Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis (born August 18, 1967) is an American comic book writer and former artist. He has won critical acclaim, including five Eisner Awards for both his creator-owned work and his work on various Marvel Comics books.

Starting out with crime and noir comics, Bendis eventually moved to mainstream superhero work. With Bill Jemas and Mark Millar, Bendis was the primary architect of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, launching Ultimate Spider-Man in 2000, on which he continues as writer to the present day. He relaunched the Avengers franchise with New Avengers in 2004, and has also written the Marvel "event" storylines "Secret War" (2004), "House of M" (2005), "Secret Invasion" (2008), "Siege" (2010) and "Age of Ultron" (2013).

Though Bendis has cited comic book writers such as Frank Miller and Alan Moore, his own writing influences are less rooted in comics, drawing on the work of David Mamet, Richard Price, and Aaron Sorkin, whose dialogue Bendis feels are "the best in any medium."

In addition to writing comics, he has also worked in television, video games and film, and taught writing at Portland State University. He will begin teaching at University of Oregon starting in Fall 2013, and his book Words for Pictures will be out in Spring 2014 from Random House.

Early life

Brian Michael Bendis was born on August 18, 1967 in Cleveland, Ohio to a Jewish-American family. Despite rebelling against a religious upbringing, he attended a private, modern Orthodox religious school for boys. He decided he wanted to be a comic book industry professional when he was 13, working on his own comics, including a Punisher versus Captain America story that he revised several times. A fan of Marvel Comics in particular, he emulated idols such as George Pérez, John Romita, Sr., John Romita, Jr., Jack Kirby and Klaus Janson. He later discovered crime comics by Jim Steranko and José Munoz, which he traced back via Jim Thompson's work to the source novels of both Thompson and Dashiell Hammett, which helped cement his love for crime stories. These in turn led him to discover the documentary Visions of Light, which taught him the explicit visual rules of film noir, an important influence on him creatively.

While in high school, he submitted for a "Creative Writing assignment" a novelization of Chris Claremont's X-Men and the Starjammers story, which gained him an A+ grade for imagination and inventiveness. Between the ages of 20 and 25, he sent in a large number of submissions to comics companies, although he ultimately stopped his attempts to break into the industry this way, considering it too much of a "lottery."

Comics career

Caliber Comics

Best known as a writer, Bendis started out as an artist, doing work for local magazines and newspapers, including caricature work. He worked at The Plain Dealer as an illustrator. Although he did not enjoy caricature work, it paid well and funded his interest in writing crime fiction for graphic novels. He eventually moved into both writing and illustrating his work, before he began producing work for Caliber Comics, including Spunky Todd.

Through Caliber, he met many of his longtime friends and collaborators within the comics industry, including Mike Oeming, Dave Mack and Marc Andreyko, and began the first in a series of independent noir fiction crime comics when he published two issues of Fire in 1993 and five issues of A.K.A. Goldfish in 1994 with Caliber. In 1995 he illustrated Flaxen, from a script by James Hudnall, with David Mack providing inks to the story featuring former Playboy Playmate Susie Owens as mascot of the Golden Apple Comics chain [of comic shops] in Los Angeles.

Bendis' best-known early work, Jinx, starring the titular bounty hunter in a crime noir version of the Sergio Leone film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, began publication in 1996, and ran seven issues from Caliber. Most of these early works share a common universe, with Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso and (stories from) Total Sell Out sharing characters and settings as well as tone.

He characterizes much of this period of his professional life in terms of working as "a graphic artist for almost twelve years" undergoing a period within that of "nine years" living as a stereotypical 'starving artist'.

Image Comics and Oni Comics

In 1996/1997, Bendis moved from Caliber to Image Comics, where Jinx and his other previous crime comics were published by Image's Shadowline arm in trade paperback. At Image, he also produced five more issues of Jinx.

Impressed with A.K.A. Goldfish, Image founder Todd McFarlane sought out Bendis, which led to his writing Sam and Twitch. Although set in the Spawn universe, Bendis approached Sam and Twitch primarily as a crime comic. He wrote Sam and Twitch for twenty issues, as well as most of the first ten issues of Hellspawn, another Spawn spin-off title. This non-creator-owned work allowed him to, in the words of Rich Kriener in The Comics Journal, "[add] the responsibility of caretaker to his resume, in that he would answer to a vested owner about developing a property as a tangible asset with the future in mind," rather than only working on his own characters under his own terms.

In 1998, Bendis co-wrote and illustrated the Eliot Ness-starring Torso with Marc Andreyko, again for Image, and in 2000 he produced three issues of the autobiographical Fortune and Glory for Oni Comics.

That same year saw the debut of the superhero police/noir detective series Powers, co-created with and drawn by Michael Avon Oeming and published by Image. Powers won major comics industry awards, including Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Awards.

Marvel Comics

Around the time Bendis began Sam and Twitch, his friend David Mack began working for Joe Quesada's Marvel Knights imprint, of which Bendis himself was a fan. Based on Bendis' work on Jinx, Quesada invited him to pitch ideas for Marvel Knights, which included a planned, but ultimately unproduced Nick Fury story.

