Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: What is your verdict?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Anybody have the link to the poll where Bendis beat Roy Thomas, Roger Stern, and Jim Shooter as best Avengers writer?

And folk like LMFAO and Train sell lots of CDs, too.

I will admit that Bendis has had a massive amount of success and influence as an Avengers writer. But, for him to win that kind of poll means nothing to me.

And any one of those writers could have told Brian's stories if not better, at least more concisely.

[manymade1]

My first thought when I saw the poll results. Its just very hard to believe people honestly believe that Bendises work on the Avengers is better than Thomas or Shooters. I really think that people only enjoy Bendis work on the Avengers because of quantity.

[Ziggy Stardust]

And it's easy to give quantity when you stretch a one to two book story into a 12 issues marathon.

Also, as many have said, what differentiated the characters form each other tends to blur under his pen, IMO. Lotta babble, not much characterization.... unless it's one of his pets and/or creations, that is.

[Lord Bravery]

Well yea, it's like what was said in another thread. Bendis understands the basic fundamentals of these characters. But he either doesn't get, or care, or both, about the little details. And it is all about the little details.

For example the time Doom called Ms Marvel a "fat cow". I mean, how can anyone who has read Dr Doom before accept this? It's horrible. It's just cut and paste dialogue, which is completely unacceptable when dealing with characters so iconic and distinct as Doom. If Bendis gave a crap about the little details, he'd have Doom call her a "bloated wench" or some such. If you can't see the difference there, or the significance of that difference, then you might as well turn in your superhero comic fan club card. :D

Same thing with the recent Thanos appearance. Bendis obviously gets that Thanos has an obsession with Death, but he either doesn't get, or care, about the little details that make the character so distinctive and iconic. Namely, his speech patterns. Thanos wouldn't refer to himself as the "Warrior of Death". Thanos, the great galactic snob that he is, would never refer to himself as a "warrior". That is demeaning to him.

Some would say this is nit picking? Not so. This is just wanting the writer to focus on the little details, because at the end of the day, it is all about the little details that make these characters so distinct and memorable.

[nosocialize100]

I'm actually enjoying Avengers Assemble. Why are people hating on it so much? It's fun, it has nice character moments and the last issue had a lot of surprises.

[Lord Bravery]

I'm not hating on it. I'm just hating on the dialogue for Thanos, and rightly so, it's appaling. Same as it was the last time Bendis used him, even if that was a red herring.

[Frank]

Okay, you asked. Now, mind you, this is my opinion. I'm sure you and many others think differently.
So, without much further ado,, I bring you what I like to call list of story directions taken by Brian Micheal Bendis that I strongly disagree with (Or, the retcon list):

1 - Hawkeye never died because he forgot how to unfast his quiver and he was never a moron killer ninja.
2- Captain America and Iron Man never introduced an unrepent killer into the team just because it's tough times and we might need someone to do the deed when we don't feel like getting our hands dirty (I could have accepted any explanation for this, even that one of them had a man crush on Logan, or, much more sensible, that, like with so many others, the Avengers would be a vehicle of expiation for Logan, for him to change his ways - never happen, of course).
3- The Avengers never had a hard time dealing with ninjas. I repeat, Earth's Mightiest Heroes getting a hard time from NINJAS. Twice.
4- In Thor's abscence, the Avengers went looking for a better heavy hitter than the Sentry.
5- Luke Cage gets his balls back and was never emasculated by that shrew, Jessica Jones.
6- The Avengers are able to deal with the HOOD, the first time they meet him.
7- The Avengers don't get trouble dealing with Norman Osborn, a Spider-Man baddie, who is placed in an unexplianed position of dubious power simply because he shot the Skrull queen in the head.
8- Avengers don't kill prisioners of war, don't condone torture and don't sit idly by while it happening right in front of them.
9- Brother Voodoo was never "promoted" to Doctor Voodoo, and never killed, the ultimate demotion.
10- Wasp didn't die.
11- Luke Cage never "bought" Avengers Mansion from Tony Stark, for a dollar he had to "bum" from Iron Fist, so that he and the wifey can bitch around when the Avengers need the place.
12- Wonder Man never went raving lunatic.
13- Avengers recall that they have a lot of reserve members, and don't have to go around calling in the Young Avengers or the Secret Warriors every time they have trouble.
14- Avengers respect their former members.
15- Avengers didn't introduce former enemy Ares into the team simply because he was a Thor and a Wolverine, and they needed that, of course. (I will say here that I enjoyed Bendis portrail of Ares, especially as a member of the Dark Avengers, but I'd rather he had developed Ares as a villian for the team).
16- The Avengers are a single team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes who have a charter to guide their actions.

