Bendis Legion at the Bechdel Test

I went through 16 issues for Bendis which includes his entire LSH run, Millennium and Future State.  

So how did Bendis do?  62.5%  

10 out of 16 issues pass the Bechdel test.  To go over a few of the results I do have to point out a few things. 

Methodology:

Bendis is a fan of multiple parties having word balloons in a panel.  Just because there are two female characters in a panel who say words, they are not actually talking to each other.  These scenes do not qualify as a pass.

However, I have decided I will try to be as broad as possible.  In scenes with multiple characters, if it was apparent that one female was talking to another, like a question asked and responded, then as long as it met the last criteria, I gave it a pass.  

Another thing to consider as I move on will be Luornu Durgo aka Triplicate Girl, aka Duo Damsel, aka Triad, aka Duplicate Girl.  Bendis liked to write a sentence spread between the three of them.  This is not a pass.  They are not even having a complete conversation.  I may asterisk these character interactions as time goes on.  Different writers had different takes on the character, and I feel some takes should be a pass of the test.  

As I started to analyze, I realize I only wanted to track whether there is a "pass".  I generally won't be noting how many passes there are per issue.  It might be an interesting metric to track but the test itself doesn't specify that.  It also stands to reason that an issue may have have two female characters talk about a man earlier in an issue, but then later, talk about something else.  I have decided that will still be a pass.  One will not negate the other.

One decision I will have to make as I continue will be to determine how I should rate a hero/villain interaction.  RJ is technically an antagonist for this series but not really a villain.  The actual villains (Mordru, Rogol Zaar, Crav Nah) are all male.  As we go back, we will have many more female villains, so the question will be whether to count banter in a battle as an actual interaction.  I'm inclined to say no but would be willing to hear any thoughts on it.  

Breakdown:

Millennium

1 - P

2 - F While there is a lot of internal dialog for Rose, she doesn't speak to another female the entire issue.  In fact, she is the only female in the issue.

Main Title

1 - F

2- P Twice

3 - P

4 - P

5 - P

6 - F

7 - F

8 - P Twice

9 - P

10 - P I am giving a broad pass between Imra and Sevenbergen

11 - P

12 - P

Future State 

1 - P  This is a broad pass.  Imra addresses Tasmia when she asks if she is going to kill Ultra Boy.  While they are technically discussing a man, it is not in any romantic sense.  I decided to pass it.

2 - F  I give this a fail.  Duo Damsel's conversation, while it gives some insight to the loss of their "sister" is not really two characters talking to each other.  They are responding in tandem.  

I will note that one thing that helped Bendis pass the test was the gender swap on RJ Brande.  Issues 2 and 8 both had an RJ interaction that would not have made a different technically, but issue 5 would have been a fail if RJ was male.  

I know I was critical of Bendis early on for the optics of having a male dominant team.  I think I originally counted it was less that 40% of the team was female.  He did focus a good bit on females like Triplicate Girl, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lass, RJ, Rose with some others receiving some dialog.  Will other writers fare better or worse?  That is an interesting question.  I think I do Volume 7 next and give that series a go.  That series had a nearly 50% female to male membership of Legionnaires.  Will it rank higher or lower than Bendis?