Few writers have had the impact that Brian Michael Bendis has in the last two decades. Getting his start at Image, he would soon move over to Marvel and set the publisher’s tone for over a decade, his landmark Avengers run becoming a focal point of storytelling and acting as a consultant on the early stages of the MCU. In 2018, he moved over to DC, bringing a lot of fresh ideas to what was once his distinguished competition.
While he hasn’t been at DC as long, Bendis has made a rather large splash there and there are some who prefer his work there to what he did at Marvel, even if his work at Marvel was some of the most important of the 21st century.
10 Better At DC: He Brought Back Fan Favorite Concepts
Bendis came to DC when it was still in a bit of flux- DC Rebirth was just winding down and it was time to take things in a new direction. Immediately given control of the Superman books, he would eventually branch out and bring back two beloved DC teen teams- Young Justice and the Legion of Superheroes.
Fans had seen neither in years and were abuzz- he brought back a lot of fan-favorite teen heroes in Young Justice and guessing what members would be in his Legion of Superheroes was half the fun. His Wonder Comics imprint would also bring back Amethyst and the Wonder Twins, showing a whole new generation that these concepts still had legs.
9 Better At Marvel: He Was The Go-To Guy
After his success with rehabilitating Daredevil, Bendis was the golden child of the Marvel writing stable. Whenever a book needed some new ideas or an event needed some build-up, Bendis was the guy editorial went to. While fans would debate on the quality of his writing, if one was a fan of the larger goings-on of the Marvel Universe, they had to read Bendis’s books.
Bendis was the go-to guy, both as a writer and behind the scenes, as he helped plan out all of the major goings-on of the Marvel Universe the whole time he was there. Marvel would go on an unprecedented streak of sales victories during his time there, cementing his legacy at the publisher.
8 Better At DC: He Created New Characters
In recent years, creators at the Big Two have been reticent to create new characters- they usually save them for their own creator-owned work. Bendis, though, bucked this trend, especially in his Superman run. Not only did he add to Superman’s supporting cast for the first time in decades, but he actually created new villains for the Man of Steel to fight.
On top of that, he created Naomi, an entirely new teenage heroine. In a day and age when the biggest writers save this kind of thing for when they can make all the money, Bendis gifted the DC Universe with a plethora of new characters, something he rarely did at Marvel.
7 Better At Marvel: He Wrote Most Of The Major Events
Once Bendis started writing the Avengers, he went from dependable gritty crime guy to superhero writer extraordinaire. The success of New Avengers showed Marvel brass that he could be trusted and his try-out event, 2004’s Secret War, did well enough for the publisher to trust him to set the course of the line by writing the major event books.
Starting with the seminal House of M, Bendis was responsible for writing most of the major event books of the 2010s and beyond, setting the course for the Marvel Universe in a way that few writers have had a chance to since Stan Lee.
6 Better At DC: He Didn’t Write Event Books
While Bendis’s event books often had great premises and build-ups, the actual events themselves could be on the boring side. Bendis’s dialogue-heavy, quippy writing style often eschewed action for other kinds of drama and that made a lot of his event books long, boring slogs. The aforementioned House of M is a perfect example of this- just about every issue is people talking to or yelling at each other, even number seven, the “big fight” issue.
At DC, the closest Bendis wrote to an event book was Event Leviathan and it was perfectly structured to take advantage of Bendis’s writing style. Other than that, he’s stayed away from DC’s event books, which is a good thing.
5 Better At Marvel: He Never Did Anything That Matches His Daredevil Run
Bendis’s big shot at Marvel was taking over Daredevil and it’s the book that brought him to everyone’s attention. Daredevil was at a high point, as writer Kevin Smith and artists Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti then writer/artist David Mack had brought the book back to prominence, and Bendis kept it there, bringing it to even higher heights.
Daredevil became essential reading for the first time in a long time, as Bendis took the character to some pretty dark places. His run rivaled that of Frank Miller’s and nothing he’s done at DC has even come close to matching it.
4 Better At DC: He’s Subverted His Own Tropes
Bendis’s critics say a lot of things about his writing and one of the things that bothers them the most are his tropes. Bendis at Marvel wrote in a very specific way and it’s a style that fans either loved or hated. It has some drawbacks that everyone can recognize- besides his work being a bit boring, he was notorious for ignoring character’s individual voices.
His work at DC has subverted a lot of the tropes that made his writing kind of annoying. He balances action with dialogue and drama better and he’s gotten way better with using character’s individual voices, with his Superman being one of the best in years.
3 Better At Marvel: He Helped Create The Ultimate Universe
While its fall was precipitous, for a long time, the Ultimate Universe was groundbreaking and one of the highlights of Marvel in the 2000s. Bendis was instrumental in its creation and stayed with it till the end, writing Ultimate Spider-Man and introducing Miles Morales, one of Marvel’s best teenage heroes ever.
The Ultimate Universe was instrumental in Marvel’s success throughout the 2000s and Bendis was one of its chief architects. It was yet another building block in the MCU, showing a way to bring the classic characters of the Marvel Universe into the modern day. Bendis’s work there was instrumental in setting its tone and presaged Marvel’s future.
2 Better At DC: He Seems To Be Invigorated Working In A New Sandbox
Towards the end of his Marvel run, Bendis’s work felt a bit staid. While there were some highlights, nothing matched his old work and it seemed like he was in a rut. Since he’s moved to DC, that feeling is gone- he actually seems to care about what he’s doing again and there’s a palpable excitement to his work that was missing from his later Marvel books.
His Justice League is a perfect example of this- the book is exceeding expectations. His Superman run, while it had its issues, was some of his best work in a long time. Bendis’s work feels vital again and when he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s capable of some great work.
1 Better At Marvel: His Avengers Run Made People Love The Avengers Again
The Avengers were in a bad place in the early 2000s and Bendis’s “Avengers Disassembled” changed all of that. The story brought the team back to the forefront of the Marvel Universe and they’ve pretty much stayed there ever since. None of that would have been possible without Bendis’s work on the book.
Bendis’s Avengers books became must-read books for Marvel fans, as they were the ones that set up all the events and starred the publishers biggest characters. Bendis made stars of characters like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman for the first time in their existence. While the books had their problems, they are probably his most important work.
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