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Bendis panel transcript from Mid Ohio Con

Posted By: MACK!
Date: TUE, 11/27/01, 10:50 p.m.

BENDIS PANEL AT MID-OHIO-CON

Following is an edited transcript of the question-and-answer portion of Brian Michael Bendis' panel at the Mid-Ohio-Con on Sunday in
Columbus, Ohio.

Question: The sex scene with Luke Cage in Alias #1 was pretty controversial. What is your response to that?

Bendis: It was weird. You guys are online and read stuff online. Some people, but not a lot, made a big deal. Any time there's something
sexual or something racial, someone's going to have something to say and they're going to say it really loudly. The two things that I
noticed is a lot of people projected things on to the scene in the book that weren't there. You never saw Luke Cage's face. It was told
from her point of view, with her angst or whatever her life is about. People projected what I was trying to say about Luke Cage or what
Luke Cage is doing on to the book that I was so not doing.

And I sort of fault myself. I like it when people sort of think about the book and then make their own decisions. I point out to people,
listen, have fun with whatever you guys are discussing, but you do realize that everything you're saying about Luke Cage, none of it is
there? There's no black, super-stud racial stereotype being show here. You are skewering it, you are putting it there.

We're not even seeing his face. He could easily be crying off-camera because he's so humiliated by the experience as she is. You have
decided to put that there. I didn't put that there because it's not about him, right? When I say this, they go "No!"

People have agendas about sexuality and race and any time it's brought up, it's going to be thrown back at you. I just never have been
faced with that before, and it was very weird. Even when that viewpoint isn't there, they won't listen. But I'll discuss it with anybody who
brings it up to me, but it's very funny to watch it.

And as far as it being Luke Cage … Everyone was wondering, "Why Luke Cage? Why Luke Cage?" … who was involved in a sexual scene.
The character that needed to be in the book in that issue was a character who: A.) Was a street-level Marvel character and B.) Happened
to be a character whose identity was public, no secret identity involved.

That's only Luke Cage. Luke Cage is the only character in Marvel like that. And, yeah, he's black, but that wasn't reason. So when I say
that, people, they say, "Ah, no, you knew this was going to cause trouble." And I go, "I swear to God, you know what, if it would have
been Tigra (that matched the criteria), I would have used Tigra." And if had Tigra, it would have gotten a much better reaction out of
people. There's a whole list of people: Thor, I could go on all day.

But that was the scene. The scene wrote itself.

Question: Will Matt Murdock be hiring Jessica Jones?

Bendis: The thing about having her work for Matt or Matt Murdock using her is because Matt Murdock likes her having super powers. It
makes sense from his mindset. There's not going to be a crossover between Daredevil and Alias, but Matt Murdock's probably going to
hire her for stuff, and that should be interesting.

Question: Does Alias take place in Marvel continuity or Ultimate Marvel continuity?

Bendis: Certainly not the Ultimate continuity because the Ultimate Universe is being created for a young, adult market that we haven't
captured in comics in a while.

Alias takes place in Marvel continuity, the normal Marvel continuity. Tom Brevoort and a couple of the other editors are very healthy in
making sure that I can express myself creatively without screwing up their continuity.

I know that Fury doesn't and I know that War Machine doesn't. War Machine creates its own continuity and War Machine's continuity, I
know, is to be part of his (Chuck Austen's) story. There's a reason it doesn't take place in continuity.

But Alias does. And I know that kind of upsets some people. They go, "Oh, what's going to happen?" But you know what? You know
what's going to happen, and that's the thing. Nothing that I am going to do in Alias is going to screw up what the readers since pre-school
have seen, I promise you. There's another way of looking at these characters and have some interesting things to say about heroes and
things that are being done at Marvel Comics. The opportunity's just too big not to do it within Marvel.

It was funny because it has to be in Marvel continuity or it doesn't work. There's no power to the scenes at all.

Question: Is it difficult to write stories in the main continuity?

Bendis: It is not really difficult. And even though I'm not Mr. Continuity - and a lot of people think, I've seen this sometimes with Daredevil,
that I don't give a shit about continuity - I absolutely do care about continuity. Not even because it's not fair to the fans, but it's also I
wouldn't shit on the writers who came before me, and I wouldn't want anyone shitting on me once I leave a book. I found that the
character dictates the story, and that you can easily squeeze it into continuity with a little effort.

Really, Daredevil's continuity hasn't changed that much in 20 years, to be honest with you. The Frank Miller issues are still the heavy
continuity. That's kind of cool. That's how freeing the book is, so it isn't an issue.

Question: Is it more restrictive?

