I like Bendis when he's writing small, character-focused stories. When he's writing bigger stories, he's just not particularly good. Having him write a crossover between, say, Spider-Man and Daredevil - that would probably be really good. But writing events, no. His events are really lackluster.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.I really liked Siege, though.
. . . Though mostly because it undid everything he caused. Hm.
. . . . Well, I also thought Secret Invasion was entertaining.
I should start by mentioning that I haven't really been keeping up with the Marvel/DC superhero comics since Fear Itself and The New 52, so I have no idea what's going on these days.
I didn't mind Bendis earlier on, and technically he isn't a bad writer, but I've grown tired of his style. Almost every character he writes, he turns into a snarkier Spider-Man, and he completely ignores what other writers do with the characters. His writing of Bucky Barnes, for example, was completely at odds with what Brubaker was writing at the time, giving him a kind of schoolboy naivety. His Moon Knight is probably the only mainstream Marvel comic I gave up after just one issue. I'm also a fan of the classic Thunderbolts, and didn't appreciate him turning Moonstone into a slut.
edited 6th Oct '12 10:21:53 AM by supergod
For we shall slay evil with logic...Edit: Never mind, I can't math.
I'm pretty fond of Bendis's writing. I like how human he makes his characters. However, I wish he would pay more attention to detail and character. I recall his attempt at killing off Carnage, in the early pages of New Avengers. Mostly, I recall Carnage "draining life energy" from people. To my knowledge, he's only ever had this capability in the 1990's Spider-Man cartoon. Bendis has admitted that he doesn't know much about Carnage, but I would say either do the research or don't write the character.
The same holds true for Doom's infamous "cow" speech to Ms. Marvel during Mighty Avengers, shortly after Civil War. I think he's gotten better about it since then, though. I haven't had any recent complaints.
edited 6th Oct '12 8:53:30 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.What is his 'personality' for women by the way?
I haven't read much of his work outside of Ultimate Spider-man (I've skimmed some of his Avengers and Daredevil work on scans_daily) and I thought his Daredevil run was fantastic and I didn't really notice any similarities in his handling of the female character in either USM or DD.
I wasn't playing an evasive game. I thought i HAD answered your question. You just said it. He gives them all the same personality: The girl who stands in the back and makes snippy comments at everyone.
I don't know why I'm getting flack for agreeing with you.
edited 6th Oct '12 1:58:20 PM by gregyo
Sorry, I just wanted to know what was that personality he was slapping on every female character.
Have you seen the blurb about him in the Fallen Creator section? I mean, sure, he made screw-ups, but calling him "the face of everything that's wrong with Marvel Comics" is going too far, don't you think?
Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!"The face of everything that's wrong with Marvel Comics"? Seriously? People actually hate him more than Quesada?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Well, see! The Fallen Creator page had to be locked because it was used too much for creator bashing. Besides, that page is loaded with Your Mileage May Vary, and the information on there may or may not be reliable!
Sure, Brian Bendis is one of writers of the controversial Avengers Vs X-Men event, but he worked with, what, five other writers? It would be unfair to blame him for all the flaws that appeared in the event!
Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!I know the Bendis-bashing predates AvX. I think it started with Avengers Disassembled, around the time he took over writing the Avengers titles. I remember arguing about Bendis's writing on CBR years ago; as I recall, the main complaint people had was the way he writes characters, and the decompressed nature of his storytelling.
An issue of Illuminati had Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, and some of the other members sitting around chatting about sports for a couple pages. I thought it helped build character; it's nice to see little elements like Doctor Strange being a hockey fan to remind the reader that, as powerful and plot-driving as these characters are, they're still human beings with day to day lives. But the other side of that coin was, a lot of people were complaining that, a) it takes all the larger-than-life elements out of the characters to watch them doing what effectively amounts to hanging out with your buddies after work and kicking back a few beers, when they came to the story for the escapist fantasy, and b) page space is a valuable resource given the amount of money that buying comics costs and shouldn't be wasted as such.
Bendis writes for the TPB, that much is pretty unmistakable. It's not uncommon for him to write storyarcs that consist of 5 or 6 issues, that could have been compressed into 1 or 2 by cutting out a lot of the character-building moments and focusing purely on the spectacle. And since parts of the fanbase are here for the spectacle, slowing down the action for ten pages of the Avengers discussing plans and arguing with each other ruins that. Likewise, those here for the escapist fantasy want to see some escapism, not Spider-Man and Wolverine having afternoon tea. And those here for the artwork want to see huge, explosive battles, not Dare Devil eating a sandwich.
Bendis writes for a specific audience, and that effectively alienates the rest of the audience, which would not be a problem if he wasn't such a key player in Marvel. I overlook that issue pretty easily because I'm part of the audience he writes for, the people who are more interested in character and the men behind the mask than the mask themselves, but I can understand the frustration of the others.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I love character driven stories, but my problem is that Bendis makes almost everyone the same character (unless they have obvious personality traits like Hulk and Thor), and sometimes completely destroys established characterization. I remember and issue of the Avengers during Fear Itself when it was just different Marvel characters talking some incident I can't remember, and the speech bubbles might as well have been coming from the same person. Good examples of team books with decent characterization are the Geoff Johns-era JSA (back when he was still a great writer), and X-Factor. I do like Bendis's Daredevil, but I haven't read his other acclaimed books Alias and Ultimate Spider-Man. I think he works better with the more down to earth solo characters.
For we shall slay evil with logic...Bendis's problem is that he's actually pretty influential. He helped the set the tone of what Marvel is today.
Bendis helped bring a sense of verisimilitude and renewed emphasis on character development to Marvel. I think most of the acclaimed Marvel authors have learned what made Bendis great and started doing it in their own way. It makes Bendis look bland in comparison.
edited 7th Oct '12 11:14:15 AM by Distortion00
His Avengers run has been really lacking in character focus. But Ultimate Spider-Man was pretty awesome for that.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.

Brian Bendis is one of those Comic Book writers who creates...strong reactions.
On one hand, he has written some interesting noir stories. On the other hand, his approach to a number of characters and crossovers comes off as rather odd at times.
Here's what I mean...
I guess I'm just wondering if BB is the kind of writer you'd want to hire to write a crossover event.
Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!