Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: What is your verdict?

[Twigglet]

Only other Avengers runs.

I've read a few, including Lees, Busieks and some other random issues, and I can safely say Bendis' Avengers run is now my favorite of all time.

Taken from Avengers: Dissasembled, to New Avengers, with Mighty and Dark Avengers added in as well. Is he anywhere near your favorite?

[Burning_Pumpkin]

Only other Avengers runs.

I've read a few, including Lees, Busieks and some other random issues, and I can safely say Bendis' Avengers run is now my favorite of all time.

Taken from Avengers: Dissasembled, to New Avengers, with Mighty and Dark Avengers added in as well. Is he anywhere near your favorite?

Yes, he is. And i've read as much Avengers as the next guy.

You know that this makes us the Anti-Fans!

[AllisterH]

Heh...expect a LOT of gnashing of teeth.

All I'll say is that Bendis has been the most influential writer in how the Avengers are perceived by comic book fans since Lee and Kirby.

[Dr-Strange]

I like the poll options.

Better than...

Yes: He is the best ever.

or

No: I hate the man.

Kudos, I did think this was going to be just another love/hate thread.

I was on the hating bandwagon for a while, then I sat down and read every New Avengers book in a day and thought although the quality did slip, all in all they were good. His weaklink for me was Mighty.

[Whitster]

Didn't read Mighty aside from the SI tie-ins but I'll def say yes to this question.

[Majinoaw]

Heh...expect a LOT of gnashing of teeth.

All I'll say is that Bendis has been the most influential writer in how the Avengers are perceived by comic book fans since Lee and Kirby.

Love him or hate him, he has been one of the most influential writers on Avengers in all time. He rebuilt that brand. It will suck once he leaves.

[giovedi]

No.

A few reasons: I don't like his characterization of some of my favorite Avengers characters. I don't like how he threw together his own personal dream team on New Avengers.

I don't doubt that he keeps a good schedule and is able to write several titles every month. He sells comics.

[steveg887]

Unless we're counting Millar's Ultimates, Bendis' Dark Avengers is the only Avengers run I've ever read. So I guess it's my favorite by default.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the hell out of it, but I'm sure there are better runs out there (I hear a lot of good things about Stern and Busiek).

[XPac]

"Great" is obviously a subjective term that will differ from one person to another. I think his run is good, but probably not my favorite.

That said, no one can objectively deny that he's not one of he most important and influential writers to have ever graced the book. He built up the Avengers brand name into the spine of the MU and the top selling franchise in the entire comic industry.

[LordEd1976]

No.

I won't argue that his approach brought in new readers and was something different but it came at the expense of playing with continuity and characterization. Not to mention that SI had a great build-up but crashed when it came time to justifying said build-up. It really didn't feel like something he was working since day 1.

I would say it ranks just under the great runs

[ljacone]

Before Civil War, Bendis' Avengers was pretty decent most of the time. Uneven but not bad, generally. I'd definitely put it over as one of the most successful runs in the history of the property, even though I have given up on it.

[Slyfer]

Busiek's run with a GIANT CAP fighting a giant KANG = WIN

[Ziggy Stardust]

When I compare Bendis' run to Lee's, the 70s run, the 80s run, and then Busiek's?

Yeah, Bendis' don't rate.

[Will.S]

I don't know if I'd call it the greatest yet as I'd like to see him do more work with the big three to see if he can crank out a great run with them but he's certainly up there with Stern and Busiek as being among my favorite Avengers runs.

Despite a lot of gripes with his handling of certain characters and sub-plots, at least he's trying to do different things with the Avengers than trying to do a "greatest hits" version with the usage of the Mighty Avengers title, Dark Avengers, and the various characters that he's implanted within the Avengers canon.

[Kasper Cole]

It's ok but nowhere near the best.........though I think you could have a rotating cast of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Kurt Busiek and people would still be saying it's the worst thing ever.