Marvel Comics President Bill Jemas, on the recommendation of Quesada, hired Bendis to write Ultimate Spider-Man, which debuted in 2000, and was specifically targeted to the new generation of comic readers. Bendis adapted the 11-page origin story of Spider-Man from 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15 into a seven issues story arc, with Peter Parker becoming the titular hero after the fifth issue, making the book a bestseller, often surpassing in sales those of the mainstream Marvel universe title The Amazing Spider-Man. The Bendis/Bagley partnership of 111 consecutive issues made their partnership one of the longest in American comic book history, and the longest run by a Marvel creative team, beating out Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on Fantastic Four. Bendis subsequently wrote other books in the Ultimate line, including Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, which Bendis himself pitched to Marvel as a follow-up to his success on Ultimate Spider-Man, as well as Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Origins, Ultimate Six, the first three issues of Ultimate Power, and the Ultimate Comics: Doomsday metaseries. In 2011, Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli created the Miles Morales character as the new version of the Ultimate Spider-Man. As of June 2013, Bendis continues to write every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man in its current form, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man.

Quesada offered Bendis the writing duties on Daredevil, which he took over in 2001, writing most of the subsequent 55 issues until 2006, collaborating mostly with artist Alex Maleev. As a major Daredevil author, Bendis' name is one of the names used for boxers mentioned by a corrupt boxing manager in the 2003 Daredevil movie. Also in 2001, Bendis helped launch Marvel's non-Comics Code-approved, adult MAX imprint with Alias, featuring former superhero Jessica Jones operating as a private investigator. The series ran for 28 issues before many of the characters moved to Bendis' mainstream Marvel Universe series The Pulse. In 2004 Powers moved from Image to Marvel's creator-owned imprint Icon, where it was relaunched as Powers Vol. 2 alongside another ex-Image series, David Mack's Kabuki.

Also in 2004, Bendis oversaw the closing issues of The Avengers as part of the crossover storyline "Avengers Disassembled". This led directly to the Bendis-helmed relaunch of one version of the eponymous team in the pages of The New Avengers. Bendis' work on this storyline included the death of Avenger Hawkeye, which proved controversial. In 2005, with artist Olivier Coipel, Bendis wrote the New Avengers / X-Men crossover, "House of M", which would retroactively be considered the second act of a three-act super-event beginning with "Avengers Disassembled" and culminating in the Bendis-written 2008 storyline "Secret Invasion". Bendis also wrote Secret War, which was serialized between 2004 and 2005. The series, which was not connected to the similarly-titled 1984 miniseries Secret Wars, served as a prelude to Secret Invasion. After Marvel's 2006 "Civil War" storyline, Bendis helmed another Avengers revival, launching Mighty Avengers with Frank Cho in 2007.

Post-"Secret Invasion", Bendis left Mighty Avengers with issue #20 and wrote Secret Invasion: Dark Reign, a one-shot that preceded another ongoing Avengers series, Dark Avengers. In 2009, Bendis and former Daredevil collaborator Maleev launched the long-delayed Spider-Woman, following up on her role in the Secret Invasion storyline. Spider-Woman was the first comic book to be offered simultaneously on the Internet as a "motion comic" and in comic stores in print form.

Bendis re-teamed with House of M's Coipel for the 2009 crossover series Siege, which brought the "Dark Reign" storyline to a close, and with it Dark Avengers. Springboarding out of Siege, Bendis relaunched both Avengers and New Avengers as part of the "Heroic Age". Also in 2010, Bendis launched Scarlet through Icon Comics, his first new creator-owned comic book in over a decade, re-teaming once again with Maleev. In February 2011, Icon released the all-ages graphic novel Takio by Bendis and his Powers collaborator Mike Oeming and in mid-2011 a maxiseries called Brilliant with artist Bagley. Bendis' other 2011 projects included a new Moon Knight series with Maleev, which concluded with issue 12. In 2012, in conjunction with Marvel Studios' feature film The Avengers, Bendis began writing a new Avengers comic, Avengers Assemble. Bendis wrote the first eight issues of Avengers Assemble, a series that premiered in March 2012 that featured a new incarnation of the Zodiac, as well as the return of the Guardians of the Galaxy, which teamed with the Avengers against Thanos.

Bendis concluded his almost decade long stint on Avengers and New Avengers in 2012 with the "End Times" arc. His final issue of Avengers, released September 2012, was a "jam issue", featuring splash pages by Marvel artists including Walt Simonson, Jim Cheung, and Leinil Yu.

Following Marvel's "Marvel NOW!" relaunch of its titles, Bendis took on writing duties on All New X-Men, which saw the return of the original 1960's X-Men to the present, Uncanny X-Men, whose focus shifts to Cyclops' team of X-Men going rogue after the events of "Avengers Vs. X-Men", and Guardians of the Galaxy, picking up where his Avengers Assemble run left off.

