[Kirathis]

I definitely agree that legacy can be an excellent approach if done correctly. It seems DC touches on the concept more often (until recently) than Marvel but both have definitely touched on it. Regardless, it definitely depends on the character. That was always the great thing about Batman. It's the mantle that the criminals fear, not the guy behind it. With Marvel, even an icon like Cap has been proven to be more of an ideal than the man. Each person to take up the mantle was a bit different but it seems like they tend to fall into the same sort of ideal.

As for comments on overdone characters and exposure I agree to an extent. The Claremont era team was my first exposure to the X-Men and I watched the 90s cartoon as a teenager. I do think that exposure or first impressions can color an opinion of a character but I do not think it defines it. Case in point, I have made no secret of my dislike of Wolverine. However, I was actually fine with the character when I first read/watched him. My issues came later when fans and creators started trying to shove down my throat that he was this ultimate badass who could do anything and take everybody. I remember an article in Wizard years ago pitting him against major powerhouses like Silver Surfer and talking about how Wolverine could single-handedly beat him and other characters. It was that kind of asinine writing that led to my dislike of Wolverine. That being said, I have read some things where I do like him but it REALLY depends on how ridiculous the "Wolverine is the most awesomest ever!" attitude gets. I always thought he was interesting from a premise but just way too built up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

This is actually exactly what happened when DnA started the modern Guardians of the Galaxy in 2008-ish. Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot were nobodies until that glorious cosmic run. The only shame is that DnA's GotG didn't pick up the readership that something like Nova did and so when the GotG movie was announced even many actual comic readers were kinda scratching their heads which meant that Marvel had no problem giving us another Bendicide.

Perfect example of taking unknowns and making them great. The funny part is Marvel cosmic had not been as popular in years until DnA took over. I read a synopsis of an interview with Andy Lanning where he outlined what they had planned following Thanos Imperative. Then Marvel up and scraps them in order to give Nova to Loeb and GotG to Bendis and well we see what happened then. The plan from DnA would have been really good if they had been allowed to continue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

Bendis is good at telling a story but he's really bad at approaching a previously defined character. Alias and Ultimate Spider-Man were good because they were both their own thing and new, they weren't characters with preexisting stories and defining attributes so Bendis could do what he wanted with 'em. Whenever he tackles a defined entity he tends to put in way too much of his own ideas into it without considering what the character was already like. Like in the Avengers Disassembled story he gave Scarlet Witch a 180 and turned her into a wreck of a person and walking WMD purely as a plot device which required a retcon later from Dr Doom to restore her character to the pre-Disassembled her. In his Moon Knight volume he completely disregards the character's history and attitudes so he could make up some new stuff about him trying to be other heroes, it's like he never touched a single classic issue with the character but just read a quick bio and jumped to the conclusion that Moon Knight being schizophrenic meant he was trying to be other heroes. Lastly then in his GotG volume he changed every team member to match their movie versions even though they had already moved beyond that in the DnA run, to kick us fans in the balls some more he completely ruined Nova's death by trying to explain it more but in the process he just wasted a chance to bring him back and ignored what happened at the end of the Thanos Imperative.

EXACTLY! That is my big issue with Bendis. He's great when he can do his own thing but he's terrible at following along with already established characters. I think one of the most amusing examples was Star Lord going the cancerverse as a brunette and really grizzled guy with a cybernetic eye and coming back as a blonde pretty boy...say wha? Do not even get me started on his treatment of Nova. After he wrote "what happened" he tried to blame DnA saying how they were the ones who killed Nova and he just wrote what happened. It seemed like a poorly executed way to just not deal with the situation. Yes, my GotG and Nova fan flags are flying LOL!