Comic book legend Brian Michael Bendis joins the Capes and Tights Podcast for Episode 141 on December 6, 2023. To prepare for the conversation, we have compiled 12 comics by Bendis you should read right now.
Brian Michael Bendis has been in the comic book industry (and adjacent businesses) for over thirty years! Bendis is the man behind Marvel comic series such as Secret Invasion, House of M, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man and much more. He has co-created the characters Riri Williams, Miles Morales, and Jessica Jones for Marvel.
Bendis has created independent comics like Jinx, Powers, Murder Inc., The Ones, Masterpiece and many more. Brian has also worked on a number of DC Comics books over the years. He has won multiple Eisner Awards for both his creator-owned work and his work on various Marvel Comics.
Secret Invasion (Marvel)
The shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls has secretly infiltrated every super-powered organization on Earth with one goal…full-scale invasion! In this collected edition, page after page unveils reveal after reveal and shocking moment after shocking moment! Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu leap off the pages of mega-hit New Avengers and deliver a story that will change the Marvel Universe forever.
Jinx
Brian Michael Bendis, the award-winning cocreator of Miles Morales, Naomi, Jessica Jones, and Powers, tells a modern noir tale of crime, greed, and double cross.
A female bail agent, a low-level confidence man, and his loose-cannon sidekick form an unlikely alliance to track down the ultimate score-a hidden stash of life-altering, untraceable mob cash.
For this hard-luck trio, however, the old saying “more money, more problems” will prove to be disturbingly prophetic.
Collecting all of the original Jinx issues published by Caliber Press and Image Comics, this comprehensive trade paperback edition features an introduction by acclaimed comics creator David Mack and includes more than sixty pages of behind-the-scenes bonus material!
The Ones (Dark Horse)
Every single person in every mythology that was told they were The One are brought together for the first time to defeat…. The One. The actual one. The real actual one.Watch as he brings explosive comics splendor to this big new world! Think Good Omens meets Ghostbusters meets The Adam Project meets The Goonies meets Everything Everywhere All at Once meets, um, anything else you’ve ever liked!
House of M (Marvel)
The Scarlet Witch is out of control, and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. Will Magneto help his daughter or use her powers to his own benefit? Starring the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers!
The United States of Murder, Inc. (Marvel)
Welcome to a world where organized crime control parts of the United States as newly made man Valentine Gallo carries a massive secret that could send the country into a civil war! Today is the day that Valentine learns the secrets behind the organization he has served since he was old enough to walk. But it is mysterious hitwoman Jagger Rose that will forever turn his life upside down.
READ THE UNITED STATES OF MURDER, INC.
Sam and Twitch (Image)
Every crime scene is unique. But when New York City Police homicide detectives Sam and Twitch investigate the scene of the first of several Mafia-related murders, they find four severed thumbs. Yet these bloody digits are not from anyof the victims. The medical examiner further discovers that the thumbs are genetically identical but their DNA cell structure is in different stages of development.
Weird. As the detectives investigate more deaths in the Sangiacomo mob family, they discover widespread corruption in their own department, more bio-engineered body parts and seemingly innocent people dying from a bio-engineered virus. If that isn`t overwhelming enough, Sam and Twitch also find themselves in the center of a Federal Government Internal Affairs investigation where they are being used as bait in their own investigation. Follow Sam and Twitch as they risk life, limb and sanity to track down the meaning of the mysterious Udaku. in one of the most talked-about crime fiction dramas ever.
Powers (Image)
Heroes glide through the sky on lightning bolts and fire. Flamboyant villains attempt daring daylight robberies. God-like alien creatures clash in epic battle over the nighttime sky. And on the dirty city streets below, Homicide Detective Christian Walker does his job.
Detective Christian Walker has to investigate the shocking murder of one of the most popular super-heroes the world has ever known: Retro Girl. Walker is teamed up with spunky rookie Detective Deena Pilgrim, and the murder investigation takes them from the seediest underbelly a city has to offer, to the gleaming towers that are home to immortal beings. As shocking, hidden truths about Retro Girl come to light, Walker finds that to solve this crime, he might have to reveal his own dark secret.