Bendis wrote the "Age of Ultron" crossover storyline, which included an eponymous 10-issue miniseries, that was published between March and June 2013. Issue 10 saw the introduction of the Neil Gaiman character Angela into the Marvel Universe.

Work in other media

In addition to his primary work for comics, Bendis has produced written work in several other media, such as video games, TV and film.

Bendis was the co-executive producer and series-pilot writer for Mainframe Entertainment's 2003 CGI animated Spider-Man show, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series that aired on MTV and YTV, which features a college-aged Peter Parker, and was written to tie-into the then-unreleased 2002 film Spider-Man. The pilot episode Bendis wrote became the third episode aired. His dismay at being credited for something written by someone else, and the multitude of corporate and legal departments involved in the animation process soured him on the show.

Bendis is one of the writers on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, which debuted in 2012.

Bendis' video game work includes Activision's Ultimate Spider-Man video game, which Bendis wrote. He also wrote an Avengers game, which was never released. He is also writer of Marvel's MMO, Marvel Heroes.

His film work includes the screenplay adaptation of A.K.A. Goldfish for Miramax, and the screenplay adaptation of Jinx for Universal Pictures. In 2014, he wrote the plot of the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes video game.

Bendis also teaches a course on writing graphic novels at Portland State University. Among the works he employs as teaching guides are the works of Scott McCloud and Will Eisner.

In 2013, he was named on IGN's list of "The Best Tweeters in Comics", in part for his frequent Twitter posts highlighting the work of other creators.

Writing style

When creating characters, Bendis says that he always begins with someone he knows and builds upon that inspiration, allowing the character to eventually evolve naturally. His depiction of Aunt May in Ultimate Spider-Man, for example, strongly resembles his mother.

Personal life

Bendis met his wife Alisa in 1995 through the Cleveland chapter of the Hillel Foundation, where Alisa worked and Bendis was a staff illustrator. The two were married within a year. Alisa Bendis runs the business end of JINXWORLD, the company through which Bendis produces his creator-owned comics work. The company also acts as the middleman through which he produces his licensed comics work. They have three daughters. His oldest, Olivia, is his biological daughter, while he and his wife adopted their two younger daughters, one of whom is African-American, and the other of whom is Ethiopian. Bendis mentioned in a July 2013 post on his Tumblr account that they had a newborn son.

Awards

• 1999 Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
• 2001 Eisner Award for Best New Series (for Powers with Michael Avon Oeming)
• 2002 Eisner Award for Best Writer (for Powers, Alias, Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man
• 2003 Eisner Award for Best Writer (for Powers, Alias, Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man)
• 2003 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series (for Daredevil with Alex Maleev)
• 2000 Cleveland Press "Excellence in Journalism" Award
• 2000 Wizard Magazine Best Writer of the Year
• 2001 Wizard Magazine Best Writer of the Year
• 2002 Wizard Magazine Best Writer of the Year
• 2003 Wizard Magazine Best Writer of the Year
• 2002 Comics Buyer's Guide Best Writer of the Year
• 2003 Comics Buyer's Guide Best Writer of the Year
• 2004 Comics Buyer's Guide Best Writer of the Year
• 2005 E3's People's Choice Award for Activision's Ultimate Spider-Man
• 2010 Inkpot Award

Nominations

• 2001 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series (for Fortune & Glory)
• 2001 Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication (for Fortune & Glory)
• 2001 Eisner Award for Best Writer (for Powers, Fortune & Glory and Ultimate Spider-Man)
• 2003 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story (with Alex Maleev for "Out"; Daredevil #32-37)

Bibliography

Caliber Comics

• Quivers #1-2 (script and art, 1990)
• Parts of a Hole (script and art, one-shot, 1991)
• Sinergy #2 (art, with Kyle Garrett, 1993) collected in Sinergy (tpb, 172 pages, 1994, ISBN 0-941613-57-7)
• The Realm #1-4 (art, with Brent Truax, Donald Marquez and Patrick Zircher, 1993)
• Fire #1-2 (script and art, 1993) collected as Fire (tpb, 120 pages, Image, 2001, ISBN 1-58240-071-7)
• High Caliber: An Anthology of Original Visions: "Borderland" (script and art, 1994)
• Negative Burn:
  • "The Real Thing" (script and art, in #13, 1994)
  • "The Kiss Off" (art, with James D. Hudnall, in #26, 1995)
  • "Jinx" (script and art, in #31, 1996)
  • "Better Living Through Chemistry" (art, with Warren Ellis, in #37, 1996)
• A.K.A. Goldfish (tpb, 272 pages, Image, 2001, ISBN 1-58240-195-0; hc, 2003, ISBN 1-58240-280-9) collects:
  • Ace (script and art, one-shot, 1994)
  • Jack (script and art, one-shot, 1994)
  • Queen (script and art, one-shot, 1995)
  • Joker (script and art, one-shot, 1995)
  • King (script and art, one-shot, 1995)
• Flaxen: Alter Ego (art, with James D. Hudnall, one-shot, 1995)
• Jinx:
  • Jinx #1-7 (script and art, 1996-1997) collected in Jinx (tpb, 480 pages, Image, 2001, ISBN 1-58240-179-9; hc, Icon, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5672-0)
  • Jinx Special: "My So Called Jinx" (with Mark Scott Ricketts, David Mack, P. Craig Russell, Adam Warren and Dan Brereton, 1997)
• Nowheresville: The History of Cool: "The Whole Thing is Wrong" (script and art, one-shot, 1997)

