Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: What is your verdict?

[Kid Kamikaze10]

I never watched 24 but do they have whole shows that are nothing but the dude chilling in his Brooklyn loft eating breakfast?

Not a chance. I think Lost is a better comparison. Or Heroes.

24 may have some slower episodes, but not a full-on filler episode, unless it's one of the lesser seasons.

[Umbra]

I think they would have.... but, DC was smart enuff to sign Geoff to an excllusive contract.

I know. It sucks...I wonder how different things would have been if he was running the Avengers. Not saying that Bendis is all bad... it just that I LOVED redzone. Given that chance I think he would have done awesome.

[Brandon McKinnis]

I know. It sucks...I wonder how different things would have been if he was running the Avengers. Not saying that Bendis is all bad... it just that I LOVED redzone. Given that chance I think he would have done awesome.

Redzone was a pretty sweet story. Great BP moment.

[Brandon McKinnis]

Not a chance. I think Lost is a better comparison. Or Heroes.

24 may have some slower episodes, but not a full-on filler episode, unless it's one of the lesser seasons.

I'd agree with that. My point being that he's book is following more of a TV season style storytelling.

[Gabe De Los Muertos]

Wow, options 1 and 4 have the same number of votes yet are polar opposite choices.

[TripleX]

I don't know mane, Bendis' version is just so much fun. I had never laughed out loud at Avengers before. His storylines change so frequently they never become boring. It's a rollercoaster, it's popcorn and soda, it's a bowl of Cap'n Crunch!

[Umbra]

Redzone was a pretty sweet story. Great BP moment.

Also Ironman as a hero. He saved cap, risked his life...I just I understand why some love Slott's Mighty so much... because of the classic feel. Not saying that D.S Mighty Avengers anything like Johns Avengers because it's not... Johns seem to have a balance between classic and modern pretty well.

I'm a fan of Darkreign, but when I read it recently I guess I can understand why some long for this.

[Rev. Calibos]

It's an entertaining read at times but, imho at least, it's more miss than hit.

Since Disassembled the books have been about a splintered team. An interesting concept at first but one that was overshadowed by event after event after event. While it wasn't god awful by any means his run on the Avengers will pale in comparison to the works of Roy Thomas, Walt Simonson and others.

And I'm in the minority of course. The books are selling better than they ever have which is never a bad thing, I'm just hoping that when the team 'Re-Assembles' the book will continue it's popularity.

So for Bendis' run I'd have to say that it was an intersting experiment that's about to come to a close.

[Umbra]

I don't think his run is coming to a close. But it's time to get back to being Avengers.

[Rev. Calibos]

I don't think his run is coming to a close. But it's time to get back to being Avengers.

Agreed. I'd like to see him tackle a unified team with Thor, Iron Man and Cap and see what he's able to come up with.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Since Bendis doesn't really like to write the right Avengers, maybe he'll leave the book then?

[FanboyStranger]

I'm not really a fan of Bendis' Avengers, but I would say it's been an important time in the history of the franchise. For my money, there's no way he stacks up with Thomas, Englehart, Stern, Busiek, Shooter, or even Micheline, but these are the writers that pretty much defined the classic Avengers.

[Brandon McKinnis]

Since Bendis doesn't really like to write the right Avengers, maybe he'll leave the book then?

If sales are any indication that's a bad idea. I'm not positive of the numbers but I'm pretty sure Mighty and Initiative are pretty far behind both of Bendis' Avenger books. You may not like him but he's really the one selling the franchise right now. You'd almost NEED a guy like johns to maintain similar numbers and interest.

[strathcona]

I think the Caps Kooky Quartet version of the team sort of challenged that notion of them being a powerhouse team pretty early on actually.

I have seen this arguement used many times. 'The Kooky Quartet showed that the Avengers can be street level' or 'The Kooky Quartet showed that anyone can be an Avengers' Once again, that is not the point. The Kooky Quartet was after 16 issues... the tone of the book was still shifting and finding it's place. It is the 40 years that follows the Kooky Quartet that set the tone. The Avengers are the team that handle the threat too big for any one of them on their own. Hell, even the Kooky Quartet were taking on Doom and Kang. The New Avengers are capable of taking on these level threats in the hands of a decent writer, but in the hands of Bendis they are just fighting threats that Wolverine or Spider-Man can fight on their own.

*Bear in mind, there are some issues of NA that have them taking on Avengers-level threats, and there are some issues of Avengers in the past that had them taking on threats that are not Avengers-levels threats. But over all, Bendis has missed the point of the Avengers.

[Alan2099]

If sales are any indication that's a bad idea. I'm not positive of the numbers but I'm pretty sure Mighty and Initiative are pretty far behind both of Bendis' Avenger books. You may not like him but he's really the one selling the franchise right now. You'd almost NEED a guy like johns to maintain similar numbers and interest.

Frankly, anyone that was pretty much in charge of writing the entire tone of the current marvel Universe and helping plan out all their events would probably get equal sales numbers.

I have seen this arguement used many times. 'The Kooky Quartet showed that the Avengers can be street level' or 'The Kooky Quartet showed that anyone can be an Avengers' Once again, that is not the point. The Kooky Quartet was after 16 issues... the tone of the book was still shifting and finding it's place. It is the 40 years that follows the Kooky Quartet that set the tone. The Avengers are the team that handle the threat too big for any one of them on their own. Hell, even the Kooky Quartet were taking on Doom and Kang. The New Avengers are capable of taking on these level threats in the hands of a decent writer, but in the hands of Bendis they are just fighting threats that Wolverine or Spider-Man can fight on their own.

Another thing that everybody leaves out about the Kooky Quartet, was that during the time, the fact that the team was trying to live up to the reputation, regulations, and history of the previous Avengers was very prominent in the stories.

With New Avengers, they just ditched all that old stuff and nobody's ever really called them on it.