Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: What is your verdict?

[nnelg]

It is another case of Marvel changing a character to match the story. They do it constantly now look at Cyclops.

[Paladin King]

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I feel like he definitely stayed far too long and it showed in the quality of his work.

It's like...you know how Ed Brubaker's Captain America post-relaunch wasn't particularly great? Imagine if he stuck with the book....for another 3 years or so. That was basically Bendis' Avengers.

[Clark_Krunk]

people hate on Bendis like hes A-Rod, its sad because you would really have to pull at straws to find something Bendis has done that hasn't been awesome...

yeah the long time, boring, stale, old school avengers fans hated him, for what reason I still don't know, the guy has done more for avengers in 8 years than every other writer combined...

there would be no avengers movie if it wasn't for the popularity he garnered with his success writing the comic.


Come on, Breakout until Siege, it doesn't get much better.... well, unless youre and old school avengers fan who wants comics from the 70's.

[manos]

people hate on Bendis like hes A-Rod, its sad because you would really have to pull at straws to find something Bendis has done that hasn't been awesome...

yeah the long time, boring, stale, old school avengers fans hated him, for what reason I still don't know, the guy has done more for avengers in 8 years than every other writer combined...

there would be no avengers movie if it wasn't for the popularity he garnered with his success writing the comic.


Come on, Breakout until Siege, it doesn't get much better.... well, unless youre and old school avengers fan who wants comics from the 70's.

As always Bendis fans of the Avengers comments are as dreadful as Bendis work on the book.
Marvel pushed for the Avengers to be their flagship book. They just assigned Bendis to write The Avengers to the more "casual readership". Marvel would have done an Avengers movie even if Brubaker was writing them.

Course no point arguing. Beside now that the Avengers are back to be boring in your perception I guess you'll
join up with Bendis on New X-men and Guardians.

[Clark_Krunk]

but Brubaker didn't write Avengers, Bendis did.... and he killed on it.....

[Zen-aku]

New Avengers : Never read it

Mighty Avengers : Meh. That poor Doom.

Dark Avengers : Extremely Awesome

New Avengers on the Run from the Law : Good stuff

Avengers : Boy, he just stopped trying here didn't he?

New Avengers 3 : Same as above

I don't see how you can say he stopped trying with new avengers vol2

[midnightshrink]

He pissed me off a lot of times but like him or hate him he completely revitalized the Avengers and made them THE Marvel franchise, surpassing the X-Men and Spiderman during his run. Now the Avengers did have a lot of help from Wolverine and Spiderman himself in the process. Regardless he made previously c list characters relevant and cool again, like Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spiderwoman. I love that he tried to push the Sentry even though they turned him into a villain. Going forward that is a potentially HUGE threat that will haunt the Avengers for a long time when he eventually comes back. What he did for Spiderwoman is commendable, but what he did for Ms. Marvel I think is the best part, he really pushed her way beyond what she had ever been and made me look at her differently and not just as a boring female military character. And he made her sexy and while he did not quite succeed if ever there is going to be a character to rival Wonder Woman from Marvel my money is on her. And then there is Hawkeye which is kind of a running joke because before that the fans had a love hate relationship with him and now he is a star in the Avengers and most people in pop culture know who he is. Who would have thought "Not like this" would be the best thing to ever happen to that character? At the same time he kind of wash away the more regal aspects of Avengers and neglected classic Avengers characters in favor of newer ones. Yet he left everything better than when he received it when exiting the book restoring anything he undid, like Vision, Wasp, Antman and Wonderman. So in a sense he mostly added to Avengers and in the end gave the long running fans what they wanted. In my opinion he didn't write one major definitive OMG Avengers story outside of House of M and even then I don't know... but he did write a ton of solid solid stories and he still may get that big Avengers story with the Ultron war. I always felt Busiek had a wonderful classic run for 60 issues or so where they told some timeless avengers stories, like Ultron Unlimited and the Kang Dynasty which were just Avengers instant classics. But I can't think of a story from Bendis that is like that. Siege maybe? The Norman story? Idk I already feel like Hickman is already going there with the Garden and the closest Bendis came was the Hood and he was kind of an out there wtf character that I was never convinced with. But overall from all of the status quos he shook forever Bendis is one of the top 5 Avengers writers of all time, probably top 3. I think his strength is also his knock which is the fact he tells a story he could tell in three parts in 6 parts and he reads better when you read his entire arcs successively, that's when you really see his talent. Which in an action packed book you expect to blow you away every month is kind of annoying. But it is good for business because it milks the cow for all it is worth and that is why this man was able to stay strong longer than most.