Image Comics

• Jinx:
  • Jinx #1-5 (script and art, 1997-1998) collected in Jinx (tpb, 480 pages, 2001, ISBN 1-58240-179-9; hc, Icon, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5672-0)
  • Total Sell Out (tpb, 184 pages, 2003, ISBN 1-58240-287-6) collects:
    • Jinx: Buried Treasures (script and art, with Warren Ellis, James D. Hudnall and Mark Scott Ricketts, one-shot, 1998)
    • Jinx: True Crime Confessions (script and art, with Michael Avon Oeming and P. Craig Russell, one-shot, 1998)
    • Jinx: Pop Culture Hoo-Hah (script and art, one-shot, 1998)
• Torso #1-6 (script and art, with Marc Andreyko, 1998-1999) collected as Torso (tpb, 280 pages, 2001, ISBN 1-58240-174-8; hc, Icon, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5356-X)
• Sam and Twitch:
  • The Brian Michael Bendis Collection vol.1 (tpb, 224 pages, 2006, ISBN 1-58240-583-2) collects:
    • "Udaku" (with Angel Medina, in #1-8, 1999-2000)
    • "One Really Bad Day" (with Jamie Tolagson, in #9, 2000)
  • The Brian Michael Bendis Collection vol.2 (tpb, 224 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-58240-745-2) collects:
    • "Witchcraft" (with Alberto Ponticelli, in #10-13, 2000)
    • "Dumb Laws and Eggs" (with Clayton Crain, in #14, 2000)
    • "Bounty Hunter Wars" (with Alex Maleev, in #15-19, 2000-2001)
• Lili #0 (with Michael Yanover and Waltrip brothers, 1999)
• Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming, 2000-2004) collected as:
  • The Definitive Collection vol.1 (collects #1-11, hc, 464 pages, Icon, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1805-5)
  • The Definitive Collection vol.2 (collects #12-24 and Annual #1, hc, 480 pages, Icon, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-2440-3)
  • The Definitive Collection vol.3 (collects #25-37 and Oni Press Color Special '01, hc, 496 pages, Icon, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3309-7)
• Hellspawn #1-5 (with Ashley Wood, 2000-2001) collected in Hellspawn: The Complete Collection (hc, 500 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-60706-155-4)

