Brian Michael Bendis

1 sketch, 32 claims, and 15 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis (guest)

Raised on Lucas and Spielberg and says the magic-trick-then-show-how-it-was-done openness of that era shaped his craft. Loves Raiders over Temple of Doom even though Temple of Doom met him at a pivotal age; adores Reds, Siskel and Ebert, John Williams, Karen Allen. Cannot stand writers telling the audience the theme outright and hates snakes.

Stances

  • Raiders is the better film but Temple of Doom shaped him
  • Exposition must carry the character's own perspective
  • Lucas and Spielberg were the first open-source filmmakers
  • Spielberg is generous with credit and should be emulated
  • Marion Ravenwood is among cinema's great characters; Willie Scott is the anti-Marion mistake
  • The post-Fabelmans view reshapes Raiders

Humor: Self-deprecating storyteller who deploys anecdotes with exact comic timing, such as drawing a failed 45-page adaptation with chocolate pudding.

In their words

  • “At this stage that wasn't Marvel was Lucas and Spielberg.” (0:12:58)
  • “I drew 45 pages of comic book art.” (1:34:03)
  • “Jack Kirby was the John Ford of comics.” (0:30:47)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Their claims

Showing 1–32 of 32 claims.

  1. lineage (lineage): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Bendis says his childhood pop culture was Lucas and Spielberg magic tricks, not Marvel.
    “At this stage that wasn't Marvel was Lucas and Spielberg.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:12:58 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (experience): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Star Wars and Raiders as film-and-merch: the movie stays alive through soundtracks, cards and comics.
    “in lieu of DVD and VHS, we have a soundtrack to just sit in our room, stare at the ceiling, and relive the movie in our mind's eye”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:24:26 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The novelization written by Spielberg internalized the story, which Bendis loved.
    “it internalizes the story for a young person who's only seeing externalizing it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:25:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
  4. craft (craft): Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Walt Simonson. Walt Simonson drew the Close Encounters comic adaptation, whose behind-the-scenes showed directing versus the page.
    “Walt Simonson doing the close encounters adaptation, and it is wonderful.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:25:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  5. craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Klaus Janson. The two-issue Raiders comic adaptation by top artists left out the Well of Souls and enraged young Bendis.
    “I remember the Raiders Lost Ark tube issue cliff notes came out and I was I was livid.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:27:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
  6. lineage (lineage): Jack Kirby → John Ford. Kirby was reticent about being an artist like the closed-off older directors; Lucas and Spielberg broke that mold.
    “Jack Kirby was the John Ford of comics.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:30:47 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  7. theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Fabelmans. Bendis says he sees the movie differently after The Fabelmans.
    “I honestly don't think I've heard a serious conversation about this movie Post Fabelman's”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:36:23 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  8. people (people): George Lucas → Steven Spielberg. Their friendship is the mythology: two sides of the same coin, like the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
    “here's like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones inspiring each other.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:41:14 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. craft (craft): Tom Selleck → Jim Steranko. Steranko's concept art for Indiana Jones, and his Nick Fury, share the Selleck look, the classic square-jawed comic hero.
    “Nick Fury looks like Tom Selleck, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:03:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
  10. what-if (what-if): Tim Matheson → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tim Matheson was the closest in the screen test, but not Harrison Ford.
    “Tim Matheson is Interesting, but not Harrison Ford.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:06:46 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. people (people): The Frisco Kid → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Bendis's view of Harrison Ford was shaped by Frisco Kid, where Han Solo escorts a rabbi, shown in Jewish Cleveland.
    “Han Solo is taking a rabbi across the, across the, uh, thing”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:09:42 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  12. theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Frisco Kid. Indiana Jones and Marion both code as Jewish, to Bendis.
    “Indiana Jones absolutely does code as a Jewish action hero”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:10:55 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  13. craft (craft): Stan Lee → George Lucas. Lucas and Spielberg not talking down to young audiences echoes Stan Lee's magic.
    “that was kind of Stan Lee's magic too.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:30:57 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  14. craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Chuck Jones. Spielberg's staging has a Chuck Jones element, going back to Chuck Jones as a cartoon influence.
    “how important Chuck Jones was to Steven Spielberg at the time”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:36:15 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  15. craft (craft): 1941 → Chuck Jones. 1941 is Chuck Jones trying to come to life; Raiders uses the same storytelling with narrative discipline.
