thatlad

@ccraft: dropped at issue 6. Great art but I didn't think the story was strong, characterisation was lacking. Darkseid is a big gun but didn't talk, he could have been any faceless enemy. Hal and Bruce were not even similar to those characters in their own books, for me I didn't think it was good. Certainly not compared to some of the other books out there, if you remove the hype and names on the cover I felt it was a gorgeous book with average writing

@G-Man: no worries, wouldn't expect you to either family first. Sorry if it came across critical

I've said it already but what a great promotion, just read 5 marvel now comics on the way to work and I'll probably pick up two of them.

There's a simple solution. Drop the book, vote with your money. I did a dropped this book about 7-8 issues in. It was very overrated and I haven't regretted it

I don't think comicvine are giving this promotion the attention it deserves this is massive it includes one shots, preludes, epilogues...I just got all issues of The List, collected that would cost over £10. We all know the comic industry needs to bring in broader customers, well get the word out. iPhones and iPads are near ubiquitous, tell people to get the comics app and get some freebies. Hopefully people will get hooked. Yes the comics app has had freebies before but not this many and this high quality. Well done marvel this is much better that any reboot gimmick

Mahmud asrar is not someone I was aware of but I'll be keeping an eye out for him now. Pretty awesome. Love any Cassandra Cain art. Phil Noto proving once again he draws beautifully but struggles with women's faces

I think people are being unfairly critical. I thought Johns killed it on this episode, deadshot, china white, dark archer all on screen in one episode getting just enough screen time. Dinah was minimised (always good) & Thea not even involved (excellent). Action was good, characterisation was excellent. From Lawton's drinking to Oliver's reveal. I like they've kept deadshot in but reduced the size of the eyepiece. China White has potential.

I really like John Barrowman as Merlyn, I was really hoping it would be Tommy shot and it made things worse between Merlyn/Oliver. I hope they don't go down the opposite route, Barrowman is a better character & actor.

Bringing Alex Kingston is always good. I like that they're fleshing out Slade Wilson progressively, I was worried it would be annoying but it's actually more interesting than the previous Deathstroke, faceless/voiceless character. Deathstroke is a smart tactial warrior so makes sense to flesh him out before having him as a main enemy.

Anyway I thought this was Arrow getting back on form, the Dawson's creek crap stripped back and the action/character building working well. Let's hope the next episode is just as good....The Huntress Returns....ah shite

I am disappointed in all the viners who voted for Harper Row.

Nightwing & Spider-Man. X-23, Cassie Cain & Damian Wayne for comedy.

I've just read House Of M in full for the first time ($0.99 sale on comixology) and it's give me a richer appreciation for Bendis.

Let's just look at this for a second and think about the feat Bendis pulled off. 7 and a half years ago Bendis creates a massive crossover across Marvel Universe, repercussions felt in issues long after, the only thing comparable would have been secret wars. For secret wars the writers had to come up with a macguffin in the form of the beyonder, I'm not besmirching secret wars with that, I'm just trying to make the point that Bendis carefully constructed Wanda as a plot device where here powers naturally evolved to massive scale rather than invent a 'supreme being'. In fact she's the perfect plot point, she ties both the avengers and the x-men worlds together cohesively and the mental strain of her life it's pretty much logical in comicbook world that this could happen.

Now take a look at the story. Let's throw everything on the table, what can we do that is massive I mean seriously throw everything on the table, give everyone something that will effect them for years to come.

What's the worst thing we can do to Spider-Man? Take everything bad that ever happened to him, I mean EVERYTHING and make him forget it...then give it ALL back. I mean if that was an Osborn plan it'd be probably the worst thing he'd ever to to Peter.

Logan, what do we do with him? He's been knocking about for years, we've ran pretty much every story possible about his missing memories. Let's give them back. Seems easy right? Well not really because we're going to throw a whole other set of memories on top.

Strange, yeah let's make him fail completely. Let's do something so huge that it's going to have repercussions on him for years to come

X-Men, we should do something new with them....hmmm

I could go on but the main point I'm making is, this:

House Of M is how a crossover should be done, it should be huge, it should have massive repercussions on every single person involved. Not small two-issue "oh woe is me" I mean like serious storyline makers that will last months/years to come.

House of M, might not be perfect but it is a massive feat and probably the most impressive crossover when you consider the scope, lasting effects, cohesiveness of the story. This in turn leads to the criticism of not so much Bendis but Marvel in general. Name another storyline since that hits the same notes.

@time:

I agree, I do also think that every writer has their own strength weaknessess.

I like Aaron's writing but only for short spurts of a story, there's no long term payoff or character build

Fraction had a mediocre run on x-men but has done well on Hawkeye and Iron Man. He's good with certain characters, especially solo books.

Kieron Gillen is highly rated but I've not read enough of his work, only the x-men middling stuff he did with fraction. Unfair of me to judge

Bendis is excellent at characters but relies on gimmicks such as deaths and big reveals(bringing xmen back from the past).

I could go on but I do think people look at the writer and make snap judgments. I think Bendis has potential to do good on this book, we'll have to see