The Vision

So, a funny anecdote before I begin. When I turned 34, my brother bought me two graphic novels; Power Man and Iron Fist Volume 1 and the Vision Volume 2. I never quite understood why someone would buy a second volume before a first, but my brother did.

I still love him for getting me comics for my birthday though!!!

(From here on in there might be spoilers. Sorry.)

The Vision is something I've been meaning to write about for a good long time. After picking up (the latter) half of the series in 2017, I didn't get around to reading this series until late 2018 (at least six months after getting volume 1) as I was currently taking a break from writing/blogging.

The Vision Vol. 1 & 2

Well, I'm back here now and having gone great guns in the last couple of months and with only a couple of bus reading weeks left (baby no.2 is a week away as I write this, meaning the bike will return afterwards), I figured it would be good to re-read this series and see if it gave me just as many thoughts as the initial read through did.

Guess what? It did!!!

So, to the two people who haven't read it (in fairness, I'm probably being generous as I'm sure I was the last person to actually read this series in the world), The Vision follows the eponymous Avenger of the same name, as he goes to the next stage at becoming more human; by building himself a wife and twin teenage children (as I write this, all I can think of is Red Dwarf and Lister building a robot Marilyn Monroe for Kryten's 'farewell' party). Now, the Vision, his wife Virginia and children Viv and Vin have moved into a normal house in a normal neighbourhood in order to pursue a normal life. However, normal does not appear to be part of their programming as events conspire against them, forcing each of them to be more human than they may have imagined they could be.

I deliberately kept the events of the story from my little 'synopsis' there, but I gave it some gravitas to make my point which is that this series by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta is incredible, amazing, outstanding and poignant.

While it did take some time for me to get there (the majority of the first issue felt pretty standard to me), once the series really got going, I was absolutely captivated by the characters and their story. A lot of things about what King tried to say and do really spoke to me as I read through these books and found, maybe as a result of our similar status' as husbands/fathers, that I really connected to and embrace the Vision's plight throughout.

The Vision reminds me of an episode of Star Trek Voyager, where the Doctor (played by Robert Picardo) created a holographic 'perfect' family to enhance his bedside manner. However, when it is pointed out that they are too perfect and not real, changes are made which sees a more realistic outlook of family life, but also a more painful one.

I think the same thing occurred here. Almost from the get go, while the family seems eerily 'perfect', the cracks begin to show with the very first tragedy as each character seems to struggle with the part that they are playing, maybe similar to how method actors perform their roles (i.e. getting fully invested).

I think this is best exemplified by Virginia, who takes to her wife/mother roles far too well and beyond maybe what she was programmed to be. Her struggle, best shown in her 'stammer' which appears quite early on, makes me think of Westworld (which I've recently watched) and how the characters struggle with their speech as they go beyond their programming.

In truth, watching Virginia in this book is immensely intriguing for I think she has an incredible arc of trying to reconcile who and what she is. Of course, that doesn't mean the other characters are any less compelling to me as Viv's compassion for her friend and Vin's obsession with Shakespeare as the series progress implies their ever growing empathy and need for justice from their initial 'blank slate' which (in my opinion) is just as interesting as watching any 'real' child grow.

However, for me, it was always the Vision that kept me reading as his arc felt so resonant to me personally. Pretty much throughout this story, his actions not only make sense to me but could (quite possibly be) be the exact actions I might make in his situation. Some of these are:

• When he thinks 'He must love her', which really made me think his marriage was a analogy for an arranged marriage.
• When he say 'press that button and I will kill you' to Tony Stark in response as they try and save his daughter makes perfect sense. What parent won't go all the way for their children. This is the same again during the finale
• His reminiscing of his son later on and how, at the time, he was 'too busy'. I know I'm guilty of this on occasion and this was a scene which made me think.
• Lying for his wife because, when your backs against the wall, who wouldn't for the person they love?

I could probably go on and on, but I'm running out of lunch and still have some other stuff I want to talk about.

This other stuff regards the Avengers and their 'impact' in the ongoing narrative. As I continued to read through this, all I could think about was how antagonistic and just plain wrong Earth's Mightiest Heroes were when it came to their place in the making of this story.

While I understand that they came from a place of concern, I found it odd that they had so little trust in their teammate the Vision that they had to plant a spy on him (by the way, I'm sure Victor was meant to be a drug addict based on his flashback scene). This action led to three deaths when Victor panicked and no one seemed to be held accountable apart from the 'innocent' (and I do use that term loosely given earlier actions) Visions, who seemed to be unjustly imprisoned. From this, not only could I completely get the Vision's logic for his final actions, but I also wonder if the Marvel trinity were ever arrested as accomplices to murder/manslaughter?

I'm running out of time now so I'm going to try and end here. All in all, the Vision was a truly groundbreaking series, deserving of all the praise I heard it getting. This was an evolution to the Fraction/Aja Hawkeye series as it focused on a real life aspect of a hero and not his 'heroics'.

I must confess that I'm now incredibly despondent with the revelation that Chelsea Cain's sequel series was cancelled because King's original having ended the way it did offered so much rich story to continue with. A grieving widower, a single parent, a hero betrayed by his friends, a man trying to move on with his life, a robot attempting to conquer the most painful aspects of humanity. There were maybe more, but these alone would have gotten my money for without a second's hesitation.

However, it's not going to happen and, as sad as it is, that's ok. I really loved reading the Vision, both the first time and the second. Regardless of where the characters/series goes, it was one hell of a terrific read.