    “that is a Chuck Jones cartoon trying to come to life.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:36:24 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  16. craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → James Bond films (the franchise). The Cairo plane fight with the burly Nazi is called a straight James Bond henchman scene.
    “that's that's a flat out James Bond jaw scene.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:50:56 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  17. contrast (contrast): Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Willie Scott was built as the anti-Marion, which means doing the opposite of what works.
    “the anti-Marian means you're doing the opposite of what works.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:53:35 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  18. craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Billy Wilder. Brody's 'wrath of God' warning is a promise to the audience of a payoff by Billy Wilder's rules.
    “by Billy Wilder rules, you are promising that we're going to see some wrath of God at the end of this movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:18:08 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The 'it belongs in a museum' line is questioned; in most of the films he keeps the object from bad guys.
    “But in most of these movies, he is keeping it from bad guys who are taking it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:23:08 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.40 sure it was them)
  20. craft (craft): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Lucas's rule that the MacGuffin goes back where it was or disappears applies to Raiders, Temple of Doom's village and the Grail.
    “The McGuffin always has to go back where it was or disappear.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:23:39 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. contrast (contrast): Raiders of the Lost Ark → The Horizon Experiment (comic). A current comic flips Indiana Jones into someone taking things out of museums back to adventure.
    “a comic book out right now called the Horizon experiment by the guys that did the good Asian”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:24:12 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  22. career (career): John Williams → Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Williams delivered a career-defining score every few months: Jaws, Close Encounters, Star Wars, Superman.
    “Jaws, close encounters, all the Star Wars, and then Superman”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:37:11 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  23. people (people): John Williams → Brian De Palma. John Williams scores led Bendis to other filmmakers like De Palma.
    “John Williams works with him, then he must be equal to Spielberg.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:37:59 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  24. industry (industry): Spider-Man → X-Men. Early superhero films ran out of action money, like the first X-Men.
    “that's what the 1st X-Men movie is.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:41:41 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. career (career): Brian Michael Bendis → Sam Raimi. Bendis says Raimi saw they shared the job of working out Spider-Man.
    “Sam Raimi, uh, smartly figured out that he and I had the same job to to figure out Spider-Man.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:42:41 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
  26. theme (theme): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Today's body standard: Ford's buff Temple of Doom prep, Schwarzenegger in T2, now like Paul Rudd in Ant-Man.
    “he is the exact same shape.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:52:06 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
  27. career (career): Schindler's List → Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After Schindler's List Spielberg refused to do cartoon Nazis in Crystal Skull.
    “I'm not going back to doing cartoon Nazis post Schindler's list.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:58:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  28. programming (programming): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Jaws. Bendis lives in Portland, where Raiders and Jaws play theaters every summer; his kids found both still work.
    “I'm here in Portland where Raiders and Jaws plays on theaters, at least once a summer.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:01:39 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
  29. verdict (verdict): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Gene Siskel. Siskel and Ebert were giddy over Raiders and asked if it was a bad year or a truly great movie.
    “they are just giddy with excitement over this movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:04:25 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
  30. verdict (verdict): Raiders of the Lost Ark → Reds. Raiders lost the directing Oscar to Reds; Bendis loves Reds.
    “I love that movie dearly.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:05:41 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  31. career (career): Jim Steranko → Outland. Steranko did the graphic-novel adaptation of Outland, better than the film.
    “There is a comic, believe it or not, there is a graphic novel adaptation.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:16:13 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.65 sure it was them)
  32. contrast (contrast): Outland → Alien. Outland tries to be Alien and does not connect; it is not as bad as The Black Hole.
    “it's not as bad as black hole, but it's it's trying, it's trying to be alien and it's not, it's just not connecting.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:16:53 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–15 of 15 fun items.

