The Strange World of Superheroes
Yep, when Bendis gets into character, he gets into character. I mean, everybody knows this guy can write dialogue, and that’s because he understands character psychology and how it finds expression in speech patterns and body language. To my mind, that’s what Bendis is all about as a writer, and when he is on a title that allows him to fully apply those strengths – a title such as Alias – he is pretty much unstoppable.
To be sure, it's the kind of talent that is often overshadowed by Marvel’s inevitable and all-consuming “events”… see the noisy but disappointing third volume of this series. For the most part, though, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man works because it allows Bendis to shine. Take the first issue of this final volume, for example: down-to-earth, insightful, sad, funny, sweet, magical. Traumatized by his mother's violent death, Miles still refuses to be Spider-Man, giving Bendis a chance to focus on the small and personal things he knows so well. Over the following issues, though, this teenage world is juxtaposed with an updated Cloak and Dagger origin story - can't go too many pages without any superheroics, I guess.
Well, and then Miles finally puts the mask back on, of course. As far as superheroics are concerned, I appreciated the effort that went into making them accessible and relevant by grounding them in urgent contemporary topics such as genetic engineering and corporate greed rather than in decades of fictional continuity... though, quite honestly, I still couldn't care less about the actual fighting itself, that stuff just isn't for me.
This has been my first departure into the strange world of ongoing superhero titles in quite some time, and I am happy to report that there appear to be no major health repercussions as yet. In fact, I had a good time and am now pumped for 2016 (it’s a new year’s resolution – yeee…) to explore a few more of all those superhero titles that have been passing me by left and right over the years. To tell the truth, I have already been exploring some of your fascinating little lists and reviews… yes, yours, my dear GR friends... and I have come away with a few rather, well, let’s just say promising and… how shall I put it… interesting, I guess… hehe… I mean… hehehe… in a perfectly harmless way, of course… hehe… interesting ideas, I mean... mwehehe… whehehe… perfectly harmless… ideas… MWAHAHAHAHAhahahaha….!!!