Brian Bendis: Illuminati
Nov. 17th, 2008 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Charles Xavier, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Stephen Strange, Namor and the Black Bolt team up for world saving and gossip, another Marvel crossover event is prepared, and a good time is had by this reader.
The existence of the Illuminati - i.e. the idea of these characters from various Marvel publications meeting in secret to coordinate world saving efforts if necessary - was a retcon that first was brought up in the issues leading up to the Civil War storyline, and it had been Bendis then who wrote the relevant story, in which Tony Stark basically gets to say "I told you so" in a tragic fashion. This year's big crossover event is the Secret Invasion storyline, and this time Bendis fleshed out the concept a bit more, giving us a five-issue run through the Illuminati meetings through the years, which has just been translated and published in German as a trade, and I must say, I kind of love it. For starters, the action scenes don't outweigh the character stuff (which has been the problem with the last two Secret Invasion issues), and secondly, Bendis this time really makes the most of these particular characters working and interacting together, going for both the comedy and the serious potential. They've all either been leaders or loners or both of some fashion in their respective franchises, and taking them out of their usual position brings some interesting results.
For example: Xavier isn't a father figure either to be revered or deplored here, he's not living up or down to mentor expectations as he does in any X-book, nor do the others have the complicated type of history with him an equal like Magneto has, which brings among other things the proof you can still use Charles a character without repeating the same storylines. There is a scene in which the problem of the day involves a young Kree bent on war, and Tony wants to know why Charles doesn't just change his mind via telepathic command and retorts to Xavier objectingn that he doesn't do that kind of thing that Charles kind of does, now and then. In an X-men story, with, say, Scott or any other X-Man as the other part in the scene, this would lead to angst and recrimination (plus the "yes you do" statement would have been an accusation, whereas Tony Stark is just curious). Here, it leads to a matter of fact discussion of long-term effects mindaltering commands have (which contributes to their non-advisability except in emergency situations).
Illuminati also allows Bendis to play with the different storytelling throughout various eras in Marvel history. The opening issue is a pretty straight adventure story of the "heroes versus aliens, aliens imprison heroes, our gang breaks out and wins the day" type, and Tony Stark, complete with late 70s hair style is still dependent on his armor to keep his heart going. So inevitably, as was the case with Iron Man stories back in the day before they finally had to cave in to likelihood and real life medical advancement and had to give him a new one, there is "will his heart stop?" suspense, and there is that tried and true motif carrying through decades of comic history, i.e. "Tony gets out of tight against the odds situation due to remembering inspirational martial arts training by Captain America" (you bet Bendis didn't miss a chance to include that one). In the last issue, by contrast, you have very much a post-Civil War type of situation and storytelling, i.e. former friends full of issues with each other due to the recent fighting get together for common purpose. In the midst of the angst, Bendis isn't above being a bit self-mocking because everyone, upon discovering Tony brooding over a corpse, automatically assumes it must be Steve Rogers'. (Brian Bendis wrote The Confession, aka the Civil War epilogue extraordinaire which is framed by Tony brooding over Steve's corpse.) There is also Extremis use and a semi-suicidal stunt on Tony's part to save the day; we've definitely arrived in present day Marvel land.
Another Bendis strength is writing bickering between characters. If you have Namor in the line up, it's not difficult to come up with someone who lectures and insults, but Bendis is too creative to rely on that; his piece de resistance is one of the most outrageously funny scenes I've ever read in any Marvel publication, coming at the start of chapter 4. Stephen Strange has just been left by Clea and is fully intending to brood about this, but the rest of our stalwart heroes (with the exception of Charles Xavier, who is too dignified for this but gets asked about alien sex anyway) see it fit to share details of their own love or at least sex lives. This culminates in Tony Stark mentioning he had sex with Madame Masque, Stephen Strange asking who that is, Reed Richards explaining she's sort of a female Doom and a disbelieving Namor asking: "You have sex with a woman who looks like Dr. Doom?", at which point Tony insists on a change of subject and I'm lying on the floor with laughter. Marvel: where the canon can come up with crazier pairings than the fandom, or sooner than the fandom. (See also: Quesada's Tony/Sentient Armor story slash of years past.)
You could complain that the Skrulls - and this is after all the lead-up to the big Skrull invasion event - are pretty much generic hostile aliens when they show up, in the opening and concluding issue, instead of getting fleshed out, but as I recall the opening issue of Secret Invasion offers some Skrull pov flashbacks fleshing them out more, and the point of Illuminati really is presenting how this unlikely band of Marvelverse characters interacts. Which it does, with style. Well done, Bendis.