[CJStriker]

He pissed me off a lot of times but like him or hate him he completely revitalized the Avengers and made them THE Marvel franchise, surpassing the X-Men and Spiderman during his run. Now the Avengers did have a lot of help from Wolverine and Spiderman himself in the process. Regardless he made previously c list characters relevant and cool again, like Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spiderwoman. What he did for Spiderwoman is commendable, but what he did for Ms. Marvel I think is the best part, he really pushed her way beyond what she had ever been and made me look at her differently and not just as a boring female military character. And he made her sexy and while he did not quite succeed if ever there is going to be a character to rival Wonder Woman from Marvel my money is on her. And then there is Hawkeye which is kind of a running joke because before that the fans had a love hate relationship with him and now he is a star in the Avengers and most people in pop culture know who he is. Who would have thought "Not like this" would be the best thing to ever happen to that character? At the same time he kind of wash away the more classic aspects of Avengers and neglected classic Avengers characters in favor of newer ones. At the same time he left everything better than he received it when he exited and restored anything he undid, like Vision, Wasp, Antman and Wonderman. So in a sense he mostly added to Avengers. In my opinion he didn't write one major definitive omg Avengers story outside of House of M and even then I don't know... but he did write a ton of solid solid stories and he still may get that big Avengers story with the Ultron war. I always felt Busiek a wonderful classic run for 60 issues or so where they told some timeless avengers stories, like Ultron Unlimited and the Kang Dynasty which were just Avengers instant classics. But I can't think of a story from Bendis that is like that. Siege maybe? The Norman story? Idk I already feel like Hickman is already going there with the Garden and the closest Bendis came was the Hood and he was kind of an out there wtf character that I was never convinced with. But overall from all of the status quos he shook forever Bendis is one of the top 5 Avengers writers of all time, probably top 3.

A nice Post their Midnightshrink.

In then end he did bring back all those Characters. But I still wonder, why did he not have the fortitude to Fix the character he made the most controversial decisions on, Scarlet Witch? Everything else is fine and debatable, but what he did with Wanda and not fixing her up or at least started to still is strange to me and is the only thing the urks me about Benids.

[Clark_Krunk]

He pissed me off a lot of times but like him or hate him he completely revitalized the Avengers and made them THE Marvel franchise, surpassing the X-Men and Spiderman during his run. Now the Avengers did have a lot of help from Wolverine and Spiderman himself in the process. Regardless he made previously c list characters relevant and cool again, like Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spiderwoman. I love that he tried to push the Sentry even though they turned him into a villain. Going forward that is a potentially HUGE threat that will haunt the Avengers for a long time when he eventually comes back. What he did for Spiderwoman is commendable, but what he did for Ms. Marvel I think is the best part, he really pushed her way beyond what she had ever been and made me look at her differently and not just as a boring female military character. And he made her sexy and while he did not quite succeed if ever there is going to be a character to rival Wonder Woman from Marvel my money is on her. And then there is Hawkeye which is kind of a running joke because before that the fans had a love hate relationship with him and now he is a star in the Avengers and most people in pop culture know who he is. Who would have thought "Not like this" would be the best thing to ever happen to that character? At the same time he kind of wash away the more regal aspects of Avengers and neglected classic Avengers characters in favor of newer ones. Yet he left everything better than when he received it when exiting the book restoring anything he undid, like Vision, Wasp, Antman and Wonderman. So in a sense he mostly added to Avengers and in the end gave the long running fans what they wanted. In my opinion he didn't write one major definitive OMG Avengers story outside of House of M and even then I don't know... but he did write a ton of solid solid stories and he still may get that big Avengers story with the Ultron war. I always felt Busiek had a wonderful classic run for 60 issues or so where they told some timeless avengers stories, like Ultron Unlimited and the Kang Dynasty which were just Avengers instant classics. But I can't think of a story from Bendis that is like that. Siege maybe? The Norman story? Idk I already feel like Hickman is already going there with the Garden and the closest Bendis came was the Hood and he was kind of an out there wtf character that I was never convinced with. But overall from all of the status quos he shook forever Bendis is one of the top 5 Avengers writers of all time, probably top 3. I think his strength is also his knock which is the fact he tells a story he could tell in three parts in 6 parts and he reads better when you read his entire arcs successively, that's when you really see his talent. Which in an action packed book you expect to blow you away every month is kind of annoying. But it is good for business because it milks the cow for all it is worth and that is why this man was able to stay strong longer than most.

Agree, I said the same thing above...

but I do disagree in the sense that Bendis didnt have a very "definitive OMG Avengers story"... Disassembled into House of M is what drove Marvel for years to come, those are his biggest... "no more mutants" what Bendis did in Disassembled changed everything in Marvel, especially the X-men, the past 8 years was a result of what he did with Wanda. Everything was driven by it, Messiah Complex, Second coming, through Gillens fine run and ending what, 10 years later in AvX. Focusing more on the Avengers side Siege was some of his best work also, Cap comes back, Sentry the Void, Osborn, Ares dying, what a fantastic 4 issues they were.


Also, I must not forget the awesomeness of Dark Avengers and Secret War.

Bendis is Marvels top dog, he can pretty much do what he want there, like Johns over at DC.

[Zen-aku]

House of M and Seige were all straight up great events

[Caio]

people hate on Bendis like hes A-Rod, its sad because you would really have to pull at straws to find something Bendis has done that hasn't been awesome...

yeah the long time, boring, stale, old school avengers fans hated him, for what reason I still don't know, the guy has done more for avengers in 8 years than every other writer combined...

there would be no avengers movie if it wasn't for the popularity he garnered with his success writing the comic.


