "crafted" in his entire career.

Didn't like JMS, though I wish a couple of his ideas stuck. The Mark Millar run was okay. Marvel Adventures is not what I was looking for, nor was SLMJ. I never cared about Spider-Girl, honestly.

To be blunt, I've enjoyed more Spider-Man post BND than I ever did pre. Pre, it was mainly Ultimate for me. I loved the hell out of that book for years and only kind of dropped off when BND happened and Ultimate started feeling a bit redundant. Which the switch to Miles helped with, but by the time I tried getting into that, it kind of got lost among the other comics I was reading.

I like Final Crisis, but I can understand people who couldn't get into it. It was complicated and for some people I imagine hard to follow. For a lot of rank and file readers, they prefer straightforward and DC had pretty much conditioned them that way. Some were just more concerned with what happened with any given character, while what happened to, like, Hawkman or whatever totally wasn't the point. Some people got what Morrison was doing but just didn't like it.

Either way, I like it for doing something different with an event, which was something we desperately needed, even at the time.

I've been meaning to. One of these days I'm going to pick up the trades. Doom Patrol's another of his I really appreciate, if only because Morrison seems like the only guy - well, save Way now too, I guess - who understood how to make the team stand out in a universe filled with superheroes. No one really cares about Rita or Mento or whatever enough to carry a book. A team that's supposed to be weird should actually be weird.

Good choice on a Morrison moment, dude.

I mean, I assume MikeandRaph87 knows what Morrison was going for and just wasn't into it, which I can respect. Some of Grants work is not for everyone and while I'm glad Final Crisis happened and was something different with the event model, I was never surprised that ended up being one of his most divisive works. There were people out there like you describe who just straight up didn't get it, though, whom just ended up resenting it for it.

Does... Geoff Johns owe you money or something?

Of course. I think we talked about this over in PMs. Fair dues if that era wasn't your thing, I still reckon it was a stronger period creatively, you felt like the character was constantly growing and evolving.

I liked Final Crisis in small pockets here and there, I loved Superman's involvement in it creating that music at the far ends of the universe and working on a way to save Lois from the brink of death. Also loved the use of Tawni Tiger (because of my chidlhood fondness for the old Shazam cartoons)

We did. Good conversation. I enjoyed it. I respect that you really liked that era. I just found that what we've got since suited me a lot more, though the Slott era of post-BND has been peaks and valleys for me. Though the peaks are really high and only one valley genuinely annoyed me.

Supermans involvement was a beautiful thing. Morrison is a guy who simply gets that character in a way not everyone does. Not surprising that All Star Superman is what people think of, now, when considering definitive Superman work.

I think well of Morrison obviously and enjoyed his Batman run overall. However, you cannot get into every story a writer does.

Final Crisis did not speak to me. I do not hate it, its just not my cup of tea. I felt it had a cheap ending when Superman just wished everything back to normal with some machine's help. There was also the pointless deaths of Martian Manhunter who came right back after a hit was put on him by a z-lister and Hawkman died only to die again a few months later in Blackest Knight. The whole reincarnation of the New Gods into hip human characters was just weird. Sure, Morrison has this flair for the weird,but that? This being a company-wide crossover big event I do not how much creative freedom Morrison was allowed. Therefore, I do not blame him for my disinterest in the mini-series itself.

Infinite Crisis had a pretty good build up, while yes a money scheme with four minis leading to a fifth one. One Year Later was unnecessary, but the Infinite Crisis was a callback to the Bronze Age. My favorite period is the late 60s' to the mid 80s' so it spoke to me. The story itself was a fun ride that I looked forward to with anticipation. There was one major gripe overall. I am not pleased with how Earth-2 Superman was handled. Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor Jr. had been leaving their prism prison often for six months and he was oblivious. His hands were bleeding when he broke free of it which was cheapened after what his two fellow hibernation mates were up to. Also, dying due to kryptonite exposure after everything. He and Lois having a happy ending while no one else did including Earth-2 Batman (died in 1978 ) was undone. That was my one beef with the story itself. Superboy-Prime and Alexander Jr. going crazy watching events unfold before them while being homesick is fine and is a twist that works. The whole wall punching changing continuity was bullcrap, but it was not tied to the actual story of Infinite Crisis.