  1. fun, about Red Hulk: At Marvel retreats, where Red Hulk's mustache went was a major conversation; Bendis declined to engage.
    “I just went, listen, not every fight's my fight and then moved on with my life.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:03:25 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.85 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Raiders of the Lost Ark (comic adaptation): Bendis was livid at the two-issue Marvel adaptation, which skipped the Well of Souls entirely.
    “I mean, they skipped the well of the souls.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:27:27 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Steven Spielberg: Bendis, who never knew until The Fabelmans, is stunned that young Spielberg lived with a pet monkey, which the film's Marion scenes echo.
    “He lived with the monkey.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:36:39 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Steven Spielberg: Bendis's mom sold Spielberg to him as the guy who gave his mother a Bloomingdale's card with no limit, the aspirational image of success.
    “Steven Spielberg gave his mother, uh, uh, a Bloomingdale's card with no limit.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:37:19 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Raiders story conference: In the Lucas/Spielberg/Kasdan story-conference transcript, someone floats that Marion is the villain; Bendis loves that even masters do not solve it right away.
    “my favorite moment in the transcript is when someone says, maybe Marion's the villain.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:42:50 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.85 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Brian Michael Bendis: At about 16, during a Passover vacation, he paused a VHS of Raiders at every edit and drew each shot to make his own comic adaptation to send to Marvel; he drew 45 pages and never got out of the jungle.
    “I drew 45 pages of comic book art.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:34:03 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Karen Allen: The Marion-Belloc drinking scene was improvised by Karen Allen and Paul Freeman off to the side and given to Spielberg, who adopted it.
    “the scene between her and Belloc, you know, drinking each other under the table was improv.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:54:11 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Steven Spielberg: In the making-of documentary Spielberg, in love with Kate Capshaw, looks into the camera and says Indiana Jones did not get the girl.
    “Indiana Jones didn't get the girl.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:07:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.85 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Raiders of the Lost Ark: In Cairo the producer had to remove every TV antenna from the rooftops so the setting looked timeless.
    “when I had to go down and yank every one of those TV antennas off of every rooftop”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:24:43 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Kate Capshaw: Capshaw refused the snake but agreed to the bugs, then Spielberg's cut has her saying he promised bugs.
    “the cuts of the bug scene goes, you promised me bugs.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:30:29 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Spider-Man: Bendis first saw Spider-Man on an AV cart in Sam Raimi's office with Stan Lee beside him, who left saying he wrote 126 issues and the rest were Bendis's.
    “I wrote 126 issues of Spider-Man, they're all yours.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:43:28 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.90 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Siskel and Ebert: Siskel and Ebert, who Bendis treats as his film school, told each other it had been a terrible year for movies and Raiders just felt good.
    “honestly, Robert, we haven't seen a good movie in like 6 months, like a really good movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:04:48 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Raiders ending: The warehouse of crates gives Bendis's story brain a million adventures.
    “Every one of these is a comic book I have to read.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:07:18 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Harrison Ford: Bendis's nomination for Ford's greatest performance is the Jimmy Kimmel Live sketch where he confronts Chewbacca for sleeping with his wife.
    “The greatest thing he ever put on film was on Jimmy Kimmel live, the sketch where he confronts Chewbacca for sleeping with his wife.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:23:09 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Brian Michael Bendis: Bendis's upcoming graphic novel Fortune and Glory is the true story of writing the Spider-Man Broadway musical for a week and a half.
    “I was the writer of the Spider-Man Broadway musical, turn off the dark for a week and a half”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:25:09 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.95 sure it was them)