gildea said:
ughhh that is such a tiresome criticism.
ALL stories could be told in less than their alotted issues.
Just because a story COULD be condensed isn't a bad thing (i am assuming this is a criticism) because it applies to all comics (apart from one issue ones natch.)
Bendis has a style where he basically likes his characters to speak lots, which results in lots of dialogue and a general lightness of action. As he is fond of saying he likes scenes in his story to 'breathe'. Sometimes (most times if you belive some people) this can affect the pacing of a story and make it a chore to get through as nothing much seems to happen (for the plot loving fans out there).
So if you want to criticise his style, criticise his style and provide a rationale as to how it didn't work PLEASE!!!
This "could have been told in less" issues is nonsensical from the off and completely without merit as far as proper criticism of the comic form goes.
/end rant
First off, no, not all stories could be told in less than their allotted issues. Many writers already compress their stories quite a bit, and to do so more would make the story border on nonsensical...or, go right over the edge.
Personally, the pace was a bit off, but that's not the main thing that drove me off from it. While saying it could have been told in fewer issues isn't a valid complaint, what they are trying to say, i.e. that the pacing is drastically off or they found the story rather dull, is a completely valid complaint. Personally, I was unimpressed. It was plodding, banal, and disappointing. Whoever quoted that one video ("I'm Layla Macguffin, with the power to advance dead plotlines") summed it up pretty much in one. Not to mention that the entire story seemed to exist solely to get rid of all the mutants, since Quesada apparently has a hard-on for destroying the possibility of new and interesting things.
And, while Bendis may like his stories to 'breathe', he really should keep in mind that he is writing in a medium where we have to wait a month for the next part of the story, so, if he wants our money, SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN. Bendis wrote this for trade, and, even read in that context, all together in one sitting, it's still quite slow...just, less painfully so.