I am a fan of Geoff John's Green Lantern work and I did enjoy his Crisis of Conscience arc in the JLA volume. Johns is overrated and pushed too much down reader's throats like Bendis was at Marvel and it makes one polarized. Its like they model what the respective company wants and its sells really well so they feed them key titles and story-lines. The same with Wolfman and Claremont in the 1980s'. They were given too much power because they had sales and had the golden seal of approval.

i completely agree MikeandRaph87 about not being able to enjoy every singe story a writer produced.
one Morrison story in particular i was incredibly disappointed at was 'Nameless'.
i had such high hopes for it, but it just didn't jive with me. and i'd re-read it a few times hoping something would connect.
too many obscure references forced down the reader's throat over and over. took me right out of the story. but that's only one story of a few that i really didn't like.

as far as Grant otherwise, he's one of my all time favorite comic writers.
he really is responsible for getting me back into collecting comics. (CURSE YOU Morrison!) :lol:
he was doing such amazing things with Batman (and then Batman & Robin)
i just think he had too much on his plate at the time of 'The Return of Bruce Wayne'
it began so good, but i feel the end fell flat. at least the end of his run of B&R which he was writing at the same time was excellent.
plus at the same time he was also writing the 'Batman: The Return' one-shot as well as starting the Batman Incorporated series.

from the solicits i really didn't expect to like Batman Inc, but after the first few issues i fell in love with it.
too bad the reboot had to throw it off course. that HAD to have an effect on the remaining issue.

I apologize to you, sir. You do have some gumption of his body of work.

I figured. That you brought up Animal Man suggested you already knew and liked his work beyond just some of the obvious, so I figured you were in the camp who just couldn't get into Final Crisis because it just didn't get you. Which, as I said, I respect.

So far, I have at least enjoyed everything I've read from him, but I haven't read everything because the guy has a vast body of work over decades. I'm sure there will probably be something of his I read at some point that I'm not wild about, too. It just happens.

I pick and choose with Geoff Johns. I loved his Teen Titans run pre-OYL and what I've read of his original Superman run was good. But man, the first two volumes of his Justice League pissed me off. I dropped it for a full year before giving it one more chance with Throne of Atlantis, which was such a marked improvement I stuck with it past there.

Oh, man, I was one of the guys who was all in the second it was announced.

Batman goes global, with Batmen around the world, having globetrotting adventures and essentially taking the very concept of the Batmen of All Nations to the logical end point if Batman ever authorized it?

Sold.

If anything, it annoyed the **** out of me that the Batman Inc. concept, or at least of the global Batmen, was just dropped in the New 52 era.

Oh.

Also.

Lord Death Man.

Yeah, like a bad habit. Then we got that prestige format conclusion which was just the last two issues of it they never bothered to print, like 5 months later.

The biggest victims of the New 52 was Justice League International. They'd literally spent a whole year of real time building back up JLI in JL: Generation Lost, and simultaneously with Brightest Day which brought back Max Lord... and then they just poo-pooed away all of it. The best relaunch (not reboot) idea they'd ever had, and just poo-pooed it. Right at the finish line. I was beginning to loathe the year-long weekly stuff ("Trinity" was rough to get through, real rough, and it was even more maddening that right when it was over with, after I'd suffered through a year's worth of buying those comics and when Busiek had Krona becoming basically the life-force of Earth-1... like 3 months later Geoff Johns completely and knowingly ignored it when it was time to make Krona into shrimp dude to prep people for the new WB movie)... both both of those successfully piqued my interest.

Then as a consolation prize in the New 52, we got the JLI series where Guy Gardner is like, "Who are you?" to Ice. pfffffft. F*** off.

i was a bit skeptical of the idea of Batman setting up a franchise of other Batmen around the world. that is until i read the first issue....

-the opening intro with Lord Death Man and Mr. Unknown
-a team-up with Catwoman
-the giant robotic mouse
-the gag on the last page

....i was head over heals. :D

do you mean the Leviathan Strikes double issue, or that doofy Batman Inc Special with a bunch of guest writers?