Marvel Comics

• Spider-Man:
  • Ultimate Spider-Man (October, 2000-June, 2009, November 2010 â€" 2011):
    • Volume 1 (hc, 352 pages, 2002, ISBN 0-7851-0898-X) collects:
      • "Power and Responsibility" (with Bill Jemas and Mark Bagley, in #1-7, 2000-2001)
      • "Learning Curve" (with Mark Bagley, in #8-12, 2001)
      • "Confessions" (with Mark Bagley, in #13, 2001)
    • Volume 2 (hc, 336 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-7851-1061-5) collects:
      • "Double Trouble" (with Mark Bagley, in #14-21, 2001-2002)
      • "Legacy" (with Mark Bagley, in #22-27, 2002)
    • Volume 3 (hc, 304 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-7851-1156-5) collects:
      • "Untitled" (with Mark Bagley, in #1/2, 2002)
      • "Sidetracked" (with Mark Bagley, in #28, 2002)
      • "Stolen Identity" (with Mark Bagley, in #29-32, 2003)
      • "Venom" (with Mark Bagley, in #33-39, 2003)
    • Volume 4 (hc, 336 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1249-9) collects:
      • "Irresponsible" (with Mark Bagley, in #40-45, 2003)
      • "Cats & Kings" (with Mark Bagley, in #47-53, 2003-2004)
    • Volume 5 (hc, 352 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1401-7) collects:
      • "Afterwards..." (with Mark Bagley, in #46, 2003)
      • Ultimate Six #1-7 (with Joe Quesada and Trevor Hairsine, 2003-2004)
      • "Hollywood" (with Mark Bagley, in #54-59, 2004)
    • Volume 6 (hc, 296 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1841-1) collects:
      • "Carnage" (with Mark Bagley, in #60-64, 2004)
      • "Detention" (with Mark Bagley, in #65, 2004)
      • "Even We Don't Believe This" (with Mark Bagley, in #66-67, 2004)
      • "Superstars" (with Mark Bagley, in #68-69, 2005)
      • "Strange" (with Mark Bagley, in #70-71, 2005)
    • Volume 7 (hc, 344 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-2148-X) collects:
      • "Hobgoblin" (with Mark Bagley, in #72-78, 2005)
      • "Warriors" (with Mark Bagley, in #79-85, 2005-2006)
    • Volume 8 (hc, 344 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2604-X) collects:
      • Annual #1 (with Mark Brooks, 2005)
      • "Silver Sable" (with Mark Bagley, in #86-90, 2006)
      • "Deadpool" (with Mark Bagley, in #91-94, 2006)
      • "Morbius" (with Mark Bagley, in #95-96, 2006)
      • Annual #2 (with Mark Brooks, 2006)
    • Volume 9 (hc, 400 pages, 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3081-0) collects:
      • "Clone Saga" (with Mark Bagley, in #97-105, 2006-2007)
      • "Ultimate Knights" (with Mark Bagley, in #106-110, 2007)
      • "The Talk" (with Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen, in #111, 2007)
    • Volume 10 (hc, 272 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3776-9) collects:
      • "Death of a Goblin" (with Stuart Immonen, in #112-117, 2007-2008)
      • "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" (with Stuart Immonen, in #118-120, 2008)
      • "Omega Red" (with Stuart Immonen, in #121, 2008)
      • "The Worst Day in Peter Parker's Life" (with Stuart Immonen, in #122, 2008)
    • Volume 11 (hc, 384 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4642-3) collects:
      • "War of the Symbiotes" (with Stuart Immonen, in #123-128, 2008-2009)
      • Annual #3 (with David Lafuente, 2009)
      • "Ultimatum" (with Stuart Immonen, in #129-133, 2009)
      • Ultimate Spider-Man Requiem #1-2 (with Stuart Immonen and Mark Bagley, 2009)
  • Ultimate Marvel Team-Up (April, 2001-July, 2002)
    • Ultimate Collection (hc, 448 pages, 2002, ISBN 0-7851-0870-X) collects:
      • "Spider-Man & Wolverine" (with Matt Wagner, in #1, 2001)
      • "Spider-Man & Hulk" (with Phil Hester, in #2-3, 2001)
      • "Spider-Man & Iron Man" (with Mike Allred, in #4-5, 2001)
      • "Spider-Man & The Punisher" (with Bill Sienkiewicz, in #6-8, 2001)
      • "Spider-Man & Fantastic Four" (with Jim Mahfood, in #9, 2001)
      • "Spider-Man & The Man-Thing" (with Ron Randall and John Totleben, in #10, 2002)
      • "Peter Parker's Day Off" (with Chynna Clugston-Major, in #11, 2002)
      • "Spider-Man & Doctor Strange" (with Ted McKeever, in #12-13, 2002)
      • "Spider-Man & Black Widow"" (with Terry Moore, in #14, 2002)
      • "Spider-Man & Master of Kung-Fu" (with Rick Mays, in #15-16, 2002)
      • "Super Special" (with among other artist, in Ultimate Spiderman Super Special, 2002)
  • Spider-Man 3: The Black (with Mark Bagley, one-shot, 2007)
  • The Amazing Spider-Man #601: "The Best Version of Myself" (with Joe Quesada, 2009) collected in Spider-Man: Died in Your Arms Tonight (hc, 192 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-4459-5; tpb, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4485-4)
  • Ultimate Spider-Man (August 2009-October 2010):
    • The World According to Peter Parker (hc, 152 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4011-5; tpb, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4099-9) collects:
      • "The New World According to Peter Parker" (with David Lafuente, in #1-6, 2009-2010)
    • Chameleons (hc, 200 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4012-3; tpb, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4100-6) collects:
      • "Crossroad" (with Takeshi Miyazawa, in #7-8, 2010)
      • "Tainted Love" (with David Lafuente, in #9-14, 2010)
    • Death of Spider-Man Prelude (hc, 192 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4639-3; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-4640-7) collects:
      • "Untitled" (with David Lafuente, in #15, 2010)
      • "Superhero Training" (with David Lafuente, Jamie McKelvie, Sara Pichelli, Skottie Young and Joëlle Jones, in #150-152, 2011)
      • "Death of Spider-Man: Prelude" (with David Lafuente, Sara Pichelli and Chris Samnee, in #153-155, 2011)
    • Death of Spider-Man (hc, 128 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5274-1) collects:
      • "Death of Spider-Man" (with Mark Bagley, in #156-160, 2011)
  • Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man v2 (September 2011 â€" Present):
    • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis vol.1 (hc, 144 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5712-3) collects:
      • "Introduction" (with Sara Pichelli, in #1-6, 2011-2012)
    • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis vol.2 (hc, 112 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5714-X) collects:
      • "Meet The New Spider-Man" (with Chris Samnee, Sara Pichelli and David Marquez in #7-10, 2012)
    • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis vol.3 (hc, 184 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6175-9) collects:
