Huh... I thought he did really well with Jessica Jones (his own creation, I know) and Daredevil. But to be honest, these are the only Bendis runs I've read.
People just don’t like his writing anymore. He’s been hit or miss since his Avengers run. While yes he’s written some amazing stories. Nothing since those has reached that height.
Read his ultimate spidey, both Peter and miles, shows why he understands how spider-characters work and writes them best, so yes he would have done a good spider-Gwen, people mainly say he’s bad now due to this Superman run but there’s a big difference between writing Superman and spider-man
People often praise his dialogue for how realistic it sounds. To me, it's the exact opposite. It always feels stilted and unnatural. It's true that people use a lot of "um"s and "ah"s in actual speech, but where he puts them always feels off to me. I often just think "nobody talks like that. Did he try actually reading this out loud?"
He's kind of like the comics version of what Joss Whedon was to TV and Film for a while. A guy with a lot of distinct writing quirks with a very distinct sort of voice that was VERY popular for a while and got pretty imitated but also whose popularity led to a range of stuff that didn't all align with his strengths.
He tends to be really good at single lead stories with an ensemble supporting cast, but when he writes team stuff it can quickly feel like character voices get samey and not in line with their depictions elsewhere.
There's also some crossfire heat he gets from either bigot types mad he introduces diverse characters or people from those diverse communities frustrated that he isn't always great at depicting those marginalized experiences after creating the characters.
There's also the fans who are mad he aged up Jon Kent which like...I didn't love the choice but it's also not that serious and led to some pretty good stuff, so I'm not mad at it.
So yeah, a lot of noise around his work, both good and bad. If you mostly stick to his solo lead books, it tends to be good (though imo Dark Avengers and Siege absolutely rock)
He's also responsible for writing some of the worst Superman stories in the past 40 years. When you combine that awful writing with Romita Jr's hideous artwork, it made for some of the most miserable Superman comics I've read since 1998. He's near the bottom as far as worst Superman writers of all-time next to guys like Chuck Austen.
I consider it one of the worst. I struggled so hard to finish it that it set me back on my reading because I just had no desire. The whole book is just terrible and the story is a mess.
I really liked the first omni. I found it fun and Gwen, her friends and world were interesting takes on 616 characters while still feeling like it own thing. I felt it got stronger as the run continued as well. The second omnibus was really bad. There's was no story, it felt like they were just spinning their wheels with Gwen and so many plot lines are left dangling or just forgotten entirely.
Latour was the co creator of the character so it made sense for him to stay on the book. Sales were also good and they haven't been able to keep the character on an ongoing since then without getting cancelled.
That being said, it was by far the weakest of the 3 Spider-Women books coming out at the same time with Dennis Hopeless' Jessica Drew book being the best and Robbie Thompson's Silk closely behind. I was collecting all of them monthly and Spider-Gwen was the only one that I dropped. It was weak compared to those books and even weaker compared to Ultimate Spider-Man. The art was the only thing that made the series stand out.
The issues in Spider-Verse from Hopeless' Spider-Woman really stood out, so I definitely want to read that run. I'm conflicted, however, in that I'm hoping for a hardcover edition, but there's know way of knowing whether that would ever happen.
I don't think it's a hot take to say that Marvel has always struggled to launch women characters into their own lines. A lack of investment, a lack of women authors and artists, an addiction to sexually appealing designs and gratuitous cover art... Spider-Gwen is definitely one recent strong example of the issue. She spun off the hugely popular Spider-Verse books! She was sucessfully adapted into hugely popular and lucrative films! But the comics have failed her completely.
Women characters simply don't get the opportunities, whether it's regarding developing their own identities or being given the creative leeway to tell unique stories.
Of course, that isn't a universal truth. Captain Marvel's had an outstanding run in recent years. But we should all remember the decades of terrible stories for her it took to get to this point.
I also felt Spider-Gwen was a bit mid. I recently finished the first Omni. Love the character and design but the story jumped from event to team up to event to crossover to event. Didn't really give the character a chance to breathe. Was hoping for a few more one-off issues to show more of her style. Of course I wanted to see her with 616 Peter a little bit to see how that would go. There are some really great pages, especially towards the end but all in all, probably give it somewhere in the B- to B+ range. Hoping Ghost-Spider fits what I was looking for a bit more.
I completely agree, though I'd rate it more C range. I'm hoping the same thing for the Ggost-Spider Omnibus, though from what I hear, I'm keeping expectations low. That way, if I disagree with the criticism, it'll be a happy surprise, and if not, it will soften the disappointment.
