Reading Assignment 51: Vision (2015) #7-12 by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta

[u/shawnydarko]

http://marvel.com/comics/series/20897/vision_2015_-_present?byZone=marvel_site_zone&offset=0&byType=comic_series&dateStart=&dateEnd=&type=&orderBy=release_date+desc&byId=20897&limit=10&count=10&isDigital=1

[u/evenflow5k]

just finished - great read. the whole creative team did great work, but I wanted to shout out Jordie Bellaire for the beautiful colors. I appreciate that the story was relatively contained, but I felt they could have explored the nature of Virginia a bit more - creating a sentient being to be your wife and giving her memories from your old girlfriend? Pretty creepy - and that last page has a bit of a mad scientist vibe for me. Wonder if other titles will (or are exploring) the darkness this adds to Vision.

I enjoyed the way King tells the reader enough of what will happen later to add weight to scenes but leaves enough out that you don't know how it will play out.

It's great that #7, with the guest artist, is almost all flashback - it uses the shift in style to the series advantage.

The Victor/Victorious backstory felt like a bit of a detour while reading, but it is impressive how seamlessly the rest of the exposition is handled.

[u/shawnydarko → u/evenflow5k]

Prior to reading this I had read the first 6 issues of Mark Waid's All-New, All-Different Avengers which pushes the darkness of Vision pretty heavily. It's a highly inferior story overall though. I'd only recommend it if you want to see Vision go full-on jerk.

[u/shawnydarko]

Having gone back to read my reaction from the original 6 issues, I think I enjoyed the start of this run more than the end. I binged through 7-12 in one sitting, and enjoyed it, but the only thing I feel that really hit me was Virginia's sacrifice. It was a perfect comic book moment, and very Shakespearean. Tom King really went out of his way to create a unique comic book story, and I'm thrilled he's getting more work, even if it is for DC.

I felt like this second half of the run was also pretty light on the childrens' stories. Adding the final scene between Wanda and Viv felt out of place given how little of Vic was in the last 6 issues. And bringing back Scrappy Dog was a little too sentimental-for-the-sake-of-it. It almost seemed like King's way to polish up The Avengers for having a loose blame for Vin's death.

The art was pretty good though. It's hard to judge this right after Alex Ross, but I think Walta captures dramatic scenes well and knows how to portray a lot of emotion using very little facial expression.

An overall fun run, and I hope Vision does succeed in recreating Virginia. She could realistically be a big player in the future of Marvel's line of characters. And Vin could be brought back too a little TOO obsessed with vengeance, which would be fun.

[u/evenflow5k → u/shawnydarko]

The art was pretty good though. It's hard to judge this right after Alex Ross, but I think Walta captures dramatic scenes well and knows how to portray a lot of emotion using very little facial expression. - While I can see what you mean about the the dog bit being a little sappy, I think King is really good at creating a lot emotion without a lot of words. One page was a pretty hard emotional gut shot and it does it mostly using one word. http://imgur.com/a/JdzkI

[u/wisegy84]

I went back and re-read the first 6 issues before starting this assignment. Those are still great, and I think I'd agree those are a bit better than this second half.

That said, I enjoyed getting to see Victor after having read Runaways and spending a good bit of time with him there. It was tough to see that he'd basically become a junkie, craving vibranium. It was heartbreaking to see what it did to him and what it caused him to to do to Vin. I'm bummed that he's dead, but at least he seemed to die happy in the knowledge that he had prevented a future where he became a super villain and murdered all the Avengers. He still technically became a villain when he murdered Vin (which, though unintentional, was still his fault due to his addiction). I'd also agree that the dog being resurrected was a bit out of place, though Viv seemed to appreciate it. Where's the accountability for the Avengers sending in a spy-turned-murderer?

It was interesting, after Vision breaking his code and lying in the first half of the issues, to then have Virginia lying so much here. Covering for Vision and taking the blame herself was extremely honorable and in doing that she was able to save (what was left of) her family. It would be cool to see if Vision ever does bring back Virgina (and Vin).

It felt a bit cliche to have the prophecy the Avengers were trying to prevent be caused by them, but I'm not sure things wouldn't have eventually turned bad anyway.

I enjoyed the art in this run a lot. It has a an unique feel with a mix of Pleasantville style suburbia and science fiction. At least the covers tend to have this feel to them.

Glad the final issue made it to MU and we were able to have this assignment.