      • "Scorpion" (with David Marquez in #11-12, 2012)
      • "Divided We Fall" (with David Marquez in #13-14, 2012)
      • "United We Stand" (with David Marquez and Pepe Larraz in #15-18, 2012)
    • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis vol.4 (hc, 112 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6503-7) collects:
      • "Venom Wars" (with David Marquez and Sara Pichelli in #16.1, 19-22, 2012-2013)
    • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis vol.5 (hc, 136 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-7851-6802-8) collects:
      • "Spider-Man No More" (with David Marquez in #23-28, 2013)
• Daredevil:
  • Daredevil: Ninja #1-3 (with Rob Haynes, 2000-2001) collected as Daredevil: Ninja (tpb, 80 pages, 2001, ISBN 0-7851-0780-0)
  • Daredevil v2 (May 2001-March 2006):
    • Volume 2 (hc, 288 pages, 2002, ISBN 0-7851-0926-9) collects:
      • "Underboss" (with Alex Maleev, in #26-31, 2001-2002)
      • "Out" (with Alex Maleev, in #32-37, 2002)
    • Volume 3 (hc, 320 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1106-9) collects:
      • "Trial of the Century" (with Manuel Gutierrez and Terry Dodson, in #38-40, 2002-2003)
      • "Lowlife" (with Alex Maleev, in #41-45, 2003)
      • "Hardcore" (with Alex Maleev, in #46-50, 2003)
    • Volume 4 (hc, 280 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1342-8) collects:
      • "The King of Hell's Kitchen" (with Alex Maleev, in #56-60, 2004)
      • "The Widow" (with Alex Maleev, in #61-64, 2004)
      • "The Universe" (with Alex Maleev, Chris Bachalo, Michael Golden, Greg Horn, Phil Hester and P. Craig Russell, in #65, 2004)
    • Volume 5 (hc, 256 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2110-2) collects:
      • "Golden Age" (with Alex Maleev, in #66-70, 2004-2005)
      • "Decalogue" (with Alex Maleev, in #71-75, 2005)
    • Volume 6 (hc, 304 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2111-0) collects:
      • "The Murdock Papers" (with Alex Maleev, in #76-81, 2005-2006)
      • "Wake Up" (with David Mack, in #16-19, 2001)
  • Elektra v2 #1-6 (with Chuck Austen, 2001-2002) collected as Elektra: The Scorpio Key (tpb, 160 pages, 2002, ISBN 0-7851-0843-2)
  • What If... Karen Page Had Lived? (with Michael Lark, one-shot, 2005) collected in What If... Why Not? (tpb, 152 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1593-5)
• Alias (November 2001-January 2004):
  • Volume 1 (tpb, 208 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-7851-1141-7) collects:
    • "Alias Investigations" (with Michael Gaydos, in #1-5, 2001-2002)
    • "B Level" (with Michael Gaydos, in #6-9, 2002)
  • Come Home (tpb, 128 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-7851-1123-9) collects:
    • "Rebecca, Please Come Home" (with Michael Gaydos, Mark Bagley and David Mack, in #11-14, 2002)
    • "It's Raining Men" (with Michael Gaydos, in #15, 2002)
  • The Underneath (tpb, 160 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-7851-1165-4) collects:
    • "The End" (with Michael Gaydos, in #10, 2002)
    • "The Underneath" (with Michael Gaydos and Mark Bagley, in #16-21, 2003)
  • The Secret Origins of Jessica Jones (tpb, 176 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1167-0) collects:
    • "The Secret Origin of Jessica Jones" (with Michael Gaydos, in #22-23, 2003)
    • "Purple" (with Michael Gaydos and Mark Bagley, in #24-28, 2003-2004)
  • What If... Why Not? (tpb, 152 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1593-5) includes:
    • What If... Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers? (with Michael Gaydos, one-shot, 2005)
• A Moment of Silence: "Moment of Silence: A True Story" (with Scott Morse, one-shot, 2002)
• Ultimate X-Men #34-45 (August 2003-July 2004) (with David Finch, 2003-2004) collected as Ultimate X-Men vol.4 (hc, 304 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1251-0)
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #1-6 (February 2004- July 2004)(with Mark Millar and Adam Kubert, 2004) collected in Ultimate Fantastic Four vol.1 (hc, 320 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1458-0)
• Secret War #1-5 (with Gabriele Dell'Otto, 2004) collected as Secret War (hc, 256 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1837-3; tpb, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-4228-2)
• The Pulse (April 2004-May 2006) (with Mark Bagley, Michael Lark, Brent Anderson, Michael Gaydos and Olivier Coipel, 2004-2005) collected as:
  • Thin Air (collects #1-5, tpb, 128 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1332-0)
  • Secret War (collects #6-9, tpb, 96 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-1478-5)
  • Fear (collects #11-14, tpb, 136 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1951-5)
• Avengers:
  • Avengers (September 2004-December 2004):
    • Avengers: Disassembled (hc, 184 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2294-X; tpb, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1482-3) collects:
      • "Avengers: Disassembled" (with David Finch, in #500-503, 2004-2005)
      • Avengers Finale (with various artists, one-shot, 2005)
  • New Avengers (January 2005-April 2010):
    • Volume 1 (hc, 340 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2464-0) collects:
      • "Breakout!" (with David Finch, in #1-6, 2005)
      • "Sentry" (with Steve McNiven, in #7-10, 2005)
      • New Avengers: America Supports You (with Dan Jurgens, one-shot, 2005)
    • Volume 2 (hc, 296 pages, 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3085-3) collects:
      • "Choices" (with Rick Mays, in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1, 2005)
      • "Ronin" (with David Finch, in #11-13, 2005-2006)
      • "Secret and Lies" (with Frank Cho, in #14-15, 2006)
      • "The Collective" (with Steve McNiven and Mike Deodato, Jr., in #16-20, 2006)
      • "Happily Ever After" (with Olivier Coipel, in Annual #1, 2006)
    • Volume 3 (hc, 360 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3763-7) collects:
      • New Avengers: Illuminati (with Alex Maleev, one-shot, 2006)
      • "New Avengers: Disassembled" (with Howard Chaykin, Leinil Francis Yu, Olivier Coipel, Pasqual Ferry, Paul Smith and Jim Cheung, in #21-25, 2006)
      • "The Ballad of Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff" (with Alex Maleev, in #26, 2007)
      • Civil War: The Confession (with Alex Maleev, one-shot, 2007)
      • Civil War: The Initiative (with Marc Silvestri, one-shot, 2007)
      • "Revolution" (with Leinil Francis Yu, in #27-31, 2007)
    • Volume 4 (hc, 320 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4262-2) collects:
      • "The Trust" (with Leinil Francis Yu, in #32-37, 2007-2008)
