One name. Bendis. I can’t help it, I’ve become a full-fledged member of the Brian Michael Bendis ass-licking society! I’ve always had a favorite writer in comics, first Roger Stern, then Peter David, and down through the years I flirted with Alan Moore, Neil Gaimen, Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello. Now I’ve found a new favorite…
I first ran across Bendis hen he published his Torso mini-series through Image a few years back. Being a long time fan of Max A Collins and his Nate Heller/Eliot Ness novels, I figured I’d check this book out (it was based on the unsolved case of the Kingsbury run serial killer who stalked Cleveland when Eliot Ness was the Public Safety Director there.) I read the first two issues, and gave up. I hated the characterization of Eliot Ness, and Bendis’s trademark back and forth dialogue drove me up the wall. For a long time after that, I pretty much avoided anything with his name on it. I remember reading the first couple of issues of Sam and Twitch from Image also, and thought it was just terrible. Those were the only two characters I really enjoyed from Spawn, and I thought Bendis did a terrible job on them…
When Powers came out, I liked the concept enough to check it out, and even found myself enjoying the book. A lot. When Ultimate Spider-Man was first announced, I pooh-poohed the concept and didn’t think it would last. I remember thinking “They’ve tried to reboot the continuity a few times before with the animated spin-off books, and they all flopped. I figured Ultimate would last about a year and then disappear. Glad I was wrong. After reading the first issue, I was hooked. I even went back to my comic shop the next day and scooped up a couple of extra copies of issue one. Managed to sell a couple of them on E-bay for fifty bucks a piece. Not too shabby. I even remember reading how Bendis turned down Ultimate X-Men because he didn’t think he could make the book work. I thought that was kinda cool, turning down all that money because he didn’t think he could do the concept justice. Not too many creators would do that. Most would just hack it out. Made me respect him even more…
Next came his work at Marvel Knights, and to be honest, I wasn’t too impressed with it at first. He started out with a three issue mini-series called Daredevil:Ninja that was pretty forgettable. It was rushed out to fill in some of the spaces between Kevin Smith and Joey Q’s “monthly” run. He followed that up with a six issue run on Daredevil that was okay, but it didn’t really blow me away. I thought that his writing, mixed with David Mack’s art, didn’t quite work. The story-line with Mack’s painted art, use of childhood flashbacks and mute female assassin reminded me too much of Frank Miller and Bill Sienkewhatever’s Elektra:Assasin. The story was okay, but nothing that made me jump up and down. It was still much better than the story-line that followed it up with Daredevil on trial in civil court. I’m sorry Llance, but that’s one of the worst stories I’ve ever read…
I really started getting hooked on Bendis with his second, and on-going run, on Daredevil. His first order of business was to take The Kingpin out of the equation. Even though, many other people had tried before, he managed to make it work. Then, of course, he revealed Daredevil’s secret ID, and everything’s steam-rolled from there. This has quickly become one of my favorite books, and I can’t wait to read the next installments.
I picked up Bendis’s work on Elektra, mainly as a companion to his work on DD, and wasn’t really too impressed. It was OK, but I think Chuck Austin’s art kinda turned me off. It was too stiff for my tastes. Oddly enough, I’ve really enjoyed Greg Rucka’s recent run, especially the latest story-line with Elektra trying to “cleanse her soul”. Too bad Rucka’s moving on after he’s done, but I’ll stick around to check out Robert Rodi’s run, especially since DC is canceling his Code-Name: Knockout…
Too get back on topic, the main reason I’ve become a member of the Bendis ass-licking society is Alias. I picked up the first issue on a whim to check it out, and I was hooked. This has got to be one of the most intelligent, well-written books published by any of the major companies. The character of Jessica Jones acts like an actual living breathing female. She’s not played as a sex symbol. She doesn’t have big boobs (boooo!). And the best part is that she isn’t played as the damsel in distress like most female characters in comics, waiting for the men to come save her. Like most other females I know, she doesn’t fawn over the men in her life, batting her eyelashes and standing around posing with her breasts stuck out, leading to chronic back pain. Her relationships with men cause more problems than they’re worth, and her failures in both her professional and love lives sends her neurosis out of control. All she needs is a six year old kid at home, and she would be exactly like half the women I know. Her tentative steps towards an actual relationship with Scott Lang (aka the second, even more loserish Ant-Man) has been some of the most brilliant, character based writing I’ve ever seen. This book has definitely sky-rocketed to the very top of my list every month, displacing even 100 Bullets (which has completely lost me, BTW…)
One last set of books has also swayed me to the Bendis brigade. First I bought the TPB of Fortune and Glory after reading some of the one page strips in the back of Powers a few months back. One of the funniest books I’ve ever read. Proof that the truth can be stranger than fiction. I also bought the TPB of AKA Goldfish and read that last week, and Jinx, but haven’t read it yet. I’m saving it for a rainy day.
Now at least, I have about a half dozen books to look forward to every month…
