Bendis Is Not Fooling Me
Scarlet #1 by Brian Michael Bendis (Click to enlarge)
My bookshelves prove that I am a fan of Brian Michael Bendis’ work. His creator-owned titles (Torso, Jinx, Fire, Alias, and the much-lauded Powers) rest in their place of honor at eye-level and have cemented firmly in my brain the fact that the man is a true wordsmith. While I can appreciate the work he has done over the years on certain large commercial books (Avengers, Daredevil, and scores of others), nothing compares to his creator-owned titles. Imagine my surprise then, when I excitedly picked up his newest title, Scarlet, created with artist Alex Maleev (the man responsible for the gorgeous artwork on Spider-Woman) and found it to be mediocre at best.
I am not saying it’s a bad comic; it isn’t. What I am saying is I think it’s far below what Bendis is capable of. His past foray into the realm of creator-owned titles has shown that the man has writing chops. This current story he’s publishing suggests that he may have burned out writing a plethora of Marvel titles without a break for so long, as it is nothing more than a sad reinvention of the same character Bendis readers have seen over and again. The prevalence of dirty cops and crappy people in everyday society is not a new concept to those readers familiar with his work and frankly, I expected something better from him.
