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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With Disney+ soon to release WandaVision, one comic in a very long list of comics became priority number one: The Vision by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta.
In an attempt to live up to his desire to be more human, Vision, the synthezoid who saved the world thirty-seven times, has created the perfect android nuclear family and moved just outside of D.C. to establish a perfectly pedestrian life to complement his perfectly un-pedestrian career with The Avengers. But their world isn’t ready for the odd family, and when danger comes to their front door, all attempts at what is normal quickly collapses as the family copes with the stresses of morality.
I can easily say that I’m much more an MCU fan than a Marvel Comics fan. While I’ve enjoyed several comics that I’ve read sporadically in my childhood, I was never a comic book “reader.” Perhaps it was the fact that I didn’t have easy access to comics in the 90s. Perhaps it was because the MCU didn’t yet exist to push me down the rabbit hole. Perhaps—and this is perhaps the main reason—I hadn’t yet read a comic that truly embodied what fantastic comic book storytelling could really, truly be.
The Vision, a 12 issue, self-contained story, is the first time I’ve genuinely loved a comic.
Through the use of a framing device that speaks directly to the reader, often giving away upcoming plot points, the narrative approach to The Vision sets it apart from my previous readings. The narrator functions as a system of footnotes that adds to both the mystery and dramatic irony of the story, giving the reader morsels of information paced in perfect harmony with the dialogue or images of the story at hand.
Further, the story itself, like any good Pinocchio story, is an exploration of what it means to be human—whether or not the soul of an individual can be truly captured. And, ever deeper: how humans are capable of rationalizing and compartmentalizing their actions as a means of dealing with cognitive dissonance. Additionally, it explores themes of fate.
If you’re a sci-fi reader and MCU fan that is looking for a proper gem in the Marvel Universe to give comics a proper try, I highly recommend this as an entry point.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of the best limited series to come out of Marvel comics in years. The Vision makes a brilliant use out of its medium, history, and broader comic context, while staying true to the heart of its characters and telling a tale about humanity through the eyes of a family of robots. It is funny, thoughtful, and often gorgeous. Viv became one of my favorite characters by the end, and I've reread this book three times or so. Always a pleasure, always something new to discover.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Xenophobia
I waited to pick up this collected edition because it looked gorgeous, and it is. I get why everyone makes a fuss about this story and Tom King the writer. It’s clinically, almost robotically, precise. Well crafted and true to the history of the character, the story embraces Frankenstein and every subsequent iteration that has posed questions about the nature of humanity. I’ve been over this ground so many times from Data through A.I. to the Cylons and so forth so it’s hard to find something new, but it’s fabulous to look at and it’s smart and that’s probably good enough.
A Shakespearean tragedy about robots, wait, no, synthezoids who try to live a normal American suburban life. Brilliantly crafted, funny, sad, poignant, ultimately hopeful. If only all of Marvel's comics were as good as this.
(I'm logging this as the single entry though I read it through the two trades.)
Superheroic robot Vision wants to set aside his life torn between his programming (for evil) and his desire to do good - and instead settle down with a family. He crafts one himself, a perfect nuclear family with a wife, a boy and a girl, and eventually a dog. After a little bit where it seems they may actually be able to work things out, the Visions' life slides into an inevitable, almost Shakespearean tragedy (an influence the work wears on its sleeve).
Tom King as the writer uses this setup to explore a variety of hoity toity topics: the existence of God (and whether it matters even as you pray), pre-determination (Vision is programmed, after all), discrimination (Shylock is a constant reference), ethics (and what happens when a machine can't figure them out), and more. Listing them out like that, it sounds like a work primed to be extremely obnoxious, but the style here makes it work. King writes in a decompressed way, with narration and dialogue appropriately repetitive and robotic. The emphasis always feel like character rather than pointless navel-gazing. Rounding out the book's literary aspirations are four gifts from fellow supers that take on the role of major symbols: a lighter from Cap that hasn't stopped working since the war, a vibranium piano from Wakanda, a vase made from deadly water that can never hold a liquid gifted by the Surfer, and a plant that sees the future if consumed after a murder from Scarlet Witch. The book never makes the overall meaning or purpose of some of these explicit, but they are so omnipresent - yet generally unremarked upon - that you can't help but mull them over as you read.
The book is at its best when doing its philosophizing, and a bit weaker when Vision is pitted against forces outside of his DC suburb such as the Avengers. All that stuff is just a bit too plotty and canon-bogged to be that enjoyable, but it's thankfully brief. The art here isn't doing anything revolutionary, but does have incredible emotions on the character's faces. The colorist also generally doesn't reinvent the wheel, but flashbacks and flash-forwards really pop in their inventive choices. Overall, Vision represents the highest tier of comic books.
Superheroic robot Vision wants to set aside his life torn between his programming (for evil) and his desire to do good - and instead settle down with a family. He crafts one himself, a perfect nuclear family with a wife, a boy and a girl, and eventually a dog. After a little bit where it seems they may actually be able to work things out, the Visions' life slides into an inevitable, almost Shakespearean tragedy (an influence the work wears on its sleeve).
Tom King as the writer uses this setup to explore a variety of hoity toity topics: the existence of God (and whether it matters even as you pray), pre-determination (Vision is programmed, after all), discrimination (Shylock is a constant reference), ethics (and what happens when a machine can't figure them out), and more. Listing them out like that, it sounds like a work primed to be extremely obnoxious, but the style here makes it work. King writes in a decompressed way, with narration and dialogue appropriately repetitive and robotic. The emphasis always feel like character rather than pointless navel-gazing. Rounding out the book's literary aspirations are four gifts from fellow supers that take on the role of major symbols: a lighter from Cap that hasn't stopped working since the war, a vibranium piano from Wakanda, a vase made from deadly water that can never hold a liquid gifted by the Surfer, and a plant that sees the future if consumed after a murder from Scarlet Witch. The book never makes the overall meaning or purpose of some of these explicit, but they are so omnipresent - yet generally unremarked upon - that you can't help but mull them over as you read.
The book is at its best when doing its philosophizing, and a bit weaker when Vision is pitted against forces outside of his DC suburb such as the Avengers. All that stuff is just a bit too plotty and canon-bogged to be that enjoyable, but it's thankfully brief. The art here isn't doing anything revolutionary, but does have incredible emotions on the character's faces. The colorist also generally doesn't reinvent the wheel, but flashbacks and flash-forwards really pop in their inventive choices. Overall, Vision represents the highest tier of comic books.
A mind-bending exploration of identity, causality, and parenthood. It's a gripping read and contains a ton of process material if you're curious about how these things get made.
OMFG. That was brutal. Chilling. Exquisite. Beautifully orchestrated, paced, executed. And I dare not say anything else, other than: find it, read it.