BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: A MARVELOUS LEGACY

As most of you have heard by now (and if you haven't then I'm truly shocked and you should be ashamed of yourself) Brian Michael Bendis is leaving Marvel Comics and is heading to DC with the intention of shaking up all kinds of shit. Because that's what he does best. He comes in, shakes shit up, pisses you off, and you end up loving the stories anyway. I mean . . . That's my side of it anyway!

As a kid, I was a huge Spider-Man and X-Men fan due to the animated series and the films that came out.

You may have heard of them

I didn't know much about the other characters like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Luke Cage, etc. I knew enough to get by but I wasn't an avid fan. As I got older and got serious into collecting and reading comic books on a weekly basis (and then some) I started digging into the Avengers and more. One name always stuck out - Brian Michael Bendis. This guy's name was all over these comics and I fell more and more in love with everything he was doing at Marvel Comics. I'll get more into it later, but he was my first love at Marvel Comics in terms of writers I actively wanted to follow. 

You may or may not have seen websites that talk about his "legacy" at Marvel and all the amazing things he's done. This one is going to be more personal and specific to me. While I love characters like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and others that he either created or revitalized there are quite a few stories that meant a lot to me in my young adult life. Granted these are in no particular order but here we go!

DARK AVENGERS/DARK REIGN

Every now and then a comic will sneak up on me and become the one that I have to read right away (and possibly buy multiple copies of) because it hits me like a freight train. Most of the time it's my new favorite because it's unpredictable and scares me a little. Dark Avengers was one of those books for quite a while. After Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn becomes the head of H.A.M.M.E.R. (replacing S.H.I.E.L.D.) and assembles his own twisted version of the Avengers including Venom, Bullseye, and Daken. It was wild and crazy and I had no idea what was going to happen next. Deep down, I knew this roster couldn't last forever but it was amazing to read and within the short time this book was around these characters, especially Norman, made a huge impact on me. 

HONORABLE MENTION:

During the Dark Reign story arc I was only getting two comics - Dark Avengers and New Avengers. The New Avengers were on the run in the previous arc from the Superhuman Registration Act (the comics Sokovia Accords for the film fans). When Osborn came to power not only were the "real" Avengers still on the run from the government they had to be on the run from their worst enemies turned into "legitimate" heroes. The Dark Avengers were the main villains throughout most of this run and it helped strengthen my love of those characters. They weren't necessarily polar opposites of the New Avengers as much as they were the same old villains I loved to hate, just in new costumes and given power they should not have had. Needless to say it was incredible to read and feel that the story was unpredictable and so much fun.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN

If you were to ask me what my favorite Spider-Man story is I'd respond with Ultimate Spider-Man. If you asked me which arc was my favorite I couldn't do it. I might throw out some highlights (which I'll do in a second) but for the most part, this entire run is damn near perfect Spidey stories. What makes it work more than anything is that Spider-Man is secondary to Peter Parker. The book probably should have been called Ultimate Peter Parker because it was his story more than anything. His trials, failures, triumphs, loves, hates, and everything in between. This book kicked off the Marvel Ultimate Universe where all the stories could start over and be set in "the real world." I always felt that USM did it best. Peter felt like a real kid to me. Every issue he was growing, failing, and ultimately learning about how to be a hero. I'm getting a little choked up just talking about it because it means that much to me as a fan. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

VENOM

Aside from his introduction in the Spider-Man animated series in the 90s, I was never a huge Venom fan. I liked the look and everything but the character never really clicked with me. That changed with USM. Just like I said that Peter Parker took on new meaning with this series so did Eddie Brock. Suddenly this character made a lot of sense to me and I loved this arc. It was scary, touching, and all too real. It was one of the first USM stories I ever read and fell instantly in love with it. 

CLONE SAGA

I know that a lot of older fans cringe at the thought of the "Clone Saga" from the Spider-Man canon. I never read any of it, never cared to as I heard nothing but bad things. My Clone Saga is from USM and let me tell ya - it's pretty frickin awesome. For a good chunk of it, Spider-Man is actually not even in it. Despite being on the covers and the book having his name on it, it's Peter's story. Peter watches as twisted, scary, and strange versions of him start popping up. This story also introduced Ultimate Spider-Woman who is Peter's clone that was changed to a female. Yepp . . . bizarre but done so well that the story never felt out of place for me. Everyone from the Fantastic Four to Nick Fury to the X-Men show up during this story and it never feels crowded or overblown. It's so much fun to read and dig into the weird clones. I just wish they had all stuck around . . . 

