Ultimate Spider-Man #93 discussion (spoilers)

[E]

Man, what in God's name is all this Bendis-bashing for?!?

There is a sentiment, touched upon in this thread actually, that Bendis has been mailing it in for a while, and is only on the book to break the record and not specifically because he has great stories to tell.

A lot of people (here anyway) think that the quality of the book dropped off during or after "Venom".

 

[Victor Von Doom]

There is a sentiment, touched upon in this thread actually, that Bendis has been mailing it in for a while, and is only on the book to break the record and not specifically because he has great stories to tell.

A lot of people (here anyway) think that the quality of the book dropped off during or after "Venom".

That about sums it up.

 

[jeremiahvedder]

Ah, well, even if he is phoning it in, it's still better than the core Spidey books, IMO.

I'm still in BMB's corner on it, anyway.

I totally agree with you, JV. What I have been saying is that this arc does not fit with USM, but more with UXM... It feels like Spider-Man was just thrown in the mix because it's his title.

Bendis probably just wanted to write an X-Men book, ha.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Ah, well, even if he is phoning it in, it's still better than the core Spidey books, IMO.

I will agree on that note. Amazing, Sensational and Friendly Neighborhood pale in comprison to Ultimate.

 

[E]

Ah, well, even if he is phoning it in, it's still better than the core Spidey books, IMO.

You know, I agree. But I personally can't give a book/writer much credit for being less sucky than another book/writer, as opposed to just being good and telling a good story.

 

[Victor Von Doom]

You know, I agree. But I personally can't give a book/writer much credit for being less sucky than another book/writer, as opposed to just being good and telling a good story.

And E has another point.

That falls back to the playground rules. If you're about to play some football and you're picking teams---it gets down to the last 2 kids. Do you pick the fat kid with twinkies in his pockets....or the small runty kid with asthma? You pick the fat kid because at least he can play Center. But you don't brag that you got the fat kid.

So while you can like/pick Bendis's stories more than JMS or whoever else......you can't praise him for doing an average job.

The fact is----Bendis has thrown away many opportunities to introduce great characters into the UU via a well written story w/ plot......but instead he just introduces them like Baskin Robbins flavors of the month. He's not concerned with whether they're good or not----he just wants to get them out there.

I genuinely believe that his heart is in some other stories and he's just sticking with this until he can solidify a big record.

 

[jeremiahvedder]

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did the same thing with FF#20 to 50 something back in the day, generating an extraordinary amount of characters without fully fleshing them out... And I believe their motivation (which I read in an interview a long time ago) is the same as Bendis' is now. Get the characters out here now, let people know they exist and have them clamor for more. These are introductions, like how Gambit did in Ultimate X-Men #14-15 (I think). This is the handshake. The conversation comes later.

In summary: The stories aren't bad if you just don't like them due to the seeming constant assault of "new" characters. (Peter's dramatic real, non-costumed life has always been well done.) They're opportunities, the same way Lee and Kirby put them out there, a step into the doorway of something more.

I'm sticking with Bendis on this one.

 

[E]

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did the same thing with FF#20 to 50 something back in the day, generating an extraordinary amount of characters without fully fleshing them out... And I believe their motivation (which I read in an interview a long time ago) is the same as Bendis' is now. Get the characters out here now, let people know they exist and have them clamor for more. These are introductions, like how Gambit did in Ultimate X-Men #14-15 (I think). This is the handshake. The conversation comes later.

In summary: The stories aren't bad if you just don't like them due to the seeming constant assault of "new" characters. (Peter's dramatic real, non-costumed life has always been well done.) They're opportunities, the same way Lee and Kirby put them out there, a step into the doorway of something more.

I'm sticking with Bendis on this one.

That's cool; I'm not judging. I'm just explaining.

As for Bendis specifically - you could be totally right that he is doing the Lee/Kirby thing by introducing characters for other people to handle. I personally think that's kind of crappy, but I can understand why it might need to be done.

The problem I have with it is that a) why would he be doing that if he intends to be on the book full time, and b) why is he doing that *now* while at the same time picking up talk about breaking this so-called record, whereas before it wasn't a concern and he was introducing characters himself and developing them too?

