For comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, the 21st century has been an ongoing education. The writer who first broke big at the turn of the millennium at both Marvel Comics (with his marquee series Daredevil, Alias, and New Avengers, not to mention co-creating the 21st century Spider-Man, Miles Morales) and Dark Horse (where his creator-owned series Powers blended capes with crime fiction) became virtually synonymous with superhero comics over the following decades.

All these years later, 2026 finds Bendis playing multiple roles: Announcing a much-heralded return to Marvel, including reuniting with Miles Morales co-creator Sara Pichelli on the Spider-Man/Superman crossover book coming out in March; relaunching his seminal crime comic Powers with co-creator Michael Avon Oeming; announcing TV deals to adapt both Powers and his creator-owned series Torso; teaching courses on the craft of comic writing at Portland State University; and reviving the online community of Jinxworld.com to cultivate the next generation of aspiring comic writers.

PW sat down with Bendis to talk about where he’s been, and where he’s heading now.

Twenty-five years ago was a big year for you. You launched Powers at Image, you started Ultimate Spider-Man at Marvel. And now this past year, you started a new volume of Powers, and you announced that you were coming back to Marvel. Has this been a year of deliberately looking back at your past?

You know, 2026 will be my 35th year as a published comic book person. Every comic book feels like I have to figure it out for the first time. It's the same impulses that I had when I was making my first comics. I just got back from a trip to Italy. It was beyond anything anyone could ever want as an author, and it humbled me dearly. And I'm glad I got to go home and make some comics and think about that. I think about what I could do with the space I've been given. Now I spend a lot of time thinking, "All right, childhood dreams fulfilled. What are the adult dreams?"

You’re coming back to Marvel Comics after a decade away. Does it feel gratifying to be a kind of emeritus figure there?

[Marvel editor-in-chief]

C.B. [Cebulski] called with exactly the call you would hope for. "Hey, we were thinking of something and we thought, ‘I wish Brian was here.’“ Ever since then, it's been lovely.

I had the oversized [experience] of walking into Marvel [when the company was] in bankruptcy, and just standing there while they rebuilt themselves into what they are now, which is a crown jewel of pop culture. The opportunities were everywhere, and I'd have been a fool not to try everything. I'm glad I did, but it became all-consuming.

Can you describe what the relationship is between you and Dark Horse when it comes to media adaptations?

It's case by case. Torso just got bought by Netflix, and [Dark Horse] didn't have anything to do with it. A couple of other projects happened when someone called Dark Horse, or Dark Horse was in a meeting where it became clear that what [the production company was] looking for was Powers [for example]. Some publishers that lock you in: you think it's creator-owned, but it’s just a belief. If you can't pick up your [books] and leave, it's not a creator-owned partnership. I've always held to the belief that if you can't fold up the portfolio and walk out, then you don't own it.

How closely do you tend to be involved with the adaptations of your comics?

I get very Zen about all of it. If there's something I'm dying to do, then it's me that's going to do it or I'm not selling it. But there's other times like Torso where I don't need to be involved—I would just like to experience what's happening.

You started teaching classes at Portland State, and then you created a revived Jinxworld through your own website. Community is clearly something that you're focusing on.

David Walker and I have this class at Portland State University [a writing course for comics and graphic novels] where we literally drag in every one of our friends, and everyone shares their knowledge. It does feel like part of the journey involves education. It brings me an enormous amount of joy.

Is there anything you're doing now that still feels like it can surprise you?

All of it, including even coming back to the books I'm working on at Marvel. You're constantly evolving, the media's constantly evolving, your messages are constantly evolving.

What you want is to tell a story that makes someone else feel better for 10 minutes of their life. I was in Italy a couple weeks ago, holding people while they were crying about what these stories mean to them, and knowing that that's what stories mean to me. Other people's stories mean that much to me. This is what it's about.