THE DEATH OF PETER PARKER

Oh man . . . this one was rough. Unlike the "main" Marvel Universe, dead was dead in the Ultimate Universe (although there were characters that came back, even Peter). I mean when this story was sold as "the death of Peter Parker." I believed it. I wished it was not true, I prayed it wasn't, tried to tweet to Bendis not to do it, but ya know . . . he did it. He freaking did it. If USM made me a Mark Bagley fan then this story made me a devoted follower of his work. This comic was so heart wrenching and touching. Peter made the ultimate (ha) sacrifice and in the end, died a hero. He made everyone in his life proud to have known him. I could accept Peter's death knowing that he died a hero and everyone he loved was safe. Also I knew that a new Spider-Man was around the corner . . . 

LEGACY CHARACTERS

Two of Bendis's best creations are the Legacy characters of Miles Morales as Spider-Man and Riri Williams as Ironheart. Both characters debuted when their predecessors either died or went missing. They share a lot of similarities with the original Spider-Man and Iron Man but both characters have forged their own destinies and are in it for the long haul. Hell, Miles is even the star of the upcoming animated Spider-Man coming out this fall! 

Some may argue that these characters were created to show more diversity at Marvel and maybe that is true, but I never thought of these characters as marketing gimmicks. They both have unique and compelling stories to tell. Their young age makes them ideal for new readers because, as I said with Peter in USM, they make mistakes and are forced not only to learn from them but to grow up faster than they should have to. I've loved following their adventures and rooting for them. As I said before, they became favorites for me because I thought their choices were unpredictable and made the comics more exciting to read. 

SECRET INVASION

This one has a bit of a story attached to it. When I got really serious about buying and collecting comic books on a weekly basis I was getting Mighty Avengers and New Avengers way back in 2007! Later that year I decided to move to North Carolina in an attempt to start my life over. As you can imagine, moving 600 miles away is expensive. For a long time I could not afford much of anything so my comics were the first expense to be cut. Several months later, as I worked hard to save money and learned to budget (ugh adulting sucks) I figured I could spare a few bucks for comics again. 

This was right around the time that Secret Invasion was going to start. So I bought the issues. And man oh man I was not disappointed. I felt like the heroes were in over their heads, the villains were going to win (technically they did with Dark Reign), and the Marvel Universe would never be the same! To this day, it remains my favorite Marvel event comic. It wasn't the first one I bought or read, and maybe it's just tied to the nostalgia in my mind, but it was so exciting. Every so often I reread it and get the same feeling of astonishment as when I first read it. 

HONORABLE MENTION:

NEW AVENGERS/MIGHTY AVENGERS

It wasn't until a few years later I got all caught up on everything that happened during the Secret Invasion story. I got the New/Mighty Avengers collections as a birthday present and dug right into them. In the stories you learn about why the Skrulls want to invade Earth, why they chose their targets, and just how long they've been on Earth and what they've been doing. It forced me to reread other Bendis stories and look at them totally differently. The books were so detailed and exciting I couldn't put them down. When I do my Secret Invasion reread, these editions are always on the list as well. Granted, I understood the main story just fine, but these give it so much more meaning that I can't think of the main story without them. They're just as important and fascinating to me. 

ALL NEW X-MEN

I have a love/hate relationship with the X-Men. On the one hand, I love the characters so much and they're an important part of my Marvel reading list. On the other hand, every time a writer does an X-Men book they feel the need to create like 28,000 new characters and the books feel so stuffed I lose interest. Lucky for me, when Bendis started his run on All New X-Men that wasn't the case. I mean it happened later, but when it started it was just Beast going back in time and recruiting the past versions of the X-Men to try and set things straight for the team in the present. It was such a cool concept and I love those original Stan Lee X-Men comics. The first couple years of this book remains one of my all time favorites. Bendis is at his best when he writes young characters trying to find their place in the world, which is why I loved USM, Miles and Riri so much. So when I heard he was doing that with the original 5 X-Men my interest was piqued. 

