How are Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Iron Fist removed from Bendis' books? They're on his damn teams!
I picked every book that I could think of off the top of my head. I think I nailed pretty much every book Marvel's currently publishing with the exception of a few. Find them and list them, it won't matter. Nothing happening in Bendis' Avengers books has anything to do the other ones, and you know it.
Actually, New Avengers impacted Spider-Man's books in HUGE ways by having him join the team. That caused him to move into Avenger's Tower with his family, and led to all the stuff JMS had happen in CW. That is in direct relation to New Avengers.
Wolverine is connected to the X-Books, although right now...yeah, he's rather isolated. Writers seem to be doing their own thing on that book.
Iron Fist really hasn't done much of anything in NA aside for showing up.
Iron Man's road to becoming Director of Shield started in Bendis' books. It started in SECRET WAR, and Maria Hill was HIS character, and his Illuminati special was the prelude to CW, and the "Does Hulk Kill" argument. HOUSE OF M, which is STILL gutting the X-Universe years later, spawned out of his run on the last volume of Avengers, DISASSEMBLED. An epilogue to that story occured in NA that got Magneto back in circulation with his powers intact, and produced The Collective, who was used (or shoehorned) into Omega Flight. OF was a good book but Collective was Bendis' element that they had to work in. SECRET INVASION is Marvel's big event for 2008 and Bendis himself has promised that his prior work was build-up for that; NA has been doing so for a while, with the Skrull thing.
Has there been an upside? Yes. Bendis is largely responsible for getting some neglected characters back into circulation, especially Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Purple Man, and The Hood. Before ALIAS, no other books even MENTIONED Purple Man and no SHIELD agent would have discussed him. Immediately afterward, suddenly he's the biggest threat SHIELD ever had. So to deny Bendis' influence on the line is a bit naive. Just because stuff doesn't DIRECTLY TIE IN doesn't mean that it doesn't have an influence, especially in the background with the editors, who pretty much give Bendis free reign.
Is EVERY book connected? No. I'm sure you'd argue at least half aren't. But the point is that whatever events or "retcons" or reveals that Bendis always does, are the sorts of things that OTHER books and OTHER writers will eventually either have to embrace, work around, explain away, or agree to.
Look how ILLUMINATI effected Warlock in AC? It stripped him of his core weapon, his Soul Gem, with ZERO details. Reed just stole it, off panel. Abnett & Lanning, telling their distant space opera, now have to either expand on that, ignore it, or at least take heed of the power difference. I'm not saying it will be BAD, but I am saying it has a cause-effect relationship.
Wow, way to try and make an argument where none exists. Did I tell you to read this book or that book? No? Shut the **** up. I'm saying, that you're a fool to actually believe that what happens in New and Mighty Avengers has some profound influence on the rest of Marvel's catalogue. It's not even an opinion. It's fact. Wake up and see it.
Despite my best intentions, I replied again and I think made a better argument this time.
[/BLACKOUT] . Will Secret Invasion be any good? Possibly. But he's already burning me out in New Avengers [BLACKOUT]with all the who's a skrull talk, I don't want to read that for four issues and then find out OMG YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTOR IS TEH SKRULL BUY THE TIE INS and OMG TEH SKRULLS ARE SO STRONG THEY DIDNT EVEN NEED TO SECRETLY INVADE THEY COULD TAKE US AT ANY MINUTE[/BLACKOUT]