Bendis: The only books I write with continuity are Daredevil and Alias and Alias there's a lot of leeway because, I'm so below radar. If
continuity is up on the fifth floor of the Baxter Building, she can't even get in the Baxter Building. Their continuities aren't going to meet too
often.

Also, Daredevil, to me, doesn't run with this group. He's in Hell's Kitchen, and he's dirtier than they are. And it's certainly the way we're
going to approach the character. He's a dirtier super-hero than the rest of them are. He's a pulp hero now. He's The Shadow. He's not
Spider-Man.

But I think about it a lot now. Because you don't want to be a slave to continuity, but you don't want to be a dick.

Question: I've heard writers complain about years and years of past storyline and editors dictating what they can and can't do.

Bendis: What do you think of writers like that? Writers write. You can come up with a way to tell your story. There's a way to tell your
story.

I've been very blessed with two very supportive editors. I have Stuart Moore working with me on Alias and Daredevil and I have Ralph
Macchio, who has the longest history of Marvel Comics, working with me on the Ultimate books, and yet he's very vocal to me about
Alias. Particularly because his history with Marvel is almost 30 years now, and he presents to me very legitimate arguments. Fans want to
know if I'm just allowed to run rampant and do whatever I want. And if I put something out there, it's a fun theological argument. He'll go,
"If you do this, then this happens and this and this and this." He'll show me, in the history of Marvel, they've made certain mistakes, like
they killed off a character they wish they wouldn't have because since then, the book's been screwed up.

So I'll think about it. That's not him telling me no. That's just saying, "Let's learn about the consequences."

Question: What was it like working with Bill Sienkiewicz on Ultimate Marvel Team-Up?

Bendis: The really sad part about being as busy as I have been is I haven't been able to enjoy the friendliness of collaboration as much. Me
and Bill, particularly, had an extremely vibrant collaboration and I wanted to reach out to his face and suck all the talent out of him, and I
didn't have a chance to do that. I wanted to pester him to the point where he would never call me again.

There are certain artists that I've worshipped since I was a child and then you meet them, they're so personally disappointing as human
beings that you want to run away from them and wish you had never introduced yourself. Bill was the opposite. Bill was so excited and
immensely talented and really ready to have fun and draw the Punisher. What a pleasure. I do believe we'll working together, and also, I
think we're offering him a little special something in Alias, a little spot illustration in a special sections one of the issues coming up.

He was a real pleasure. The whole Team-Up book has been a pleasure. It's been pros that I have admired and then followed by some of
my peers like Jim Mahfood or Chyna (Clugston-Major), people my age who haven't had their breakout mainstream book yet, just to
show off their skills. Wait until you see Chynna Clugston-Major's X-Men. Just kill.

Question: Think you would be interested in writing The Punisher?

Bendis: Two things. No. 1, I think I'm going to stick to the books that I have for now. I have the best job in comics, without any
exaggeration. And I think I did my Punisher. That was the Punisher that I grew up with, the much more disturbed, darker Punisher. And I
think I'll get off the stage while people are still liking it. Any more and it will be like, "You did that already."

Question: With Powers, you've taken a lot of chances and experimented. Do you like that?

Bendis: I like opening a book and being surprised. I like books that throw people for a loop. I like it when people say, "You know what, I
didn't see that coming." Not just the story, but the format. Also in television and in movies.

We did a tabloid issue of Powers recently and it was three people doing the work of 70 literally. We were aping a British tabloid and I was
going through it and there were 70 names in the art department.

And there was three of us doing the work. And it was like, "Oh wow, was that hard." And then we put it out and people went, "I don't like
the read. I don't like the look." Ehhhh....

When it services the story, we'll do it. I was actually a courtroom sketch artist for a year for the local Fox station in Cleveland. When the
story comes where I think a story should be told in courtroom drawings and a stenographer's transcripts … I'm waiting for the story to
present itself.

Question: As a writer, do you think the industry has too much of one thing?

Bendis: It's the same with movies. Every time you buy a movie ticket, you cast a vote to get 10 more movies like that next year. When
you say you're going to see the Flintstones, you guarantee that there will be 10 more bad cartoon movies next year.

It's the same thing with comics. You guys go, "I'm going to buy a big-breasted sword book." That means you're going to get 10 more
next year. The people in comics try to deliver to people what they think they want, and little do they know, right? They just go for the
trends.

With comics recently, they're being writer-focused, which I've never seen before. When I was first breaking into comics, it was all artists. It
was Image and the double-page spreads. Like every page had to have a giant image on it with a little panel at the top and bottom to do
the story-telling. Me and (David) Mack would sit there and go, "Oh, when is this going to be over?" It was cheesy and over-rendered and
boring and it just went on and on and on.

