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Anyone else think that the Bendis style (heavy dialogue w/ little action) sucks?

Started by johnnycoolxx,

Do you like "cinematic pacing" in comics?  

84 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you like "cinematic pacing" in comics?

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15 posts in this topic

johnnycoolxx

johnnycoolxx

Posted
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I was re-reading some of my Marvels from just a few years back and I was surprised how much they suck. I think Brian Michael Bendis is responsible for taking most of the action out of comics and making them not as fun. I think this whole "cinematic pacing" thing was refreshing to a lot of fans when it first came out, but aren't you tired of it yet? If I was a 12 year old kid thinking about getting into comics and read some of this low action stuff, I think I would pass, especially because comics aren't cheap at $2.99 and really, who wants to read all about Peter Parker instead of Spider-Man?

 

In some of the Daredevils he wrote, Matt Murdock never got into costume as Daredevil. Instead, BMB focused on Matt Murdock's legal career or relationship w/ Foggy or Ben Urich.

The low point in all this is Ultimate Spider-Man 46(?) when the whole issue was about Aunt May talking with her therapist. Ultimate Spider-Man?? How about Ultimate What the F...k..???

 

Frank Miller says the new style of comics writing sucks too. He said comics should be about action and fantasy and about characters larger than life, not all about people just like us.

 

What do you think?

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seank

seank

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If I buy a Daredevil book, I like to see some Daredevil in it. Bendis did great work on that title, but sometimes I was a bit disappointed to get 22 pages of talking heads. I'd love to see a return to comics where you could buy an issue and get a story. Dini's recent work in Detective is a prime example. We don't need five or six part stories all the time just so the publisher has something to package into a TPB.

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Karma23

Karma23

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I can't stand the Bendis style. I suppose it's as much the fault of the need to make every story arc run 6 issues for the TPB market, but Fer God's Sake! Let something actually happen once-in-a-while! meh

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followtheleader

followtheleader

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Come on, Daredevil is fantastic. We've seen 30-50 years of senseless action in comics. Crossovers, fights, etc.

 

I'm sure Miller is alluding to comics being turned into Reality TV. And I wholly agree with that. But Bendis, among others, is reducing the one-dimensional aspect of the character (superhero, career person, inter-personal life, etc). Hell, Miller did much of the same stuff on his DD run.

 

Bendis' issue is that he is doing far too much. It's a game of Johns vs Bendis. Who can do the most. Also, I tend to enjoy more of the "realistic" and "crime" stuff that Bendis does versus his superhero work. Makes sense based on his initial roots.

 

Ultimate Spider-man is another solid book. I will admit, it slowed down around the time of Ultimate Carnage (which might have been a high point by your opinion due to this thread). But the story seems to slowly have improved and is interweaving past arcs (which I love). My only really beef is why Bendis has to constantly state that MJ doesn't wants to hit skins with Peter yet. One time is plenty. 3 times is WAY too much.

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Paladin

Paladin

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Come on, Daredevil is fantastic. We've seen 30-50 years of senseless action in comics. Crossovers, fights, etc.

 

I'd have to agree on his Daredevil. It's what got me to check out the book again. Fully jumped in on Brubaker's run.

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johnnycoolxx

johnnycoolxx

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id rather have bendis and his dialogue over the old image style which was a book full of splash page size art and 25 words in the whole book

 

The old Image style is at the other extreme--- all flash without much substance. They were still cool though (I read those as a kid) and I think more fun than reading those BMB Daredevil issues where he mostly just talked alot to Ben Urich.

 

It's got to be a balance between action and dialogue/characterization in comics, but the action is more important.. Bendis is going too far and trying to tell too much about personal lives and not about life in the costume. Just imagine how boring it would be to watch "I Am Legend" or "Indiana Jones" if those movies were 98% talking about how they feel, and 2% action and suspense. that's how I feel about most of BMB's stuff.

 

 

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followtheleader

followtheleader

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Johnny,

 

Brubaker's DD style is probably closer to marrying action and an amazing back story. Probably why I hear so many more people interested in the DD book than when Bendis was on it. I can understand that. The only thing is that Bendis really set up Brubaker for success on this book. Some of my favorite DD stories came out of Bendis' run. Murdock vs. the Yazuka was frickin' insane (probably one of my all-time favorite singles). The Devil Baby story was absolutely out there. The real shame is that Bendis seemed to be getting better and better on DD as he went. Who knows where he might have taken it today. But I surely can't complain with the killer stories by Brubaker!

 

Pat

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