      • "The Trust, Part Seven" (with Carlo Pagulayan, in Annual #2, 2008)
      • New Avengers: Illuminati #1-5 (with Brian Reed and Jim Cheung, 2007-2008)
    • Volume 5 (hc, 256 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4579-6) collects:
      • "The Breakup" (with Michael Gaydos, in #38, 2008)
      • "Echo" (with David Mack, in #39, 2008)
      • "Secret Invasion" (with Jim Cheung, Billy Tan and Michael Gaydos, in #40-47, 2008-2009)
    • Volume 6 (hc, 256 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5648-8) collects:
      • Secret Invasion: Dark Reign (with Alex Maleev, one-shot, 2009)
      • "Power" (with Billy Tan, in #48-50, 2009)
      • "Search for the Sorcerer Supreme" (with Chris Bachalo and Billy Tan, in #51-54, 2009)
      • "The Way Things are..." (with Jim Cheung, in Free Comic Book Day '09: Avengers, 2009)
    • Volume 7 (hc, 368 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5676-3) collects:
      • "Powerloss" (with Stuart Immonen, in #55-60, 2009-2010)
      • Dark Reign: The List - Avengers (with Marko Djurdjevic, one-shot, 2009)
      • "In Custody" (with Mike Mayhew, in Annual #3, 2009)
      • "Siege" (with Stuart Immonen and Daniel Acuña, in #56-64, 2010)
      • New Avengers Finale (with various artists, one-shot, 2010)
  • Mighty Avengers (March 2007-February 2009):
    • Volume 1 (hc, 304 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3758-0) collects:
      • "Mighty Avengers Assemble" (with Frank Cho, in #1-6, 2007-2008)
      • "Venom Bomb" (with Mark Bagley, in #7-8, 2008)
      • "Doom's Castle!" (with Mark Bagley and Marko Djurdjevic, in #9-11, 2008)
    • Volume 2 (hc, 232 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4261-4) collects:
      • "Secret Invasion" (with Alex Maleev, Khoi Pham, Stefano Caselli, Lee Weeks, Carlo Pagulayan and Jim Cheung, in #12-20, 2008-2009)
  • Dark Avengers (Marchâ€"August, Septemberâ€"December 2009- May 2010:
    • Dark Avengers (hc, 400 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5650-X) collects:
      • "Dark Avengers Assemble" (with Mike Deodato, Jr., in #1-6, 2009)
      • "Molecule Man" (with Mike Deodato, Jr. and Greg Horn, in #9-12, 2009-2010)
      • "Marvel" (with Chris Bachalo, in Annual #1, 2010)
      • "Siege" (with Mike Deodato, Jr., in #13-16, 2010)
  • Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: Heroic Age (hc, 448 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6198-8) collects:
    • Avengers v4 #1-34 (May 2010- November 2012) (with John Romita, Jr., 2010-202)
    • New Avengers v2 #1-34 (June 2010-November 2012)(with Stuart Immonen, 2010-2012)
    • Avengers Prime #1-5 (with Alan Davis, 2010-2011)
  • Avengers Assemble #1-8 (Marchâ€"October 2012)(with Mark Bagley, 2012-...)
• House of M #1-8 (with Olivier Coipel, 2005) collected as House of M (tpb, 224 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1721-0; hc, 312 pages, 2008, ISBN 0-7851-2466-7)
• Spider-Woman:
  • Spider-Woman: Origin #1-6 (with Brian Reed and Luna brothers, 2006) collected as Spider-Woman: Origin (hc, 120 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1965-5;
    tpb, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-1966-3)
  • Spider-Woman #1-7 (with Alex Maleev, 2009-2010) collected as Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. (hc, 176 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-1999-X;
    tpb, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-2630-9)
• Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange (with Mark Bagley, one-shot, 2006) collected in Stan Lee Meets... (hc, 240 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2272-9)
• Ultimate Power #1-3 (with Greg Land, 2006-2007) collected in Ultimate Power (hc, 232 pages, 2008, ISBN 0-7851-2366-0; tpb, 2008, ISBN 0-7851-2367-9)
• Halo: Uprising #1-4 (with Alex Maleev, 2007-2008) collected as Halo: Uprising (hc, 168 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-2838-7; tpb, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-2839-5)
• Secret Invasion #1-8 (with Leinil Francis Yu, 2008) collected as Secret Invasion (tpb, 248 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3297-X; hc, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4917-1)
• Ultimate Origins #1-5 (with Butch Guice, 2008) collected as Ultimate Origins (tpb, 128 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3035-7; hc, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-2893-X)
• Secret Warriors #1-6 (February -July 2009) (with Jonathan Hickman and Stefano Caselli, 2009) collected as Secret Warriors Volume 1: Nick Fury, Agent of Nothing (hc, 184 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3999-0; tpb, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3864-1)
• Siege #1-4 (with Olivier Coipel, 2010) collected as Siege (hc, 200 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4810-8; tpb, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4079-4)
• Ultimate Comics: Doomsday (hc, 288 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4776-4; tpb, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4777-2) collects:
  • Ultimate Comics: Enemy #1-4 (with Rafa Sandoval, 2010)
  • Ultimate Comics: Mystery #1-4 (with Rafa Sandoval, 2010)
  • Ultimate Comics: Doom #1-4 (with Rafa Sandoval, 2011)
• Moon Knight (May 2011- April 2012)(with Alex Maleev, 2011-2012) collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-6, hc, 176 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5169-9)
  • Volume 2 (collects #7-12, hc, 144 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5171-0)
• Ultimate Comics: Fallout #1-2, 4, 6 (with Mark Bagley, Gabriel Hardman and Sara Pichelli, 2011) collected in Ultimate Comics: Fallout (hc, 136 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5912-6; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5913-4)
• X-Men:
  • All-New X-Men: volume 1, #1-ongoing (with Stuart Immonen, David Marquez, David Lafuente, and Brandon Peterson, November 2012 â€" Present)
    • "Yesterday's X-Men" #1-5 (hc, 136 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6820-6)
    • Here To Stay, #6-10 (hc, 136 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6821-4)
    • "Out Of Their Depth", #11-15 (hc, 136 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6822-2)
  • Uncanny X-Men: volume 3, #1-ongoing (with Chris Bachalo, Frazer Irwing, Kris Anka, and Marco Rudy, February 2013 â€" Present)
    • "Revolution", #1-5 (hc, 136 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6846-X)
    • "Broken", #6-11 (hc, 144 pages, 2013 ISBN 0-7851-6785-4)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 #1-present, .1 (February 2013 â€" Present)