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that come to me now.

Peace

Hey dude you forgot the most important one: Wanda!

[Nomads1]

That' dosen't mean it wasn't continuity

especially with books like astonishing, and allot of mini's that take for every to have any bearing.

I can't just say "Forge didn't go evil cause they don't mention it" i would love to but that's just...wrong

There is a perfect out for that right there in the story. Maybe some day, some one will come along an see it and write a story about it. To bad I'm not a "real writer", just someone who likes to complain in internet boards and actually pays attentions to stories.

Peace

[Nomads1]

Anybody have the link to the poll where Bendis beat Roy Thomas, Roger Stern, and Jim Shooter as best Avengers writer?

Is this the one you wanted?:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com...vengers+Writer

But, he didn't beat Stern here. He came in third, after Busiek and Stern, hence my doubt.

Peace

[manymade1]

Is this the one you wanted?:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com...vengers+Writer

But, he didn't beat Stern here. He came in third, after Busiek and Stern, hence my doubt.

Peace

No, it was actually a poll on the Comics Should Be Good Blog.

[Nomads1]

No, it was actually a poll on the Comics Should Be Good Blog.

Sorry, can't help you then. Never saw that one.

Peace

[Ziggy Stardust]

Anyone who does some brief research into Marvel history MIGHT know that Thanos has a thing for Death

And then they could read The Thanos Quest and see Thanos testing himself against a planet of warriors and killing them all.

Now, to someone who doesn't care, those two things MIGHT add up to Thanos being a "Warrior of Death". But, to those who care and know Thanos, they know what a bullshit statement that is.

Hopefully, this is a fake-out.

[Nomads1]

Anyone who does some brief research into Marvel history MIGHT know that Thanos has a thing for Death

And then they could read The Thanos Quest and see Thanos testing himself against a planet of warriors and killing them all.

Now, to someone who doesn't care, those two things MIGHT add up to Thanos being a "Warrior of Death". But, to those who care and know Thanos, they know what a bullshit statement that is.

Hopefully, this is a fake-out.

I don't think it is.

Just wait untill he starts inviting people to sit at the "big boys" table.

Peace

[XPac]

Anyone who does some brief research into Marvel history MIGHT know that Thanos has a thing for Death

And then they could read The Thanos Quest and see Thanos testing himself against a planet of warriors and killing them all.

Now, to someone who doesn't care, those two things MIGHT add up to Thanos being a "Warrior of Death". But, to those who care and know Thanos, they know what a bullshit statement that is.

Hopefully, this is a fake-out.

I don't see how the notion of him being a warrior of death is a BS statement.

Consort of death or whatever might be a better term as far as describing his feelings for death, but warrior seems accurate enough too. He IS a warrior, and he often fights on deaths behalf.

The fact that there is THIS much debate over the notion frankly comes off as needlessly nitpicky to me.

[tommyman]

I don't see how the notion of him being a warrior of death is a BS statement.

Consort of death or whatever might be a better term as far as describing his feelings for death, but warrior seems accurate enough too. He IS a warrior, and he often fights on deaths behalf.

The fact that there is THIS much debate over the notion frankly comes off as needlessly nitpicky to me.

As a well known Bendis-writing-hater, I have to say the "warrior of death" phrase did not bother me, nor did I think the speech terribly bad or un-Thanos-like.
Clearly Bendis is trying to write Thanos to be true to previous appearances (or to be a reasonable facsimile thereof if it is a fake-out).
He doesn't have him pop in and say "you fat cow, how's that working out for you?"
It's a reasonable attempt at writing a dialogue style that is actually a difficult one to get right.
We will see next issue (if it is Thanos) how well or badly Bendis handles the dialogue, but this one speech did not go into my "Big Book Of Why I hate Bendis Comics".
If it is bad, I'll add my voice to the chorus, but if he makes an attempt to get it right it wont really bother me even if it's not perfect.