Daredevil (Marvel)
During a character-defining run, Brian Michael Bendis crafted a pulp-fiction narrative that exploited the Man Without
Fear’s rich tapestry of characters and psychodrama, and resolved them in an incredibly nuanced, modern approach. Now, this Eisner award-winning run is collected across three titanic trade paperbacks! In this volume, witness the Kingpin’s downfall at the hands of Sammy Silke and see how a down-on-his-luck FBI agent can change Matt’s life forever.
Alias (Marvel)
Meet Jessica Jones. Once upon a time, she was a costumed super hero. But not a very good one. Her powers were unremarkable compared to the amazing abilities of the costumed icons that populate the Marvel Universe. In a city of Marvels, Jessica Jones never found her niche. Now a chain-smoking, self-destructive alcoholic with a mean inferiority complex, Jones is the owner and sole employee of Alias Investigations-a small, private-investigative firm specializing in superhuman cases. When she uncovers the potentially explosive secret of one hero’s true identity, Jessica’s life immediately becomes expendable. But her wit, charm and intelligence just may help her survive through another day.
Thrust into the midst of a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels, has Jessica burned too many bridges to turn to old friends for help? Then, in “Rebecca, Come Home,” Jessica travels to upstate New York to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl rumored to be a mutant in a prejudiced small town. And in “Raining Men,” the hard-luck PI goes on a date with … the Astonishing Ant-Man?!
Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel)
In the year 2000, Marvel launched the Ultimate Universe, reinventing Spider-Man and his mythos for a new millennium! Now, the first three years of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s fan-favorite, award-winning take on the web-slinger are collected in one oversized volume! Relive Peter Parker’s early days as Spider-Man, learning to fight crime by trial and error as he struggles to balance his new life with the demands of high school: puberty, homework and dating!
Even with the help of his best friend Mary Jane Watson, Peter has a heavy load to bear. But the neophyte Spider-Man is making enemies left and right – including the Green Goblin, the Kingpin, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter and the maniacal Venom – and unless he can rise to the occasion, Spidey may not survive until prom!
Scarlet (Marvel)
SCARLET is the story of a woman pushed to the edge by all that’s wrong with the world. A woman who decides to stand up and fight back. A woman who will not back down. A woman who discovers within herself the power to start a modern American revolution! In the vein of ALIAS, POWERS and JINX, SCARLET debuts a fascinating new character who, with every issue, reveals new things about herself against a completely original backdrop of intrigue and drama.
Masterpiece (Dark Horse)
Emma is a brilliant and driven 16-year-old. She has paid for school with her next level inventions and is well-known for her funny and honest webcomics. Then, one day, one of the most famous billionaires on the planet confronts her with the truth about her world. Emma discovers she is the only daughter of two of the greatest, most charismatic master criminals of all time. The suavest, most liked criminals ever. The criminal’s criminal. The ones that wrote the rulebook. There are movies about them starring the biggest movie stars. Her parents were the authors of the greatest casino robbery of all time, the greatest museum heist of all time, AND they took the world’s most famous billionaire for a cool billion… before they disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. Ghosts.
Zero Preston is the greedy billionaire her parents brilliantly ripped off before they disappeared. He has been looking for payback for years. He finds Emma . . . who clearly does not have his money. Zero threatens Masterpiece into pulling a grand, impossible job against his corporate enemy. This “Master of the Universe” will have his satisfaction.
Masterpiece fashions a crew of her peers and her parents’ old associates to pull off one of the greatest heists of all time.
Among the cast of characters comes the return of the legendary criminal The Paragon. A Robin Hood for our times. This exquisitely well-dressed, long con master criminal returns to his calling when faced with the truth behind the sinister corporate forces of Zero.
RELEASES DECEMBER 13