The funny thing about this record - and while I'm not cynical to the point where I think it's his sole motivation for staying on the book, I do believe it's a major point for him - is that it's not a record at all. I'm not even sure it's a record for Marvel. But Dave Sim wrote many, many more issues of Cerebus than just 104. Bone lasted longer than 104 issues I believe and I'm pretty sure it was all written by one guy.

 

[Ice]

The 104 is a record for Marvel. It was said so in an interview a few months back when this was brought up.

Just wanted to say that.

 

[ultimatedjf]

Bone lasted longer than 104 issues I believe and I'm pretty sure it was all written by one guy.

The Bone I know only lasted 55 issues. :?

 

[E]

The Bone I know only lasted 55 issues. :?

I might be thinking of something else. I dunno. The point is that it's not a record (except fr being a "Marvel" record).

 

[Goodwill]

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did the same thing with FF#20 to 50 something back in the day, generating an extraordinary amount of characters without fully fleshing them out... And I believe their motivation (which I read in an interview a long time ago) is the same as Bendis' is now. Get the characters out here now, let people know they exist and have them clamor for more. These are introductions, like how Gambit did in Ultimate X-Men #14-15 (I think). This is the handshake. The conversation comes later.

In summary: The stories aren't bad if you just don't like them due to the seeming constant assault of "new" characters. (Peter's dramatic real, non-costumed life has always been well done.) They're opportunities, the same way Lee and Kirby put them out there, a step into the doorway of something more.

I'm sticking with Bendis on this one.

I see what you're saying and a lot of what you say is true... But now that we've got time to correct mistakes and "ultimize" things so that this new universe does not get caught up in the same kind of mess the original one did, why are we only repackaging the same old thing? There will be a day that UU becomes 616 and it's sooner than you think. Bendis shouldn't follow suit anymore if he wants to be successful.

 

[vintsukka]

The funny thing about this record - and while I'm not cynical to the point where I think it's his sole motivation for staying on the book, I do believe it's a major point for him - is that it's not a record at all. I'm not even sure it's a record for Marvel. But Dave Sim wrote many, many more issues of Cerebus than just 104. Bone lasted longer than 104 issues I believe and I'm pretty sure it was all written by one guy.

The record's supposed to be for the longest run for a writer/artist team. I'm not familiar with Cerebus or Bone, did they have the same artist all the way?

 

[E]

The record's supposed to be for the longest run for a writer/artist team. I'm not familiar with Cerebus or Bone, did they have the same artist all the way?

Dave Sim not only wrote all of Cerebus, he drew it all too.

 

[Nick MB]

Dave Sim not only wrote all of Cerebus, he drew it all too.

Actually, that was only true for the first 50 or so issues of Cerebus, after that Gerhard came onboard to draw all the backgrounds while Sim just drew the characters.
And Bone only lasted around 50/60 issues. Certainly nowhere near 100.
Obviously, there's also Larsen on Savage Dragon, though that's now gone so off-deadline, I'm almost reluctant to still count it.

I am curious: could Bendis/Bagley still be the longest running writer/artist duo in all of comics? The longest run of consistent writing and art with two seperate creators involved? Cos it seems that all the competition people can think of has a single guy doing both roles.

 

[E]

Actually, that was only true for the first 50 or so issues of Cerebus, after that Gerhard came onboard to draw all the backgrounds while Sim just drew the foreground.

OK, so he didn't do *all* of the art. He still drew and wrote them all.

And Bone only lasted around 50/60 issues. Certainly nowhere near 100.

Already noted.

Obviously, there's also Larsen on Savage Dragon, though that's now gone so off-deadline, I'm almost reluctant to still count it.

Why? It's still a huge accomplishment.

I am curious: could Bendis/Bagley still be the longest running writer/artist duo in all of comics? The longest run of consistent writing and art with two seperate creators involved? Cos it seems that all the competition people can think of has a single guy doing both roles.

"Competition"?!

 

[TheManWithoutFear]

I think Bendis/Bagley hittin issue #100 deserves it's own thread. It's kind've a big deal regardless of who has done it before.