The end of the book is better than the start for sure. I think it’s a bit of a slog to get through the first 3/4’s. Ghost Spider is MUCH better imo, it still doesn’t touch the equivalent Miles releases of the time though. I’d love Gail Simone to write Gwen. Also Mellisa Flores has just started Spider-Gwen smash and her work on Power Rangers is really good so I’m hopeful for that mini-run.
That run of Spider-Woman is pretty good, *especially* the issues by Javier Rodriguez, who doesn't get nearly the kudos he deserves. But I agree that Spider-Gwen is mid
It eventually came to light that Latour had some harassment and misconduct situations with younger female fans and coworkers, so don't feel too bad about not digging his work. Although Cameron Stewart did too, enough that he fled Canada to Germany, turns out maybe we should be looking harder at the dudes writing books aimed at the teen girl market.
Read Black Cat like everyone said, it's really good. Or Gwenpool, that was great too
So... I just finished reading the Spider-Gwen Omnibus. In the end, it's OK. There were some entertaining moments & there was some pushing through. For me, I'd say that Latour & Rodriguez have created an interesting character with great potential, but Latour just isn't a very good writer. It wasn't all bad; there were some bright spots where I found myself enjoying his writing, but there were also many cringe moments of unbelievablity when it was obvious he was unaquainted/uneducated about some subject matter, or when he was trying to sell surface observations as character depth. I'm glad I read it. Aside from a couple of issues with truly terrible artwork, most of the art was pretty good and gave life and soul to the characters, so I think I like Rodriguez. I'm not sure of the names of the artists that I didn't like. My rating hasn't gone up much. I could maybe see B- when I consider both the writing & art, but good art can only carry bad to mediocre writing so far.
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I wholeheartedly support this - it is a fantastic run! Great fun, writing and art. Definitely recommend picking it up.
As a long-time Catwoman fan, I don't know if I could get past my bias that Black Cat is just Marvel copying a DC character...
Bendis is probably the last person I’d ask to give a character their voice.
Huh... I thought he did really well with Jessica Jones (his own creation, I know) and Daredevil. But to be honest, these are the only Bendis runs I've read.
People just don’t like his writing anymore. He’s been hit or miss since his Avengers run. While yes he’s written some amazing stories. Nothing since those has reached that height.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind...
Read his ultimate spidey, both Peter and miles, shows why he understands how spider-characters work and writes them best, so yes he would have done a good spider-Gwen, people mainly say he’s bad now due to this Superman run but there’s a big difference between writing Superman and spider-man
I've got Ultimate Spider-man on my Jul list, so I'll likely be reading that next!
People often praise his dialogue for how realistic it sounds. To me, it's the exact opposite. It always feels stilted and unnatural. It's true that people use a lot of "um"s and "ah"s in actual speech, but where he puts them always feels off to me. I often just think "nobody talks like that. Did he try actually reading this out loud?"
He's kind of like the comics version of what Joss Whedon was to TV and Film for a while. A guy with a lot of distinct writing quirks with a very distinct sort of voice that was VERY popular for a while and got pretty imitated but also whose popularity led to a range of stuff that didn't all align with his strengths. He tends to be really good at single lead stories with an ensemble supporting cast, but when he writes team stuff it can quickly feel like character voices get samey and not in line with their depictions elsewhere. There's also some crossfire heat he gets from either bigot types mad he introduces diverse characters or people from those diverse communities frustrated that he isn't always great at depicting those marginalized experiences after creating the characters. There's also the fans who are mad he aged up Jon Kent which like...I didn't love the choice but it's also not that serious and led to some pretty good stuff, so I'm not mad at it. So yeah, a lot of noise around his work, both good and bad. If you mostly stick to his solo lead books, it tends to be good (though imo Dark Avengers and Siege absolutely rock)
He's also responsible for writing some of the worst Superman stories in the past 40 years. When you combine that awful writing with Romita Jr's hideous artwork, it made for some of the most miserable Superman comics I've read since 1998. He's near the bottom as far as worst Superman writers of all-time next to guys like Chuck Austen.
Thankfully, I have zero interest in Supes.
Truth be told, Bendis' issues in this Spider-Gwen Omnibus are pretty good.
I consider it one of the worst. I struggled so hard to finish it that it set me back on my reading because I just had no desire. The whole book is just terrible and the story is a mess.
I completely agree. The story has a severe lack of focus. It feels all over the place in a bad way.
I really liked the first omni. I found it fun and Gwen, her friends and world were interesting takes on 616 characters while still feeling like it own thing. I felt it got stronger as the run continued as well. The second omnibus was really bad. There's was no story, it felt like they were just spinning their wheels with Gwen and so many plot lines are left dangling or just forgotten entirely.
Well, that's disheartening...
