Bendis leaving Superman titles

[Earth 2 Chris]

Thank goodness. I know a lot of people love him, but the Superman books were universally well-received before "super star" Bendis walked in the door, and he totally wrecked all the goodwill DC had garnered since flushing all the New 52 garbage out. Having Superman "out" himself as Clark Kent was the final straw for me, and in my opinion, the single biggest clue that as a writer this guy just did not get even the basic concept of Superman.

I don't get up in arms over comics much nowadays, but this guy really did come in and wreck some enjoyable books. I hope DC quickly papers over the changes he made, including aging up Clark and Lois' son, Jon Kent. He was much more enjoyable as a young Superboy.

https://www.supermanhomepage.com/brian-michael-bendis-announces-hes-leaving-superman/

Chris

[TheNewGiJoeWithKungFuGrip]

All Clark revealing his identity really does is force some other writer to sloppily hit the "Reset Status Quo" button.

[thunderbolt]

All Clark revealing his identity really does is force some other writer to sloppily hit the "Reset Status Quo" button.

Maybe he can cut a deal with Mephisto

[TheNewGiJoeWithKungFuGrip]

Maybe he can cut a deal with Mephisto

Bye-bye Lois!

[hedrap]

Thank goodness. I know a lot of people love him...

Man, we do travel in different circles. Bendis always wins the most "ohgodno" award in the comics groups and people I'm around.
My favorite were the stories from the Netflix days of this angry nerd on set and nobody was sure why he was there.

[MRP]

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but the rumors of Bendis leaving were misconstrued from comments he made on a podcast, and when he was asked directly if he was wrapping up his Superman run, he said eventually, but it was "a looooong way off" so I wouldn't expect a new creative team any time this year and possibly not next year.

-M

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Well, that sucks.

Man, we do travel in different circles. Bendis always wins the most "ohgodno" award in the comics groups and people I'm around.
My favorite were the stories from the Netflix days of this angry nerd on set and nobody was sure why he was there.

I feel like his early Ultimate Spider-Man run is still pretty well loved. Beyond that...not so much.

Chris

[MRP]

I've liked a lot of Bendis' stuff over the years, but I prefer his creator-owned stuff to his work-for-hire stuff. I think I first heard of Bendis stuff via Warren Ellis' Come in Alone column around the time Bendis did the Ride Along issue of Powers featuring Warren as a character, and that turned me on to Powers, and form there I read Goldfish, Torso, Fire and Jinx, and liked them all. When he went to Marvel, I was excited because I liked his stuff, but was mildly disappointed. The only thing there I really liked and still do is his Daredevil run. But I have liked some of his newer creator-owned stuff since then too, stuff like Scarlet, United States of Murder, Inc. and others. At DC, I was meh on his Superman stuff, but liked the first trade of Young Justice. Haven't read anything else he has done there.

Bendis is not for everyone, and I do think there is a distinct divide between his creator-owned and work-for-hire stuff, but I find the same divide in a lot of other creator's stuff too-Cullen Bunn, Jeff Lemire, etc. so I tend to attribute that to editorial policy & input, corporate restrictions to IP use, and the general nature of having to work in a shared sandbox where a creator has to mute or subsume his ideas to mesh with those of others working in the sandbox and having to write stories that maintain a status quo therefore always have their payoff blunted becuase any change has to be an illusion or reversible, and attempt to make even the slightest change is met by resistance form a regressive fanbase that wants everything to remain a snapshot of how it was when they first discovered a property-the probelm there is the properties are now so old that those snapshots differ depending on when the reader first discovered the property so there never going to be a status quo that pleases the entire fanbase anymore. Bendis receives a lot of flak because he is one who pushes for change and tests the boundaries of what the corporate/editorial overseers will allow and what the fanbase will accept, and a lot of people don't like that. And I'd rather see him unleash that on his own characters where there are no limits than trying to hammer a round peg into a square hole in corporate super-hero comics.

-M