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[Alucard]

WARNING. THIS THREAD CONTAINS UNMARKED SPOILERS.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Alright, so I just finished with Part 3 of the Carnage story arc in USM. Frankly, I'm disappointed. Bendis was doing incredibly well with this particular story until this issue. I don't know what happened, but the writing just wasn't all that solid. The conversation between MJ and Gwen at the mall was incredibly weak and the writing was pretty amateurish.

"May is cool."
"She IS cool."

Ugh. And then the ending hit, which I totally didn't see coming. I wouldn't have minded if it was done well but if this truly is the death of Gwen then it was an incredibly cheap way to go. She is by far one of my favourite characters in the series, especially in the arc where she finds out that Peter is Spidey, and she deserves so much better than this. We didn't even really get to see the infamous love triangle between her, MJ, and Peter. And Carnage...ugh. What a shitty and useless character. There is nothing appealing about him/it at all. At least Venom had some dialogue.

Right now I'm just totally disappointed in Bendis' decision to kill Gwen the way he did. Seriously, I doubt she's coming back after having her body sucked dry to the point where she looks like a corpse. Bendis better write something really good to make up for this load of crap.

Ultimate X-Men

Brian K. Vaughan is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers. After Bendis somewhat renewed my interest in UXM (it took balls to kill off Beast), Vaughan has me back in full force. Mr. Sinister's redesign is absolutely badass. He looks menacing with a "don't fuck with me" attitude. Of course, he becomes a stuttering idiot when he gets into trouble and is in front of Apocalypse, (who also looks freaking great) but he's still damn cool. Anyways, I think the last issue was the end of the current arc but I don't think a full-fledged Apocalypse story is far off. I'm looking forward to it. It's still not like the X-Men books of old in terms of quality, but it's getting BETTER and that's what I've wanted for the past 20 issues or so.

I'm not too crazy about seeing Gambit back in the next issue, but I guess it could be good. I've never been a big fan of the character, mostly because of his annoying accent and the way writers try to make it come accross. I'm giving Vaughan the benefit of the doubt though.

Other books

Other current issues I still need to read that I picked up yesterday: MK Spider-Man, Green Arrow, The Pulse, and Guardians. I've read Astonishing X-Men #1 and thought it was pretty cool. The art is sharp and the writing isn't too shabby at all. I'm going to try and hunt down #2 since it wasn't at either of the two shops I went to and will follow the series for the next little while.

 

[Matlock]

Hi, my name is Matlock. Even though I read neither, I will bump this thread for great justice.

And because you won't stop bitching in IRC about it.

 

[Spike]

Am I the only one that doesn't like Bendis? I think he's massively overrated.

 

[nomoment]

Am I the only one that doesn't like Bendis? I think he's massively overrated.

I agree, Chuck Austen's run on Uncanny X-Men has been great!

But in all honesty, why would you say this? Don't like the Bendisy dialogue? The long story arcs? Those are generally, the most common Bendis complaints.

 

[Alucard]

Am I the only one that doesn't like Bendis? I think he's massively overrated.

I think that he's more hit-or-miss now than anything else. I think he's still in the "hit" department more often than not, but he's writing so many titles right now that I think he might be getting a little burned out.

That said, I really don't think he's overrated at all. He's written some of the best comics I've ever read. Have you checked out any of his Daredevil stuff? Classic.

 

[Neo_ZX]

Wow they killed Beast? Shit who's the brains now?

I haven't read an X-book or comics since we first saw Maggot and Marrow. I wonder what the hell's been going on since then. Any sites with updates per issue? does Marvel release compilation books anymore?

It'd be so much more worthwhile to pick up one huge book per year rather than 12 comics. Actually, more like 36-40 books per year to get the FULL story if it's anything like in my heyday.

 

[lordmrw]

Am I the only one that doesn't like Bendis? I think he's massively overrated.

The only thing that gets on my nerves about Bendis is that he tends to go overboard when he writes character dialogue. Its like he's obsessed with it. Don't get me wrong, he's good at it, but nearly every issue of a comic he writes, there's usually one or two characters who fill up a page or two with speech that goes on and on, when he could easily have shortened it and gotten right to the point. Its something I feel Azzarello does better.

