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Bendis's dialogue is absolutely great. It tends to be better in solo books as he has a bad habit of giving every character the same voice in teams, but it's always very natural and fun. My main gripe is that his stories very rarely have satisfying conclusions which kind of wears on my enthusiasm over time and for a while at Marvel he was EVERYWHERE.

Cho Hulk was definitely intended as a slow burn curse kind of story, but it didn't quite have the tone, notably in the art to pull that off. It always got played as a power fantasy with a bright art style that never let the darker elements feel appropriately sinister.

I think one of the great challenges facing new characters is having a strong supporting cast. So much of comics these days are the relationships supers have with other supers; its rare to get a character with friends and family to drive purpose, which are things that have kept Kamala and Miles going where others have struggled. Bendis generally does a pretty great job of this on the whole but I think Riri is a little too dependent on Stark compared to those too.

I've kind of had a long term theory that comics don't really get a good supporting cast until there is a development for a movie or TV series... Otherwise, it's usually just love interests and sidekicks, maybe one or two others...


For example, Green Arrow, as a comic, is VERY different to the 'Arrow' TV series, but adding John Diggle to the comics was a BIG improvement to them.

And, of course, you've got BTAS to thank for Harley and Montoya.

The Flash comics have added in 'Commander Cold', who fulfills a very similar role to Captain Cold in the TV series.

 Compel wrote:
I've kind of had a long term theory that comics don't really get a good supporting cast until there is a development for a movie or TV series... Otherwise, it's usually just love interests and sidekicks, maybe one or two others...


For example, Green Arrow, as a comic, is VERY different to the 'Arrow' TV series, but adding John Diggle to the comics was a BIG improvement to them.

And, of course, you've got BTAS to thank for Harley and Montoya.

The Flash comics have added in 'Commander Cold', who fulfills a very similar role to Captain Cold in the TV series.

That's sort of a new phenomena that came about due to crossovers though. Classic comics thrived on characters like Lois, Jimmy, Perry, the Kents. Most of the interesting Spider-Man stories are driven by Aunt May, Gwen, Harry, Betty, JJJ, Flash and other ordinary characters. The secret identity used to be such an integral part of establishing these characters that has faded over time. Some of this is a result of the X-Men, which were always most about people who identified more as super than heroes and their adventures. The focus on team books and crossovers also lead to a situation where characters were mostly defined by their friendships and romance with other supers. Characters like Alicia are so critical to keeping the Fantastic Four dynamic fresh but regularly get forgotten.

I actually really noticed it when Barry returned. His return really strengthened the classic Justice League lineup, but mostly because he had such important character dynamics with Bruce and Hal specifically that Wally shared more with Kyle and other Titans. You can still feel it with Cyborg, who comes across as disconnected with the rest of the group compared to his more established dynamics with characters like Beast Boy. I think DC really undervalues what a lynchpin Nightwing is overall and Bruce's unwavering popularity compared to his peers has constantly left them unable to make the most of his circle of friends. That they keep insisting characters like Raven and Roy and Starfire can just exchange him with Tim or Daimian is probably the worst example of this.

That's just an issue with team books though and you notice that a lot of solo books really suffer when their characters only have supers for friends. Barry still hasn't developed the network of support characters Wally enjoyed in his glory days and Superman more than any other character really suffers when they kill off the Kents or make League battles his primary source of conflict. Making him a father was a huge help, but I think all too often authors write Lois as Superman's wife rather than Clark's.

 LunarSol wrote:
Cho Hulk was definitely intended as a slow burn curse kind of story, but it didn't quite have the tone, notably in the art to pull that off. It always got played as a power fantasy with a bright art style that never let the darker elements feel appropriately sinister.

I was thinking about this and I think the bright colors and tone is what makes it work. It’s absolutely a power fantasy for awhile. He’s the smartest and the strongest dude around. He’s not merely incredible, he’s Totally Awesome. Everything is great, until it isn’t. If you set it dark and grim, it’s not nearly as jarring when

 AduroT wrote:

 LunarSol wrote:
Cho Hulk was definitely intended as a slow burn curse kind of story, but it didn't quite have the tone, notably in the art to pull that off. It always got played as a power fantasy with a bright art style that never let the darker elements feel appropriately sinister.

I was thinking about this and I think the bright colors and tone is what makes it work. It’s absolutely a power fantasy for awhile. He’s the smartest and the strongest dude around. He’s not merely incredible, he’s Totally Awesome. Everything is great, until it isn’t. If you set it dark and grim, it’s not nearly as jarring when

Spoiler:

Hulk snaps a dude’s neck on live TV and promises to do the same to anyone else who crosses him from now on.

It does certainly, but what I think what was really needed was for the first issue to have a different artist do a page or two that was "warped" somehow and have that artist come in more often as the premise became more the focus of the series. That would have given readers more to latch onto initially and made them more open to give the character a chance. He'd been largely written off by the time it got to the jarring stuff and even then, that stuff isn't as jarring as it could be given the art style.

On a completely unrelated note, it looked like Zemo may have been back in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, the big action scene against the helicopter with the rockets made me pine for the 10 Rings and the Mandarin to make a comeback!

 Easy E wrote:
On a completely unrelated note, it looked like Zemo may have been back in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, the big action scene against the helicopter with the rockets made me pine for the 10 Rings and the Mandarin to make a comeback!

They are. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will feature the actual Mandarin and his organization.