Over the last couple of years, the names you hear - Azzarello and Jenkins - you're hearing writer names. It's very cool to be part of that
because comics are about ideas now, not about images. Based on that alone, you're a lot less shallow of a medium.

I actually feel that there's so much of everything and that everyone's working so hard at the top of their game that I'm not bitching for
the first time ever, "When are these cheesy books to stop?" The crossovers seem to be coming down. You've still got DC with "You've
got to buy a Joker comic or you're not buying a comic month." But there used to tons of them. Every day, there would be some X-Men
crossover. And those are gone.

And, sorry kids, but the titty books are gone. Or at least they're down to a manageable minimum where they're not taking over
three-quarters of the Previews catalogue. When we were putting out Torso at Image, it was like booby, booby, booby, booby, Torso,
booby, booby, booby, booby. No wonder I can't sell any. It was murder on the racks. I couldn't even find my books.

There's a little cynicism now, sometimes. It's always a cynical look at the super-heroes going on, but out of that, comes some of the best
writing ever. It has always been the case.

It's a good time. Comics always seem to do really well creatively when no one's paying attention. Like when the sales are down, so
there's no money involved and it's like, "Go do whatever you want." So everyone gets to go nuts. No one's saying no because they don't
know what to say yes to. It's fun.

Question: Given the books you've been working on, are you privy to the Spider-Man movie?

Bendis: Yes. I've seen and read stuff that you could only dream about. I have very high hopes for the Spider-Man movie. I think the
shooting script for the Daredevil movie was about as exciting of a comic-book script as I've ever read. The latest draft was quite
tantalizing and very well written and very Miller and pretty much what we want out of a Daredevil movie: Kingpin, Elektra, Daredevil and
Bullseye. All the scenes are where they should be and all the beats are where they should be. And Foggy steals the movie from the version
I read. It's what you want.

Question: You said you have high hopes for the Spider-Man movie. Is the script good?

Bendis: Yeah, it's the story we want told. It's what you think it is: the origin of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. I can't talk about it too
much, but it's what I wanted.

Let's use a worse-case scenario, Batman & Robin. When you read that script, you go "What the hell is this?" No one wants this. The fans
don't want this. When you read the Spider-Man and Daredevil scripts, you go, "All right."

I have some dealings with Marvel Films, and Avi Arad has an uncanny knowledge of the characters, of what the characters are and should
be from a classic standpoint. That's really what you need for someone who is at the head of the ship, someone who knows what is going
on. You see a lot of weasels with a lot of bad notes who want to throw them at people. It's nice when there is someone there to block it.

Question: What about your movie aspirations?

Bendis: Powers is set up at Sony, and your guess is as good as mine. It's in there and the script is being written, the second draft, by a
couple of very talented writers (Carlo Benard and Doug Miro) who wrote a really good script called Motor City, which is a story that is
really interesting.

They're working on it right now. Cross your fingers. I'm a producer on this, but I'm not writing it.

We are still working on Torso, and something happened with Jinx this week, so it looks like we might have a new deal for Jinx. I will write
Jinx. No more me not writing it. That doesn't work. I tried it. It doesn't work. I don't like it. It doesn't feel good. So no more of that.

But you know what, there are big movie stars with elaborate dream projects that they never get off the ground. And they've got
box-office clout. And they don't get their movies made. So I don't know how I'll get one made. I'd like to get one made, just to say I did
it. But I'm not in a hurry to make a piece of crap. I don't need a Tank Girl out there.

Question: Who would you like to perfect acting choices for Walker and Pilgrim in Powers?

Bendis: This is a Hollywood trick I've learned. He's asking who I would like to see in the movie. "The biggest names available." Who's
available?

Here's the deal with Powers. Because it's Sony, there's a big producer (Mace Neufeld) involved. He's been involved with Hunt for Red
October and a lot of big summer movies. There's a lot of big directors and stars circling the movie, almost since its inception. Some of
them are scary, and some of them are interesting. We'll just see how it lands.

A lot of people come in under the fantasy that they're so involved. You just try to make yourself look valuable to them. And right now,
they're asking my opinions on the movies. They value our creative opinions. And you try to put yourself in there with a smile and see what
you can do. But it's big-money people making the big-money decisions, and they're not going to listen to some schmuck from Cleveland,
and now from Portland.

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  • NEW! Bendis panel transcript from Mid Ohio Con -- MACK! -- TUE, 11/27/01, 10:50 p.m.
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