 

[Spike]

I agree, Chuck Austen's run on Uncanny X-Men has been great!

Haha, no. A world without Chuck Austen working in comics, would be a better place.

But in all honesty, why would you say this? Don't like the Bendisy dialogue? The long story arcs? Those are generally, the most common Bendis complaints.

Yup, it's the way he does dialogue. I don't mind longer than normal story arcs, but his dialogue tends to go overboard alot of the times. I like short and to the point.

 

[dream]

I hate the way Bendis writes dialogue (because he seems to feel the need to everything in parenthesis instead of proper thought bubbles) but the man does write good stuff (when he's not stretching himself too thin by working on 17 books at a time).

 

[nomoment]

Its something I feel Azzarello does better.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one.

Azzarello can't write dialogue -- especially if it's dialogue that's "right to the point," as you say it. While it's much more apparent in his superhero work (Batman, Superman), Azzarello likes to play around with cutesy, coded dialogue -- which in fact, mostly consist of either: really bad puns, or running metaphors that don't make any sense. This was so apparent in his Batman run that it became a huge chore to read. At least Bendis' dialogue is fairly naturalistic.

Someone needs to tell Azzarello he's no Milton.

 

[Alucard]

Anyone know how long it's going to be before we get the Seaguy trade?

 

[nomoment]

Anyone know how long it's going to be before we get the Seaguy trade?

I'd say probably around 6-8 months. Just buy the singles, it's worth it.

 

[Alucard]

If I could find them I would. Either my shops just don't carry them or they sell as soon as they're put on the shelves. I really want to read them too. They would definitely be more worthwhile than Bite Club has been so far. :-\ I feel obligated to buy the rest of that series since I already have the first 3 issues.

 

[BuddyC]

If I could find them I would. Either my shops just don't carry them or they sell as soon as they're put on the shelves. I really want to read them too. They would definitely be more worthwhile than Bite Club has been so far. :-\ I feel obligated to buy the rest of that series since I already have the first 3 issues.

if i can find all three issues at my local shop, do you want me to pick 'em up and send 'em off for ya?

 

[nomoment]

If I could find them I would. Either my shops just don't carry them or they sell as soon as they're put on the shelves. I really want to read them too. They would definitely be more worthwhile than Bite Club has been so far. :-\ I feel obligated to buy the rest of that series since I already have the first 3 issues.

You gotta ask your shop to reorder them for you. I'm pretty sure neither #1 or #2 are sold out at DC. If you order on Wednesday, they should be able to get them for you in a week, two weeks tops.

 

[Alucard]

if i can find all three issues at my local shop, do you want me to pick 'em up and send 'em off for ya?

Nah, it's cool man. I'll see if my shop can just order them like Nomo suggested. If not then I'll just wait for the trade, which will probably have extra stuff in it anyways.

 

[lordmrw]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one.

Azzarello can't write dialogue -- especially if it's dialogue that's "right to the point," as you say it. While it's much more apparent in his superhero work (Batman, Superman), Azzarello likes to play around with cutesy, coded dialogue -- which in fact, mostly consist of either: really bad puns, or running metaphors that don't make any sense. This was so apparent in his Batman run that it became a huge chore to read. At least Bendis' dialogue is fairly naturalistic.

Someone needs to tell Azzarello he's no Milton.

I feel his Vertigo work is tons better than his Superhero work. I'm mainly basing it on that. BUt you do have a point.

 

[nomoment]

I feel his Vertigo work is tons better than his Superhero work. I'm mainly basing it on that. BUt you do have a point.

Definitely. 100 Bullets and Johnny Double are good, and the dialogue (especially his urban dialogue) works, most of the time.

However, one problem with 100 Bullets is that the backstory with trust and the betrayal has now gotten so complex and convoluted that it's bothersome to keep track of exactly who's who and what's going on -- most people try to get by with a general gist of the story. Instead of aiming for 100 issues, Azzarello should've compressed the series, and aimed for 60. Some 100 Bullets arcs seem to go absolutely no where, to only reveal a little nugget of information at the end. This is why more stand-alone arcs like Hang Up on the Hang Low seem to work better on the title.

In other words, where Azzarello succeeds in dialogue, he tends to fail in plotting.