Dissing Bendis Day

Someone forgot to tell me that this was "Diss Bendis Day", I wish I would have known as I would have bought presents! For the most part I find Bendis an easy to ignore creator, because outside of Ultimate Spider-Man I've seen very little by him that I WANTED to read.

What I have read by him seems mediocre to fair at best, nothing to outright despise, but not anything that is truly memorable either. Which given how most comics today are poorly done, makes his work seem even better by comparison, likely explaining a good deal of his appeal to some fans.

Still I found the links around blogosphere today fairly interesting to read.

First up was Johanna ---Who seems to be catching most of the flack, though I thought her point that it is interesting to see someone so widely praised put under a more critical eye to be a good one. --- started by pointing out a review that talked about the unrealistic dialogue in Bendis's recent Daredevil comic.

Whenever I see someone criticize or acclaim someone regarding realistic dialogue, I think of what I saw writer Brian K. Vaughan say once. He was at one time a court stenographer, and said that the way people normally talk is terrible and would be awful to read in a book.

So he hopes a reader who offers him such praise really means, is that his dialogue makes the emotions behind it seem real. Which was a great insight.

John Jakala also weighs in, he and I seem to have the closest feelings on the situation. Though unlike him, I found Bendis's Fortune & Glory to be a big waste of space.

Because it came off as a creator thinking what he had to say was truly unique. Yet it turned out to be just one more standard "Hollywood people are stupid!" story, that offered nothing that hadn't been explored thousands of times in the past.

I must admit to liking Bendis's early Ultimate Spider-Man issues, until Peter put on the costume at least. Then it became stiffly drawn, padded out superhero drama which lost my interest very quickly.

Yet with the plethora of options out there, and the fact that Bendis sticks mainly to Marvel whose books I rarely follow, ignoring him and his work is easy for me.