Look, it's been a running joke in the industry for years now that Bendis writes everyone's dialogue--everyone's--as if they were Spider-Man. In his Marvel work, he's apparently incapable of giving anyone an individual voice (unless it's Luke Cage, and Bendis just throws in a bunch of cuss words, because that's how "urban" heroes talk).
At best, it comes off sounding like a warmed-over-but-still-kinda-stale rehash of Justice League International (but never anywhere as good).
At worst--and it's been getting much, much worse recently--it ruins the story, making the dialogue well-nigh unreadable while destroying any chance of actual characterization going on. It's gone from a shtick to a nervous tick, and I think the guy needs help.
Take, for example, this scene from this week's New (New) Avengers #3. Iron Fist, holding the Eye of Agamotto, has been whisked off to some other-dimensional limbo by unknown powerful beings who want the Eye for their own nefarious purposes. Let's listen in:
BWAHAHA..oh, wait, that isn't funny. And that isn't Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Really, Bendis expects us to take these higher beings seriously when they constantly bicker like this, like a (very) bad sitcom. And when we get the big reveal at the end about the identity of one of these characters, well, sorry, but there's no way this particular entity is going to be going through the "who's on first" routine.This is also the issue where, in the midst of a pitched battle they know they can't win, Spider-Man and the Thing spend over a page kvetching because Ms. Marvel hasn't seen Ghostbusters. And a full page--with 19 word balloons, and well over 120 words worth of dialogue--consisting of nothing but Spider-Man whining that Ben Grimm won't say "it's clobbering time!" Seriously. It's stupefying.
Now, Bendis is capable of writing better than this. Heck, I loves me some Powers. But his attempt to turn every issue of Avengers into Laugh-In fails utterly, in large part because he's just not that good at writing that kind of comedy. Lord knows, HE thinks he is. But he's not.
Maybe it's just me--maybe this is really popular with the rest of the fans, and I'm the outlier.
But I don't think Bendis can help himself. It's a compulsion. So we need an intervention. Someone needs to sit him down for a "Dude..." talk. Someone needs to give him a couple of JLI trades and say, "Bro, you're no DeMatteis or Giffen. And even their stuff got old." Someone needs to give him a bit of reality therapy.
And get him off the Avengers. Maybe the Great Lake Avengers--they're supposed to be a joke. Or, since he writes everybody like Spider-Man, just take him off of team books, and give him Spider-Man.
But New Avengers is a book that really has no reason to exist at the moment. And Bendis' increasing unreadability only makes matters worse.
7 comments:
I only read a bit of the Bendis-Cho run on the old "Mighty Avengers" spin-off, but I read enough of it to come to the conclusion that it was basically a "goof" on the entire mega-action team concept. To me, Bendis seems to view the traditional "big team-up of iconic superheroes" as inherently silly, thus the constant jibba-jabba fillerbustering. It's not serious because Bendis does not view the subject matter with the possibility of it being serious and/or profound.
Bendis is a vain one-trick pony utterly in love with his own voice. Nothing more, nothing less. Time to let others take the reigns...which I think will be more likely as the year wears on. Bendis is down to, what, just Avengers and Ultimate Spider-Man? With more and more Young Turk writers surrounding him on high-profile titles, the Bendis era may indeed be winding down...though not with a whimper, but with incessant, irritating chatter.
If it wasn't for the goofy dialogue...I probably wouldn't be buying New Avengers. So, here's one vote for liking it.
I loved Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man (although I jumped off with Ultimatum), and Powers was a good read. But I despise his Avengers work, with a passion. Seriously, I just don't understand the love, but he must be doing something right to get the high sales! Am I just getting old? Hmm rambling rant coming up:
I've been rereading the Stern Avengers run, which is still great. Seriously, Spider-Man may be my favourite Marvel character, but would I rather see a Monica Rambeau or Starfox in the Avengers with things like character development, or Spider-Man and Wolverine who bring nothing of interest? I've tried reading the new (not New) Avengers title, and the story is more rambling and nonsensical than this comment. Oh well.
Bendis is the most overrated comic book writer since Alan Moore.
It's kind of like he's trying to be the comics' answer to Aaron Sorkin, but he lacks the wit.
Great Lakes Avangers is a great idea. That team is just about due for a new mini-series, anyway.
I'm with Sea on this, but I'd put Parker or Tobin on the case.
Comics are repleat with creators who were once great, but lost their way when they failed to evolve as writers. Claremont, Byrne, Kirby, and definitely Bendis. What's good for the 80s, say, doesn't necessarily work past Y2K.
You can't keep repeating yourself at the risk of becoming your own parody. And perhaps the comics companies are fueling this. When a writer's hot, they offer him as many books as possible (because you might not be able to draw faster, but you can write faster... at the cost of creativity and quality.
They're burning Bendis, Johns and Morrison out something fierce, and the books are starting to look pretty samey, aren't they?
Post a Comment