Thursday, June 17, 2004
DAREDEVIL #56 REACTIONS
Well, my rant on the first half of Daredevil #56 has gotten far more attention than anything else I've written in this blog. I have mixed feelings about this: I'm worried now that I'll forever be known as the man who hates Bendis, when I'd much rather be known as the man who introduced A*su and Dying Essayist to Western audiences.
Just for the record, I don't hate Bendis. The only other work of Bendis that I've read is the Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? trade paperback. I didn't like it--it seemed to me to be just transferring TV crime drama cliches to superhero comics, which didn't strike me as an improvement--but it didn't strike me as anything more than one more mediocre comic. I wouldn't have read the Daredevil preview if it hadn't dropped into my lap (not literally, although it could have). Right now I have no intention of critiquing any of Bendis's other works, though when the trade for the arc which started with Daredevil #56 comes out I may check back on it.
In any case, a quick summary of reactions: Johanna Draper Carlson agrees with me, as do Marc Singer (mostly) and John Jakala (who also reprints a review of an earlier Bendis-penned Daredevil); while Dave Fiore (scroll down to June 8), Johnny Bacardi (scroll down to June 7), Sean Collins, and Dave Intermittent disagree. There's more in the comments threads attached to these posts, and also in the comments thread on Fanboy Rampage (scroll down to June 8).
I said I'd try to reply to all intelligent responses, and I still intend to. But it may be a while before I'm able to: I have other, more pressing, writing commitments, and I'm not a facile writer (as you may have guessed from the infrequency of my posts here). In the meantime, you can go read Marc Singer's post, and his replies in the comments thread to it, if you're so inclined: they say much of what I would say, and much more wittily and pithily than I could have said it.
Well, my rant on the first half of Daredevil #56 has gotten far more attention than anything else I've written in this blog. I have mixed feelings about this: I'm worried now that I'll forever be known as the man who hates Bendis, when I'd much rather be known as the man who introduced A*su and Dying Essayist to Western audiences.
Just for the record, I don't hate Bendis. The only other work of Bendis that I've read is the Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? trade paperback. I didn't like it--it seemed to me to be just transferring TV crime drama cliches to superhero comics, which didn't strike me as an improvement--but it didn't strike me as anything more than one more mediocre comic. I wouldn't have read the Daredevil preview if it hadn't dropped into my lap (not literally, although it could have). Right now I have no intention of critiquing any of Bendis's other works, though when the trade for the arc which started with Daredevil #56 comes out I may check back on it.
In any case, a quick summary of reactions: Johanna Draper Carlson agrees with me, as do Marc Singer (mostly) and John Jakala (who also reprints a review of an earlier Bendis-penned Daredevil); while Dave Fiore (scroll down to June 8), Johnny Bacardi (scroll down to June 7), Sean Collins, and Dave Intermittent disagree. There's more in the comments threads attached to these posts, and also in the comments thread on Fanboy Rampage (scroll down to June 8).
I said I'd try to reply to all intelligent responses, and I still intend to. But it may be a while before I'm able to: I have other, more pressing, writing commitments, and I'm not a facile writer (as you may have guessed from the infrequency of my posts here). In the meantime, you can go read Marc Singer's post, and his replies in the comments thread to it, if you're so inclined: they say much of what I would say, and much more wittily and pithily than I could have said it.
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