Bendis and Twitter

Today was another reason why it's really cool to live in Portland, Oregon.

I had some free time and I was glancing at my twitter page when I saw a series of tweets from Brian Michael Bendis that stated he was going to be riding around in his bike on this beautiful day and give away advance copies of New Avengers Finale, Dark Avengers # 16, and Siege #4.

The first tweet I saw said I had 10 minutes to get over to Things From Another World in the Hollywood district to catch Bendis at his first stop. The only problem was the post was already nine minutes old. So, I had to wait for an update about his next destination.

My patience was rewarded and he announced his first stop was a bust and he was heading over to Excalibur on Hawthorne. It seemed reasonable to assume I could beat him there in my car and so the race was on.

Sure enough after hanging out at Excalibur for a little bit, Bendis showed up to the relief of me and two other guys who were there for the same reason.

Bendis was a gentleman. He gave a set of 3 comics each that he autographed them on the spot with the provision that we buy something of equal value from the store so his generosity doesn't hurt their sales. He also snapped a picture of us with our booty. A handshake later and he was off.

Of course the picture was linked to his Twitter account and the story was promptly picked up by Rich Johnston (sorry Rich, but I'm not going to post the comics online).

It's understandable that Bendis would want to do something special the mark the release of these three comics. Six years ago, Bendis took over writing Avengers and has been guiding the title ever since through a succession of crossover events that have served to reshape the Marvel Universe. Now all the major plots from this run have been resolved and a new status quo is at hand with Bendis still at the helm.

I'll try not to give away too much about these issues. If you've followed any of the speculation around the teasers released by Marvel, you probably have a good idea about how this saga concludes. Siege #4 provides the climax to the Dark Reign saga. Dark Avengers #16 gives us the aftermath through the eyes of Harry Osbourne and his associates. New Avengers Finale features a confrontation with the Hood and sets up the Avengers relaunch with look back on the past half decade.

If you can get only one comic I'd go with New Avengers Finale because of the excellent art by Bryan Hitch and the extra large size, but all the books work together as a set.

Thank you Mr. Bendis, you made for a nice Sunday afternoon.

Bendis, Mack, Jansen, Sienkiewicz, Maleev!

CBR reports on the upcoming Daredevil: End of Days.

Covers by Alex Maleev.
Pencils by Klaus Jansen.
Inks by Bill Sienkiewicz.
Co-Written by Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack.

What? Frank Miller was to busy making movies to participate?

Bendis Gets More Love

First, Gamespot has a an interview with Brian Michael Bendis where they discuss his upcoming comic book tie-in with the Halo video game. It's especially exciting since it involves a reteaming of Bendis with his Daredevil collaborator, Alex Maleev.

Then, in an essay largely critical of the mysogyny in American Comics, Guardian blogger Ned Beauman singles out Bendis for some special praise:

But perhaps the greatest female superhero of recent years is Brian Michael Bendis's Jessica Jones. . . . Bendis took us inside her head, creating one of the bravest, wittiest and most sensitive portraits of a female character that superhero comics have ever seen.

The rest of the essay is mostly a summary of the responces to Marvel's Mary Jane statue, the controversial cover of Heroes for Hire, and Power Girl's bust size on a recent cover of Justice League America.