Icon Comics

• Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming, 2009-...) collected as:
  • Z (collects #1-6, tpb, 224 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4593-1)
• Scarlet (with Alex Maleev, 2010-...) collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-5, hc, 184 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5251-2; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5252-0)
• Takio (with Michael Avon Oeming, graphic novel, hc, 96 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5326-8)
• Castle: Richard Castle's Deadly Storm (with Kelly Sue DeConnick, Lan Medina and Tom Raney, graphic novel, hc, 112 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5327-6)
• Brilliant #1-4 (with Mark Bagley, 2011-2012)

Other US publishers

• H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Festival #1-3 (art, with Jean-Marc Lofficier, Randy Lofficier and Roy Thomas, Millennium Publications, 1993-1994)
• Malibu:
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Maquis #1: "Memoirs of an Invisible Ferengi" (art, with Colin Clayton and Chris Dows, 1995)
  • Angels of Destruction (with Jim Amash, Robert DeCastro, Shannon Gallant, Vinton T. Heuck, David Mowry and Leonard Kirk, one-shot, 1996)
• Noir #2: "John Easy: They're Gonna Kill You After Awhile" (illustrations for the text story by Ron Goulart, CFD Productions, 1995)
• Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story #1-3 (script and art, Oni Press, 1999-2000) collected as Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story (tpb, 152 pages, 2000, ISBN 1-929998-06-6; hc, 160 pages, Icon, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4309-2)
• Batman Chronicles #21: "Citizen Wayne" (with Michael Gaydos, DC Comics, 2000) collected in Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 2 (tpb,
  208 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1214-X)
• Dark Horse Maverick: Happy Endings: "Only in..." (with Michael Avon Oeming, tpb, graphic novel, 96 pages, 2002, ISBN 1-56971-820-2)

References

External links

• Official website
• Brian Michael Bendis at the Comic Book DB
• The Official Brian Michael "Bendis (message) Board"
• Brian Michael Bendis: Comics' Funk Soul Master at Comics Bulletin
• Brian Michael Bendis at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators