Brian Michael Bendis, the creator of characters such as Miles Morales and Riri Williams at Marvel, as well as creator-owned series such as Powers. During Rose City Comic Con, The Beat had the opportunity to sit down with Bendis to discuss his upcoming sequel to The Ones, set for release on December 9th from Dark Horse Comics, as well as his return to the Marvel comics playground. In addition, the prolific creator revealed the immense joy in reuniting with his close collaborators on various creative projects.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
ISAAC SWINDLE: So tell me a little bit about The Ones volume two. We’re going back to that world, going back to those characters. Where are we picking up?
Brian Michael Bendis: The Ones is a comedy, and it’s about all the Chosen Ones in every mythology having to deal with each other [after accomplishing] the thing they were chosen for. I love the Chosen One trope or motif or whatever you call it. I’ve loved it my whole life. I’ve loved it since Eddie Murphy‘s The Golden Child. I love how many authors trip on it even as they’re trying to celebrate it. I got to work on some Matrix stuff when I was at DC. Some of it never happened. While watching them futz with Neo and Trinity, because Trinity really is the Chosen One, all of that made me laugh and I couldn’t wait to do it. And so we put out a book about the Chosen Ones. It banded together this super group of Chosen Ones just dealing with celebrity and self identity. It’s also kind of universal in that way. Anyway, so it came out [and] it did real well. We’re going to do another one. It’s called The Ones II: The Other Ones [about] a whole bunch of [other] people who thought they were the Chosen Ones. The other cool thing about it is Amazon just picked it up. [It’s] early days, but we’ll see. I’m real excited about it.
SWINDLE: What inspired you to revisit that world?
BENDIS: Oh, I would do it all day long if Jacob [Edgar] could do it monthly. Jacob, my co-creator, is an awesome artist. In fact, what’s funny about me and Jacob, is we were fan cast together. Someone online during the pandemic wrote, “Brian, you should work with Jacob Edgar.” And I was like, “Is this Jacob Edgar trying to get me to work with them?” Which happens, right? And I’m like, “Hey, Jacob, if this is you, I do like your work.” And it was actually a fan [who] put it together and they were completely right. And we totally get along and love each other. And we’re in total business together and it’s lovely. Every once in a while, I email that fan and go, “Hey, by the way, a lot’s happened in my life because you made this happen. I don’t know what else I could do to tell you how much I celebrate you making this happen for me.” So, yeah, one of the things that I love about comics is one of those things.
SWINDLE: Are there any other fan casts that haven’t come together just yet that you’d really like to work with right now?
BENDIS: Well, there are things that I’ve fan cast myself on, for sure. There’s always people I’m dying to work with, so many awesome artists and stuff like that. But a lot of times I’ll just reach out, you know? The good part about being established is that I can say, “Hi…” But there’s a couple of creators right now that I’m slow-burning some stuff with like Patric Reynolds, who does Gunslinger Spawn. I think we’re gonna do some Star Trek together, and then pull into a creator-owned. And Isaac Goodhart, someone who I really, really admire. We’ve been talking a lot lately. Sometimes it’s just like a slow “getting to know you.” You know what I mean? Dancing around each other, sharing a lot of media with each other and getting towards the idea. Both Isaac and Patrick are a couple of examples of people I’m very close to pulling the trigger on what we’re gonna do.
SWINDLE: You also recently revisited the world of Powers. Can you tell me a little about that?
BENDIS: Yeah, that’s the other thing. As much as I’m dying to work with new people all the time, I have these beautiful, long-term collaborative relationships that I want to keep going at all time. There’s only so many hours in the day, but Mike Oeming and I are a partnership that’s gone on now for over 25 years to our shock and delight. We were actually in the middle of a new idea that we [had] already drawn a couple issues for Dark Horse called The Futurist. That’ll be coming out sometime. And while we [were] in the middle of it, somebody said, “Hey, you know, it’s the 25th anniversary of Powers.” And the whole time, Mike is like, “Let’s do more Powers.” He’s always wanted to do more Powers. [He said], “We love each other more than when we first met. We really should do some celebrating [it]. We should do the 25th anniversary series.” While we’re in the middle of it, Netflix called us and said, “Hey, we’re thinking about a Powers animated show.” What a gift for an anniversary to get a second chance at a TV show.
We had that very awesome but strange experience of making [the original live-action Powers] TV show in the early days of streaming on a platform that literally doesn’t exist anymore. So when you tell people, “PlayStation had a streaming service,” they think, “What? When?” But they did, and we were there, and they really took care of us. And behind the scenes, it was a great experience, but it’s the weirdest thing to say to people, you know? Anyway, the do-over is literally me running around the house going, “It’s a do over, it’s a do-over.” Like Tina Fey in the adoption episode of 30 Rock. On top of it, it’s been this great opportunity to take everything you think you’ve learned and apply directly to this thing. I learned so much on the Marvel projects, on the MCU stuff, and [I’m] pulling it all into the Powers TV show.
SWINDLE: How hard is it for you to step back into that world, or is it just like riding a bike when you come back to these properties?
BENDIS: The hardest part is I’m eager not to repeat myself. When I catch myself doing that, it’s really easy to rationalize anything that, like every time I use time travel, [I’m] always coming at it from a different angle. But also it was really funny when I went to DC, Dan DiDio told me he was furious that I [went] back doing Daredevil again [on projects like End of Days and Defenders] before working at DC. And I go, “But I’m older. And he’s like, “Nah, you’re repeating yourself.” You can convince yourself [that] having these things, these worlds you build, they’re so precious to the creators. And then also to “yes, and” yourself and build it past the idea. But also not lose the sauce of what made it special.
SWINDLE: Speaking of “yes, and-ing” yourself, you are making a return to Marvel in Amazing Spider-Man #1000. Is there anything that we can talk about here today?
BENDIS: I know there’s something [going to be] announced in New York Comic Con, and I got an email Friday about them setting up interviews for the next thing. So if you hear one, grab it. We can talk. I do want to respect the situation.
SWINDLE: Yeah, absolutely.
BENDIS: But what’s cool is it’s a different situation for people who were with us when I was at Marvel. I was producing a lot of monthly [books] simultaneously, sometimes crisscrossing. I’m not going to do that. That, I did. We talk about repeating yourself, I got some good advice reminding me when our heroes came back to the scene of a crime. Like when Frank Miller came back to Daredevil, it was for a story. It wasn’t, “I’m going to do another run.”
A couple people say, “You’ve earned the right to do that.” And that might be more of a challenge, creatively, and the right way it has to be. So I have a bunch of projects that are all curated. I’m reuniting with Sara Pichelli on something. I reunited with Stuart [Immonen] on Amazing Spider-Man, which I’m very emotional about. These creative teams meant the world to me.
And as you get older, it means more, “Oh, we didn’t screw that up.” That’s awesome. You don’t feel that in the moment but looking back, you go, “Oh, that’s a gorgeous book.” The plus of a curated book is we’re working with some artists who are not monthly [but whose art is] beautiful, and just [having] an actual bit of time where we can bank the issues, and be ready. So when things are coming out, you’re gonna get these gorgeous books on time. And [I’m going to be] revisiting some characters that people would like me to reunite with, and some things I have not done before. You don’t always hear from your boss after you quit. And they called me and said, “Hey, we’re working on this, and we’re like, ‘Let’s call Brian.’” And I’m like, “Oh, thanks, guys.” I didn’t leave angry, so I didn’t want anyone to feel bad, you know?
SWINDLE: No burnt bridges?
BENDIS: Comics is filled with burnt bridges. People leaving or staying too long I’ve discovered. For years, [I would] obsessively read and listen to stories about Saturday Night Live cast members. And all their journeys and how some people love it, some people hated it, and blah, blah, blah. I was obsessed with everyone. And then I went, “Oh, because it’s the same as this.” You work your whole life for this dream job that you know is temporary. It’s not built for you to stay. And even though I “Keenan Thompson-ed” it pretty hard, it is good for you to do your thing and move on, right? And then maybe they’ll ask you to come back and host, right? And so when I figured that out, I was emotionally ready for all of this.
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Stay tuned for our upcoming coverage of New York Comic Con to check out Brian Michael Bendis’ latest announcements as well.
