I've been reading my way through Brian Michael Bendis' run on Alias and realising how much I enjoy his writing when he is in tune with a character. His stories of Jessica Jones as a private detective are wonderfully constructed and we see Jessica deal with her cases and her personal life, ex-superhero, single woman etc.Rather than trying to run massive company wide crossovers, Bendis is much better off telling small stories with a noir twist and allowing big name superheroes to make cameos. As he tells his story of power and the responsibility that comes with it, and how having superpowers impacts on your life (to a lesser degree).
Find the TPB and start reading, and you will discover why so many people rate this series.
I've read the first couple of these and they are brilliant. I was alerted to them by a chapter in Ros Kaveney's "Superheroes!" and she's right - they're an incredibly 'thick' text. Again I say, brilliant!
ReplyDeleteOkay, what the hell was with Secret Invasion? What was all the "he loves you"; Skrulls working for 'God'; villains saying things like "Some of you gleefully wallow in excess while your brother next to you starves"? Because I'm completely on the Skrulls' side except for the whole 'taking over the planet' thing. Is Bendis being smart about religious fundamentalism? Or just trying to annoy religious people. Because I'm annoyed.
ReplyDeleteI can't pretend to know what Bendis was writing in 'Secret Invasion' but personally I really have only enjoyed his work on 'Powers' and 'Alias'. I thought the premise of 'Secret Invasion' was interesting, but the execution let me down, as the story dribbled away into a mounting pile of crossovers. I enjoyed 'Civil War' way more than this.
ReplyDeleteIMHO as Bendis' fame rises his ability to pull it off drops.