Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "brian-michael-bendis"

The Man of Steel by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Man of Steel isn't a bad book, but its a book that doesn't quite seem worth the title. It evokes images of John Byrne's classic mini-series which re-imagined Superman for the post-Crisis era. This book doesn't do that. Instead, Man of Steel is a prologue to Bendis' run on Superman and Action Comics, setting the stage for a new status quo.

Bendis' decision to have Krypton destroyed by a genocidal madman is the biggest innovation in the book and I don't think the book justified this big change Superman's origin 80 years in. The rest of the story sets up a less happy, more brooding Superman and changes the status quo in ways that seem to suit Bendis rather than serving to provide better stories. This is also a book where it could have been twenty pages shorter.

So overall, this is an obligatory read, but a somewhat mediocre one.



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Superman: Action Comics, Volume 1: Invisible Mafia by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Overall, Brian Michael Bendis' first Superman story arc in Action Comics is pretty solid. Superman's investigating a rash of fires in Metropolis. The first opening scene is hilarious when a fellow crook is criticizing a guy trying to shoot Superman.

The rest of the book is good. It has a well-designed villain, good pacing, and a few cute queues. We do get a bit of Lois Lane in this book and that's probably my least favorite part as she sounds a bit off, both in her voice as well as some of the actions she's taking in distancing herself from Superman. It's a convenience to Bendis, but makes less sense for the character. Still for what is, this is pretty solid.



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Young Justice, Vol. 2: Lost in the Multiverse by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Lost in the Multiverse finds the Young Justice team trying to get home if home even exists as they journey through various DC universes.

This is a fun book, particularly in the first couple of issues as they visit some familiar (for old fans) universes. The book does do quite a bit of character stuff and eventually brings all the Wonder Comics characters together at the end, while leaving a big cliffhanger and many questions for the future.

While it's a bit padded at times, this is still a really fun book that leaves me wanting more.



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Batman: Universe by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Batman Universe starts off simply enough with the Batman investigating a strange crime by the Riddler with the theft of a Faberge egg. However, it becomes far more epic as this a story that involves Vandal Savage and will ultimately take Batman to the ends of the Universe and back in time.

This is a fun, ride of a story. It was originally told in a Wal-Mart 100-page giant over 12 months and Bendis makes every section interesting. I'd thought he should do Batman and this book confirms that view. He could write a really fresh take on the Dark Knight.

My biggest complaint is that the book has some major misunderstandings of how the Green Lantern Corps works, though I guess I'm not sure what we should expect from a career Marvel guy. Other than that, this is a lot of fun and worth a read.



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Superman Vol. 2: The Unity Saga: The House of El by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was apprehensive about a lot of changes that Brian Michael Bendis made to Superman...particularly with Superboy now being turned to a teenager. This book justifies the change and explains while also presenting a compelling cosmic quest that ties into what happened to Krypton, what Jor-el's been up to and brings a bit of a turn for Zod as a character. On top of that, I think Bendis does get a better with writing Lois Lane.

The art does feature a lot of big spreads-single page and two page, but I think the cosmic epic nature of the story can justify it.

If I had a fault with the story, it's the big solution to the huge problem at the center of the destruction of Krypton is a bit cheesy and unoriginal. This epic probably could have tightened but this isn't one of those Bendis stories that scream, "Padded!" Given that this is a 9-issue story, that says a lot about the book.




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Superman, Vol. 3: The Truth Revealed by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Truth Revealed collects four Issues of Superman and two special issues.

The first issue has a reunion between Jon and Damian as the later considers an offer to join the Legion of Superheroes.

The rest of the book centers on Clark's decision to reveal his secret identity. The topic is one suited to Bendis' style as he loves to do stories with a lot of character conversations and talks from even the man on the street and this is a topic where that fits. So while the entire book is a bit pro forma in setting up the new status quo for Superman, it's still an engaging.

My only complaint is the presence of the infected Supergirl in the villains issue. That was rather pointless and a reminder of how DC so badly mishandled this character.

Other than that, it's a solid read.



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Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 3 by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects seven issues of Miles Morales' Spider-man. The first half of the book features Miles' mother learning about his secret identity. I thought his mom's reaction to this was very realistic and had a nice human element to the story. This also leads into a teen hero facing off against Hammerhead and then Miles coming after him. Bendis put some thought into Hammerhead and the complexity of organized crime fighting heroes in the Marvel universe. All the other supporting characters are very well-written and characterized.

Then the book takes an odd swing with Miles going off to Japan in an effort to find himself. The story is interesting for what it does, sets up a big battle as well as a potential future for Miles that I'm not necessarily thrilled with. Still, this is a solid collection.



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Superman: Action Comics Vol. 3: Leviathan Hunt by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A bit of a mixed review on this one.

Not a whole lot hapepns here to move the ongoing plots forward for Superman. We get some interesting character insights with Red Cloud and Marisol Leone continues to promises a lot of mystery and make some public moves. And Naomi shows up and is more interesting than in her own book.

The big problem is that Naomi kind of takes over this book and becomes a bit of a Mary Sue and has an outsized role in dealing with a threat Superman's had in the background for two volumes. That is just off.

Overall, a so-so volume.



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Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 4 by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The final seven issues of Brian Michael Bendis' run as writer for Miles Morales' Spider-man. It's got a lot to wrap up as someone from Miles' past is back leading a new Sinister Six and a friend of MIles' is caught in the crossfire. At the same time, there's issues with Miles' parents over his father helping him keep his secret identity, and school drama with Ganke and a girl running a Spider-man fan vlog.

Thisstory does what it needs to do. It's entertaining and manages to wrap up all of its threads. The final battle is satisfying and the final issue is a triumph playing on writer Bendis' own experience with a serious illness that almost killed him.

There are flaws slike a few parts that are way too talky (as is typical) and the whole doing other than being Spider-man idea is still not really fleshed out or made sense of in this volume.

Overall, though, a solid final bow for Bendis on Spider-man and an end to an incredible run.



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Superman, Volume 4: Mythological by Brian Michael Bendis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This 9-issue book wraps up Bendis' run on Superman and it's...not horrible. It features a lot of people talking about Superman, analyzing Superman, Superman even gets analyzed. The first few issues are kind of blah. A big problem is raised with the United Planet, it becomes the focus of reporters and federal investigators...and it's kind of handwaved away.

And then we get the main mythological arch which is kind of interesting but is really not the sort of story you end a run on, although I do like some of the sentiment and character stuff for Lois.

So overall, not bad, but still kind of disappointing.



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