What's up with Bendis?

Bass said:
Sorry to disagree with you, but I didn't even pick up the latest DD issue, and I've been on it since Bendis first got on with Mack. I was loving it, but I just can't be bothered to pick it up anymore. Same goes for USM, Powers, The Pulse, Secret War, New Avengers... all these books that I wasn't already picking up, I've read in store and not one has made me want to pick up the next issue. I think they're all very poor works at the moment. I hope I can start to like some of his books again soon.
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Well okay, I'll admit that I'm still reading Daredevil out of habit and my interest has waned since the dramatic conclusion (albeit cyclical nature) of King of Hell's Kitchen, and I'm just marking time till Bendis leaves the book.... But yeah, I see what you mean. I was a crazy *** Bendis fan for a while but the other books are just flattening out.

Powers has some strong themes but it is just too decompressed and the tone and quality is just too inconsistent for me to take. I think the only arcs that sufficiently impressed me was Who Killed Retro Girl? and Forever. Secret War doesn't seem to have much of a point. New Avengers is flat out uninteresting to me. But in spite of that I don't think Bendis is getting worse, he's just taking on such uninteresting projects now.
 
ourchair said:
Well okay, I'll admit that I'm still reading Daredevil out of habit and my interest has waned since the dramatic conclusion (albeit cyclical nature) of King of Hell's Kitchen, and I'm just marking time till Bendis leaves the book.... But yeah, I see what you mean. I was a crazy *** Bendis fan for a while but the other books are just flattening out.

Powers has some strong themes but it is just too decompressed and the tone and quality is just too inconsistent for me to take. I think the only arcs that sufficiently impressed me was Who Killed Retro Girl? and Forever. Secret War doesn't seem to have much of a point. New Avengers is flat out uninteresting to me. But in spite of that I don't think Bendis is getting worse, he's just taking on such uninteresting projects now.
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I think that theres another factor there too. Hes trying to constantly outdo himself on all fronts, and thats leading to choppy stories. New avengers reads like he said "now what won't they expect..... I'll kill sauron!". Spiderman is just not going anywhere, and Powers needs to just be released in trades, skipping monthly all together.
 
Baxter said:
Powers needs to just be released in trades, skipping monthly all together.
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I have more thoughts on those other points you made, but I've only bought and read Powers in trade form and even in that format it's still weak. I also find his willingness to insert juvenile potty mouth humor in Powers kind of annoying even if it might be more realistic.

I mean who wants to watch 24 or The Shield with lines like, "Like two teenagers getting finger tickled in the butt by Paul McCartney?" Lines like those only work in outrageous comedy shows like Action, and I doubt Powers is supposed to be anything like that.
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
I think the whole Bendis is wearing himself thin is complete crap. USM is the only title gone bad so far. Daredevil gets no recognition in this thread because no one reads it. Well it's probably one of the best comics ever (That's a pretty lame/general statement but that's what it is). There's nothing wrong with Bendis.
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So, you didn't find the Hob arc to be redundant, the Superstar arc to be unnecessary, and Carnage to be a little hoaky at best? There's obviously some sort of slump and I think Captain's got the jist of it.
 
Goodwill said:
So, you didn't find the Hob arc to be redundant, the Superstar arc to be unnecessary, and Carnage to be a little hoaky at best? There's obviously some sort of slump and I think Captain's got the jist of it.
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Uh, MWOF just said that he thinks USM went bad. It's Daredevil he's alright with.
 
ourchair said:
I have more thoughts on those other points you made, but I've only bought and read Powers in trade form and even in that format it's still weak. I also find his willingness to insert juvenile potty mouth humor in Powers kind of annoying even if it might be more realistic.
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Honestly, I've never been blown away by Powers. Its got some good arcs, and I enjoy Omeings art, but I've never gotten the "rave" feeling that review sites go for when talking about it. I've tried it in monthly and felt it moved too slow. I've tried it in TPB and felt like it was all wrapped up too fast. Theres obviously some sort of overall story, and Bendis has fully fleshed out his world, atleast in his mind, but not enough of that is making its way to the reader. Its almost like we need a big "who's who ad what's what" arc to let us in on everything we're supposed to know.
 
The problem I had with Powers was the in any given arc, each issue would be really exciting, and then the last issue would be this ridiculously rushed cop-out where the superheroes came down from their mountian and fixed all the problems for Pilgrim and Walker. I just couldn't be bothered reading these stories that ultimately, seemed to have no point at all. And that style of writing has been transferred to SHIELD and Nick Fury in USM.
 
I started reading Powers with the launch of Vol. 2 and dropped it after #6. Just wasn't interesting to me, which is too bad because by all counts Vol. 1 was a lot better. I just don't care enough to try and hunt down the first TPB.
 
Bass said:
The problem I had with Powers was the in any given arc, each issue would be really exciting, and then the last issue would be this ridiculously rushed cop-out where the superheroes came down from their mountian and fixed all the problems for Pilgrim and Walker. I just couldn't be bothered reading these stories that ultimately, seemed to have no point at all. And that style of writing has been transferred to SHIELD and Nick Fury in USM.
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That's actually a really perfectly captured essence of what the Powers reading experience is like.

Some defenders of Powers say the ending is not the point, that it shouldn't matter that Walker and Pilgrim get their suspects and solutions handed to them like frigging deus ex machina, and that it's really about the ideas being explored in each arc. That's a valid point, but that still doesn't excuse the cop out nature of it all.

Which is why the reviews of Powers annoy me. Places like Fourth Rail where at the end of every arc, they have a formulaic "the ending was disappointing, but we LOVED this arc! What's gonna happen next?" kind of review that's just making excuses for the book.
 
Cheers, Ourchair. I'm not surprised you agree with me, I am the nexus of the world, after all.
 
Bass said:
Cheers, Ourchair. I'm not surprised you agree with me, I am the nexus of the world, after all.
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If you're a nexus, does that mean you're shaped like that giant vagina-shaped portal from Sinbad: The Legend of the Seven Seas?
 
Nice try, Guij. But instead of ruining my sub-nick, you just sound like a fat Trekker. Burn.
 
ourchair said:
That's actually a really perfectly captured essence of what the Powers reading experience is like.

Some defenders of Powers say the ending is not the point, that it shouldn't matter that Walker and Pilgrim get their suspects and solutions handed to them like frigging deus ex machina, and that it's really about the ideas being explored in each arc. That's a valid point, but that still doesn't excuse the cop out nature of it all.

Which is why the reviews of Powers annoy me. Places like Fourth Rail where at the end of every arc, they have a formulaic "the ending was disappointing, but we LOVED this arc! What's gonna happen next?" kind of review that's just making excuses for the book.
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:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

oh...and BASS is the hero of the day!!!
 
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