I don't know, but there's something about him that bothers me. I'm vocal in my opinion of him as a hack, but it goes deeper than that. Yes, every writer has their quirks, but Bendis takes things to a whole new level of depravity. From his troll-bating freak self-inserts (see: new Beast); to his superhero snuff fetish; to his nigh-solipsistic "imaginary friend" dialogue; to his painfully rampant poor handling of women (and that's being political as I still seethe over that Cage & Elektra scene, you know which one); to his attempt to spray gang lingo and snark everywhere, even where it doesn't belong, to the point where it dumbs down the comic and almost assassinates long loved characters who'd never talk that way (poor Doom).
I know some other writers have been troubled, but I'd take Alan Moore's obsession with pairing pretty girls and monsters, Warren Ellis' (let's pretend) hatred of dogs, Grant Morrison's frequent inclusion of transhumanist/shamanic elements in plots, or even Chris Claremont's hypnofetishism over what I've been exposed to thanks to Bendis. He's just dragging the average expected intelligence of mainstream comics and mainstream comic readers down into the ditch with him. I feel a little ashamed to be seen with a Marvel comic as of late, so I've gone back to indie stuff (Atomic Robo is a lovely little book which I must recommend), and I wouldn't be surprised if others have felt the same way.
Maybe it's just the way the wind is blowing? I might be an old fart who isn't down with the new crowd of comic readers who supposedly enjoy this sort of thing, readers who love their characters invariably talking street and snark, who love dumbed down plots, and enjoy seeing women treated badly. But I hope that isn't the case. Really, I'm just wondering if Marvel have any integrity left, because if Bendis is as troubled as I believe him to be, then I just can't wrap my mind around why any editor would allow a sole script of his to be published. He is, to my perception, a truly troubled little man.
And I'm hoping that some of you must agree. Some of you must have had it up to about here with Bendis's shenanigans, surely?
To say that I agree with you would be a gross understatement. Bendis has a way of resorting to shocking for the sake of shocking that I find utterly annoying. An other thing that deeply annoys me is his bad habit of emptying his bladder on the works of former writers in order to make the character "his". No one can let Thanos get punched by a giant tree and be entirey sane according to me.
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