In a recent interview with the Cleveland Entertainer, Brian Michael Bendis sheds a little light on what cemented his decision to move from Marvel (who he had been writing with for 17 years) to DC Comics.
Originally from Cleveland, he was back in town for his brother’s wedding and decided to revisit an important place for him when growing up, the Cleveland Library. There just happened to be a Superman exhibit on at the library and he is quoted saying “It was a flood of impressions and Cleveland connections. While looking at the Superman artifacts, I realized that I had not climbed the DC mountain and I needed to.”
His contract was up for renewal soon and DC had been approaching him with offers, facing Brian with a very tough decision. Being a key writer for Marvel for over a decade, creating characters like Jessica Jones, retell the origin of Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man and co-create a new Spider-Man in Miles Morales. He also wrote some of the greatest Marvel stories on his run with Daredevil, rivaling the great Frank Millar saga and reshaped The Avengers franchise. Bendis had achieved what very few others had at Marvel. With many a friend at Marvel and some recent personal achievements for the writer, he wondered what he could do next that would scare him. When he walked into that library, he says “It all came together”.
Creators of Superman Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have stated they spent a fair amount of time at that same library. Bendis happened upon the exhibit unknowingly, as if by fate and was instantly mesmerized by the content of the Man of Steel. It took him back to when he was an artist during the 50th anniversary of Superman in 1988 and Cleveland was host to a convention celebrating the superhero. When Brian recently announced his decision, it shocked the industry, but he says “Marvel has been great about the whole thing, the people there have a lot of class”. He will continue to write for Marvel until the end of the year and start with DC on January 1st. Though what books he will be working on are a closely guarded secret and we will just have to wait and see.
The original article with the Cleveland Entertainer can be found here.