Come on, Breakout until Siege, it doesn't get much better.... well, unless youre and old school avengers fan who wants comics from the 70's.

I can not believe I read this. Bendis better than Busiek, Stern, Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, Englehart and Harras? This is ignoring the entire history of the Avengers for a guy who has not done anything too compared to others.

[midnightshrink]

I do believe House of M was more an X-Men story than Avengers. As you pointed above it really mostly influenced what happened to the X-Men and the only way it influenced the Avengers was in the lack of Wanda for a really long time and the thing that pisses me off about that is that she just returned and its like nothing happened.

Also if you take Busieks run story for story you could argue that you could make an event out every single one of his stories. That was the exciting one two or three and done stories he could pull off and that used to happen in Avengers all the time before the 90's and until Busiek came on. Bends never wrote any stories that were less than 6 issues long. And maybe that is a function of his time but I personally believe he just doesn't write that kind of story and reads better in trade format.

[manos]

He pissed me off a lot of times but like him or hate him he completely revitalized the Avengers and made them THE Marvel franchise, surpassing the X-Men and Spiderman during his run. Now the Avengers did have a lot of help from Wolverine and Spiderman himself in the process. Regardless he made previously c list characters relevant and cool again, like Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spiderwoman. I love that he tried to push the Sentry even though they turned him into a villain. Going forward that is a potentially HUGE threat that will haunt the Avengers for a long time when he eventually comes back. What he did for Spiderwoman is commendable, but what he did for Ms. Marvel I think is the best part, he really pushed her way beyond what she had ever been and made me look at her differently and not just as a boring female military character. And he made her sexy and while he did not quite succeed if ever there is going to be a character to rival Wonder Woman from Marvel my money is on her. And then there is Hawkeye which is kind of a running joke because before that the fans had a love hate relationship with him and now he is a star in the Avengers and most people in pop culture know who he is. Who would have thought "Not like this" would be the best thing to ever happen to that character? At the same time he kind of wash away the more regal aspects of Avengers and neglected classic Avengers characters in favor of newer ones. Yet he left everything better than when he received it when exiting the book restoring anything he undid, like Vision, Wasp, Antman and Wonderman. So in a sense he mostly added to Avengers and in the end gave the long running fans what they wanted. In my opinion he didn't write one major definitive OMG Avengers story outside of House of M and even then I don't know... but he did write a ton of solid solid stories and he still may get that big Avengers story with the Ultron war. I always felt Busiek had a wonderful classic run for 60 issues or so where they told some timeless avengers stories, like Ultron Unlimited and the Kang Dynasty which were just Avengers instant classics. But I can't think of a story from Bendis that is like that. Siege maybe? The Norman story? Idk I already feel like Hickman is already going there with the Garden and the closest Bendis came was the Hood and he was kind of an out there wtf character that I was never convinced with. But overall from all of the status quos he shook forever Bendis is one of the top 5 Avengers writers of all time, probably top 3. I think his strength is also his knock which is the fact he tells a story he could tell in three parts in 6 parts and he reads better when you read his entire arcs successively, that's when you really see his talent. Which in an action packed book you expect to blow you away every month is kind of annoying. But it is good for business because it milks the cow for all it is worth and that is why this man was able to stay strong longer than most.

I find the Avengers were better off second to the X-men and Spider-Man. At least than I can enjoy the story and quality of most being written in character without everything being destroyed because some writer wanted to write them more grounded and with his pet characters. Besides fame is overrated, and most of the fans who are new to the Avengers scoff at the old stuff like it should be burned and hated. If anything Bendis didn't really change much other than putting in the most popular characters of Spider-Man and Wolverine on the team, something any writer could have easily accomplished. Giving characters badass moments, again any writer could have done that with ease. He was missing character moments that reflected the characters themselves. All he was change the characters personalities to fit the story, a poor substitute for story.

So if the Avengers must be placed back to lower rank in the in ratings so be it. Quality of story and character is where its at.

[Whip Whirlwind]

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I feel like he definitely stayed far too long and it showed in the quality of his work.

It's like...you know how Ed Brubaker's Captain America post-relaunch wasn't particularly great? Imagine if he stuck with the book....for another 3 years or so. That was basically Bendis' Avengers.

Pretty much this. Putting everything post siege out of my mind leaves me with a "good" run. Everything considered, I'd say it was decent.

And to those saying he didn't have a definitive avengers story, I'd say the entire "on the run" period of new avengers was his definitive avengers story. It's another reason why his run should have ended with Siege, particularly Luke's (first) NA finale issue.

[Clark_Krunk]

I can not believe I read this. Bendis better than Busiek, Stern, Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, Englehart and Harras? This is ignoring the entire history of the Avengers for a guy who has not done anything too compared to others.

his stories drove marvel for 10 years... Id say his stories held a bit of weight.

and Bendis story telling is completely different than the runs you listed above... Personally I don't wanna recapture the overly wordy avengers stories from yesteryear. Just like id never pick up another Chris Claremont written xmen story again.... For the times they were great but I don't need to spend 15 minutes reading one page to be interested in what Dazzler is thinking while shes singing on stage...

mainstream comics stories aren't told like that anymore.