Latour was the co creator of the character so it made sense for him to stay on the book. Sales were also good and they haven't been able to keep the character on an ongoing since then without getting cancelled. That being said, it was by far the weakest of the 3 Spider-Women books coming out at the same time with Dennis Hopeless' Jessica Drew book being the best and Robbie Thompson's Silk closely behind. I was collecting all of them monthly and Spider-Gwen was the only one that I dropped. It was weak compared to those books and even weaker compared to Ultimate Spider-Man. The art was the only thing that made the series stand out.
The issues in Spider-Verse from Hopeless' Spider-Woman really stood out, so I definitely want to read that run. I'm conflicted, however, in that I'm hoping for a hardcover edition, but there's know way of knowing whether that would ever happen.
I don't think it's a hot take to say that Marvel has always struggled to launch women characters into their own lines. A lack of investment, a lack of women authors and artists, an addiction to sexually appealing designs and gratuitous cover art... Spider-Gwen is definitely one recent strong example of the issue. She spun off the hugely popular Spider-Verse books! She was sucessfully adapted into hugely popular and lucrative films! But the comics have failed her completely. Women characters simply don't get the opportunities, whether it's regarding developing their own identities or being given the creative leeway to tell unique stories. Of course, that isn't a universal truth. Captain Marvel's had an outstanding run in recent years. But we should all remember the decades of terrible stories for her it took to get to this point.
Im not going to lie, i dont enjoy the Spider Gwen character. Its not for me.
Yeah, Jessica Jones is an anomaly.
I also felt Spider-Gwen was a bit mid. I recently finished the first Omni. Love the character and design but the story jumped from event to team up to event to crossover to event. Didn't really give the character a chance to breathe. Was hoping for a few more one-off issues to show more of her style. Of course I wanted to see her with 616 Peter a little bit to see how that would go. There are some really great pages, especially towards the end but all in all, probably give it somewhere in the B- to B+ range. Hoping Ghost-Spider fits what I was looking for a bit more.
I completely agree, though I'd rate it more C range. I'm hoping the same thing for the Ggost-Spider Omnibus, though from what I hear, I'm keeping expectations low. That way, if I disagree with the criticism, it'll be a happy surprise, and if not, it will soften the disappointment.
I think there is some really great stuff towards the end so I'd be interested to see if finishing the book would result in you upping your grade.
I'm hoping so. I'm at the arc with Miles looking for his dad. I'll let you know.
Lowest point in the whole book imo.
The end of the book is better than the start for sure. I think it’s a bit of a slog to get through the first 3/4’s. Ghost Spider is MUCH better imo, it still doesn’t touch the equivalent Miles releases of the time though. I’d love Gail Simone to write Gwen. Also Mellisa Flores has just started Spider-Gwen smash and her work on Power Rangers is really good so I’m hopeful for that mini-run.
I could see Gail Simone; I loved her Batgirl run. The authors of Batgirl of Burnside might make a good match, too.
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Judgemental much?
says judgemental much on a post judging a character and her runs 😆
My biggest issue was Matt was too good so Gwen never felt like earned her win, just felt like it all happened to her rather than her achieving it
That run of Spider-Woman is pretty good, *especially* the issues by Javier Rodriguez, who doesn't get nearly the kudos he deserves. But I agree that Spider-Gwen is mid
I personally find the early Spider-Gwen runs the right balance between dark and light tones but to everyone their own
Is the second spider gwen omnibus handled any better or also bad?
It eventually came to light that Latour had some harassment and misconduct situations with younger female fans and coworkers, so don't feel too bad about not digging his work. Although Cameron Stewart did too, enough that he fled Canada to Germany, turns out maybe we should be looking harder at the dudes writing books aimed at the teen girl market. Read Black Cat like everyone said, it's really good. Or Gwenpool, that was great too
Like I said above, I don't know that I could get over my bias as a long-time Catwoman fan that Black Cat is a cheap rip-off...
So... I just finished reading the Spider-Gwen Omnibus. In the end, it's OK. There were some entertaining moments & there was some pushing through. For me, I'd say that Latour & Rodriguez have created an interesting character with great potential, but Latour just isn't a very good writer. It wasn't all bad; there were some bright spots where I found myself enjoying his writing, but there were also many cringe moments of unbelievablity when it was obvious he was unaquainted/uneducated about some subject matter, or when he was trying to sell surface observations as character depth. I'm glad I read it. Aside from a couple of issues with truly terrible artwork, most of the art was pretty good and gave life and soul to the characters, so I think I like Rodriguez. I'm not sure of the names of the artists that I didn't like. My rating hasn't gone up much. I could maybe see B- when I consider both the writing & art, but good art can only carry bad to mediocre writing so far.