As a side note, sometimes I don't care for an artist until they get on the right book. Stuart Immonen was an artist I had kind of liked but never really followed much. This book made me a fan of his. The way he drew the characters just seemed right and fit the story so well. I'm still impressed by the art in this book years later. Dang . . . I have so much to reread . . . 

SPIDER-MEN

Now this is one of my all time favorite Spider-Man stories. At the time, Miles was Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe and Peter was Spider-Man in the 616 universe, as opposed to now where they are both Spider-Man in the 616 Universe. It's . . . ugh . . . complicated . . . But back then it was simpler and a cross dimensional story was awesome and unheard of. The Ultimate Universe had never crossed over with the 616. But two different Spider-Men made it a more interesting story. Peter saw all the differences and could meet his family and friends in the weirdest way. The comic was so much fun and the interactions between the two characters was so awkwardly perfect (as it should have been). Bendis has a knack for writing not just Spider-Man well, but his rogues. Mysterio as the main antagonist in this was pitch perfect. I always liked the character but in this book he became a much more genuine threat. Also, it's fun to see the villain done in by their own hubris and arrogance. Like you get to see it in the book and it's hilarious. The dialogue, interactions, and everything here feels so real to me. I read this story several times over when it first came out. Thinking about it now makes me miss the Ultimate Universe. Although maybe it's coming back based on Spider-Men II? Hmmm . . . . 

INFAMOUS IRON MAN

Going back to my favorite type of stories being unpredictable ones I have to say what usually falls in that category are the Villains-Trying-To-Redeem-Themselves stories. Like Superior Spider-Man before it, Infamous Iron Man tells the story of none other than Dr. Victor Von Doom trying to become the new Iron Man in Tony Stark's absence. While that premise alone sold me on the comic immediately what kept me coming back was how it served as a great placeholder for a Fantastic Four comic in their absence. Ben Grimm, the Thing, was a main character and in a way, acts as the antagonist of the book. No one really knows what to make of Doom trying to be a hero: the bad guys, S.H.I.E.L.D., Riri, and maybe even Doom himself. 

When Marvel relaunched after Secret Wars, Bendis made his love of Dr. Doom clear by placing him front and center during the first few issues of Invincible Iron Man but who could have predicted that this would be where the story would have gone? Well, maybe some people did but I didn't. Also, Alex Maleev draws Doom like Vincent Cassel.

I don't know if that's intentional or not but this dude would make a perfect Dr. Doom if they ever try to reboot the film series again. But let's not get into that right now. . . Anyway, this story goes to show that some villains can fit different hero dynamics and it's great to see Dr. Doom squaring off and then trying to become Iron Man. 

DAREDEVIL

Some writers are really good at writing crazy space adventures. Others are good at gritty crime dramas. Bendis is one of those creative people that can go from a universe spanning insane story like Guardians of the Galaxy to a street level drama like Daredevil. Remember when I said Bendis likes to shake shit up? Well he pretty much shook up Matt Murdock's life beyond repair during his run. Daredevil is one of those great characters that works as a fun loving adventurer like Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's run or as a tortured vigilante struggling to keep his life together like Bendis writes. Truth be told, I got into this run very late in the game. It was coming out as I was collecting but hearing that Murdock's identity was outed seemed like too big of a story for me to wrap my head around. At the time I thought, "That's not OK." Like I said, Bendis will piss you off. Looking back I can't believe I was so dumb. His run on the Daredevil comic is downright magnificent. It's compelling, dramatic, exciting, and heartbreaking. It's exactly what great comics should be. As fun as Ultimate Spider-Man is for it's "coming of age" tales, Daredevil is great a gritty crime drama. It's hard to believe it's the same writer that can go from one to the other so effortlessly but Bendis does it, man. And he does it well.

HOUSE OF M

Another late edition to the Comic Junkie collection is House of M story. I don't remember how I came onto it. I think I was just buying anything and everything X-Men/Avengers that I could get my hands on. More than any other comic on this list, this one plays out like a movie to me. While reading it, it feels so fluid that I feel like I'm watching a film. Besides the "Redemption" or "Coming of Age" books that I love, another favorite of mine is definitely "Alternate Universes." This one in particular is one of my favorite alternate universes. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, has given everyone on Earth their heart's desire. Peter is Spider-Man still but loved by the public and media, Captain America is an old man, never frozen during the War, Wolverine is head of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Magneto is the world's most famous mutant and mutants are the dominant species on the planet just like he always wanted. Once the heroes figure out what is going on and remember their own reality they fight to get it back. But it isn't the happy ending you'd expect. The mutant population is decimated, Wolverine regains his memories, Peter is tortured by his alternate life, and, as mentioned before but not explicitly stated in this story, the Skrulls are given an advantage in their Secret Invasion. 