The existence of the Illuminati - i.e. the idea of these characters from various Marvel publications meeting in secret to coordinate world saving efforts if necessary - was a retcon that first was brought up in the issues leading up to the Civil War storyline, and it had been Bendis then who wrote the relevant story, in which Tony Stark basically gets to say "I told you so" in a tragic fashion. This year's big crossover event is the Secret Invasion storyline, and this time Bendis fleshed out the concept a bit more, giving us a five-issue run through the Illuminati meetings through the years, which has just been translated and published in German as a trade, and I must say, I kind of love it. For starters, the action scenes don't outweigh the character stuff (which has been the problem with the last two Secret Invasion issues), and secondly, Bendis this time really makes the most of these particular characters working and interacting together, going for both the comedy and the serious potential. They've all either been leaders or loners or both of some fashion in their respective franchises, and taking them out of their usual position brings some interesting results.
For example: Xavier isn't a father figure either to be revered or deplored here, he's not living up or down to mentor expectations as he does in any X-book, nor do the others have the complicated type of history with him an equal like Magneto has, which brings among other things the proof you can still use Charles a character without repeating the same storylines. There is a scene in which the problem of the day involves a young Kree bent on war, and Tony wants to know why Charles doesn't just change his mind via telepathic command and retorts to Xavier objectingn that he doesn't do that kind of thing that Charles kind of does, now and then. In an X-men story, with, say, Scott or any other X-Man as the other part in the scene, this would lead to angst and recrimination (plus the "yes you do" statement would have been an accusation, whereas Tony Stark is just curious). Here, it leads to a matter of fact discussion of long-term effects mindaltering commands have (which contributes to their non-advisability except in emergency situations).
Illuminati also allows Bendis to play with the different storytelling throughout various eras in Marvel history. The opening issue is a pretty straight adventure story of the "heroes versus aliens, aliens imprison heroes, our gang breaks out and wins the day" type, and Tony Stark, complete with late 70s hair style is still dependent on his armor to keep his heart going. So inevitably, as was the case with Iron Man stories back in the day before they finally had to cave in to likelihood and real life medical advancement and had to give him a new one, there is "will his heart stop?" suspense, and there is that tried and true motif carrying through decades of comic history, i.e. "Tony gets out of tight against the odds situation due to remembering inspirational martial arts training by Captain America" (you bet Bendis didn't miss a chance to include that one). In the last issue, by contrast, you have very much a post-Civil War type of situation and storytelling, i.e. former friends full of issues with each other due to the recent fighting get together for common purpose. In the midst of the angst, Bendis isn't above being a bit self-mocking because everyone, upon discovering Tony brooding over a corpse, automatically assumes it must be Steve Rogers'. (Brian Bendis wrote The Confession, aka the Civil War epilogue extraordinaire which is framed by Tony brooding over Steve's corpse.) There is also Extremis use and a semi-suicidal stunt on Tony's part to save the day; we've definitely arrived in present day Marvel land.
Another Bendis strength is writing bickering between characters. If you have Namor in the line up, it's not difficult to come up with someone who lectures and insults, but Bendis is too creative to rely on that; his piece de resistance is one of the most outrageously funny scenes I've ever read in any Marvel publication, coming at the start of chapter 4. Stephen Strange has just been left by Clea and is fully intending to brood about this, but the rest of our stalwart heroes (with the exception of Charles Xavier, who is too dignified for this but gets asked about alien sex anyway) see it fit to share details of their own love or at least sex lives. This culminates in Tony Stark mentioning he had sex with Madame Masque, Stephen Strange asking who that is, Reed Richards explaining she's sort of a female Doom and a disbelieving Namor asking: "You have sex with a woman who looks like Dr. Doom?", at which point Tony insists on a change of subject and I'm lying on the floor with laughter. Marvel: where the canon can come up with crazier pairings than the fandom, or sooner than the fandom. (See also: Quesada's Tony/Sentient Armor story slash of years past.)
You could complain that the Skrulls - and this is after all the lead-up to the big Skrull invasion event - are pretty much generic hostile aliens when they show up, in the opening and concluding issue, instead of getting fleshed out, but as I recall the opening issue of Secret Invasion offers some Skrull pov flashbacks fleshing them out more, and the point of Illuminati really is presenting how this unlikely band of Marvelverse characters interacts. Which it does, with style. Well done, Bendis.
