Time For Another Go?
I don’t like Brian Michael Bendis.
That’s the conclusion I’ve come to after reading my fair share of Bendis comics. There’s only one thing he’s done that I outright hated (Avengers: Disassembled), but there’s only one thing he’s done that I really enjoyed (The Pulse). Everything else of his that I’ve read falls somewhere between dislike and indifference. So I’ve just stopped buying anything with “Bendis” on the cover.
Problem is, I really like the Avengers. The Avengers was one of my favorite comics for about a decade, but once Bendis took over I hit the trail. I haven’t bought a single issue of New Avengers or Mighty Avengers (although I did read a couple of Jim Doom’s Civil War issues) since they started, but now I’m being tempted to pick up an issue.
Mark Bagley, one of my all-time favorite artists, will soon be taking over the art duties on Mighty Avengers. Leinel Yu’s on New Avengers now and I really enjoy his art, even if I do complain about it from time to time here on Doomkopf.com. Both titles seem to be leading into next summer’s big mega-crossover, Super Secret Skrull Invasion, which I’ll almost certainly end up buying despite it being written by Bendis. And I’ve been hearing very good things about New Avengers lately.
But I’m wondering, is there really any point? Supposedly this Skrull storyline has been building since the very first issue of New Avengers, and there’s not chance in hell I’m going to go back and read Bendis’ entire run. Would jumping onto NA and MA at this point actually add anything to my enjoyment of Secret Invasion? Or would I just get burnt out on Bendis before the crossover even started and end up complaining about it more than I complained about Civil War? Is that even possible?
Don’t get me wrong here, I haven’t ruled out the possibility that I might actually enjoy either or both of these comics. Bendis has been known to throw a story or two out there that I liked. I almost named House of M #8 the best single issue of 2005 (despite the other seven sucking balls), and I did enjoy the Civil War issues of New Avengers I read a lot more than I thought I would (one of which was drawn by Yu, natch). Just because I haven’t read much of anything by Bendis that I thoroughly enjoyed doesn’t mean I’ll never again read anything by Bendis that I thoroughly enjoy.
So what say you, readers of Doomkopf.com and members of the Legion: Is this a good time to give the Avengers books another chance?
[Note: I wrote this before realizing the image above is the cover to the next issue of New Avengers. Now I really need convincing.]
I reviewed the last issue of NA in Worst to First and decided it was pretty good but with several cringe-worthy Bendis moments. The guy’s a good writer, I just wish he didn’t feel the need to stamp down a big thumbprint in the middle of everything he does.
You really preferred the Chuck Austen Avengers run to Bendis’ stuff? Yikes!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I didn’t put him up to it, FFD! I swear!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I liked Chuck Austen. I think he gets a bum rap for his X-Men run since Grant Morrison was doing great things New X-Men at the time. I didn’t even realize it was him on Avengers at the time, and I really enjoyed his stuff on Exiles.
Of course, now that I think of it, Chuck Austen gets a big boost by not being Milligan, Bendis and Claremont, who all have sucked on those titles (respectively).
As dubious as it might seem, I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt that the Skrull stuff has been lingering since the first issue of New Avengers. I mean, it’s Brian Bendis, so a meandering concept that never eventuates isn’t exactly tough to believe.
That said, there’s no reason to even consider going back to New Avengers if you’re jumping into the Secret Invasion. The sum of it is mostly cagey unelaborated scenes of people in shadow, and Spider-Women behaving badly.
It might be fun to look at those pages with the benefit of hindsight and connect the dots, but it’s not like recent, thorough DC efforts, where you’re be slapping your head for not guessing it six months sooner.
All of that said, I think the Ronin/Hand Ninja/Skrull arc was actually the first serious opportunity for Bendis to do a New Avengers comic. Delays presumably came from his own frustrating interpretation of “pacing” and the intrusion of Civil War, but now there’s a team, and they’re actively pursuing crimes without losing their clothes in the jungle.
Due to that world renowned “pacing” you unfortunately still have lulls that occupy entire issues, but for the most part I think it’s the best time to consider giving New Avengers a shot. Particularly if you aren’t one of those gorilla-nazis who can’t get behind Leinil Yu’s fantastic pencils!
I don’t know if there’s any reason to be certain the Skrull Invasion will out perform House of M (ugh), but the purity of the exercise almost ensures a disappointment of execution of the scale of USM is unlikely. We’ll probably get a good look at the Invasion.