AVENGERS

Saying that Bendis had a great run on Avengers is an understatement. He wrote something like 200 issues between New, Mighty, Assemble, and every tie in, event, etc. That's pretty impressive on its own but luckily the stories were so exciting and fun that I couldn't wait to read them. Before Bendis got his hands on the book, the Avengers was just another comic for Marvel. Bendis wanted to make it the flagship book that everyone looked up to and took their cue from. Basically, if you only bought one Marvel comic it was going to be Avengers. I tell you what, it worked for me. It seemed like any character could have a shot at becoming an Avenger from Spider-Man to Wolverine to Luke Cage to Jessica Jones to freaking Squirrel Girl. The ranks were wide open and the stories were so much fun to read. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

INFINITY

One of Bendis's talents is taking a C-list villain and making them a genuine threat. During his Avengers runs he took Parker Robbins, the Hood, and made him a really scary villain. At first he was possessed by one of Dr. Strange's villains, Dormammu. When that was taken away, he was desperate to get more power. He found it with the Infinity Gems (or Stones for the movie fans, personally I think Stones is better) and the Infinity Gauntlet. These issues brought the Red Hulk into the books as a hero helping the Avengers track the Gems down before Parker could use them for his evil ways. And gosh oh jeez LOOK at that cover! I had a previous post where I said that I hope that cover comes to life in the Infinity War film or its sequel. I think it will because it's just so cool. Either way, this story was so exciting to me because it was my introduction to the Infinity Gems and their importance in Marvel's history. And now they are movie stars!

THE NEW DARK AVENGERS

When it was announced that Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. were coming back to torment the Avengers I flipped out. As I said, I loved Dark Avengers so much and missed those characters. Granted, this was a whole new batch of Dark Avengers but the stories were still compelling and fun for me. To Bendis, Norman Osborn shouldn't just be a Spider-Man villain, he should be the antagonist for all of the Avengers. It makes sense to me! The story sort of falls into the "Redemption" category but since it's Norman Osborn and the dude is batshit crazy, it doesn't quite work out for him. Hey, at least he tried!

AVENGERS VS X-MEN

Now technically I'm cheating here because Bendis co-wrote this with other great Marvel writers but he did the Avengers tie ins and that's good enough for me to count it. Also it's my blog damn it! 

Anyway, the Hero vs Hero story is a tale as old as time. Comics do it all the time but this one took it up a notch. I found myself sympathizing with Cyclops and his team while rooting for Captain America and the Avengers. Neither side is technically wrong but they're also not right either. It's tough to pick a side. After all, the main goal is to make sure that the Phoenix Force doesn't destroy the Earth. The story took some very interesting and surprising twists including killing off Professor Xavier. I mean that was rough to read. Like I said, Bendis could go from gritty dramas like Daredevil to crazy stories where the heroes are fighting on the moon like Avengers vs X-Men. Bendis makes it look so easy! 

Throughout my life, I find myself following certain writers and their work. Bendis was one of the first that I fell in love with and wanted to pick up almost anything he does/did. When I heard he was leaving Marvel for DC I was so excited. I know we are in for a treat with Superman and his continuation of Jinxworld. But I have to admit that I'm very sad his Marvel days are behind him. I mean . . . maybe he'll go back, but 18 years is a long time at a company and it's safe to say he kicked a lot of ass and took a lot of names during his tenure. While I'm sad he won't be a Marvel writer anymore I'm looking forward to (maybe) 18 years at DC where he can shake things up, piss people off, and tell great stories that put a smile on my face.

That's me with Brian at New York Comic Con 2011. I remember telling him i felt he was perfect fit for Marvel because their characters were all about people trying to be superheroes while DC was heroes trying to be people. He agreed with me then. 7 and a half years later and I'm excited to see his take on the other side.

Till Next Time!

JJ - The Comic Junkie!