Monthly (Comic) Book Club - August - Vision: Little Worse Than A Man19842
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Monthly (Comic) Book Club - August - Vision: Little Worse Than A Man  Vision (2016) #1 to #6 Week 1 (8/7-8/13): Vision #1-2 Week 2 (8/14-8/20): Vision #3-4 Week 3 (8/21-8/27): Vision #5-6 Discussion topic ideas: * Thoughts on the story or artwork * Details in the story, artwork, or presentation * References to outside events or other works of fiction * Making of/Behind the Scenes details * Editions you will be reading from * Items in your collection pertaining to this week’s selection |
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| I thought the first issue was very compelling. I will say though that I’m not super familiar with Vision’s history aside from the broad strokes, nor of the current status quo of the Marvel universe at this point. That said, unlike the Black Panther story we read previously, this story seems more self-contained and easier to start fresh. The story begins by essentially describing the Vision family’s current set up. The narration is short and to the point, almost robotic itself. The mundanity of it all feels very strange in the pages of, ostensibly, a super hero book. There’s talk of commutes, bills, weekend getaways, and the awkward obligation of meeting the neighbors. The back and forth between Nora and George creates a bit of “look who’s coming to dinner” tension with the family singled out for being different. That said, perhaps in part to the robotic rhythm of the narration, there is a great artificiality to the Vision’s home life. Like they’re all going through the motions of being a normal, happy, family. When it does feel real is when you get a glimpse at unresolved tensions that families make an effort to hide from outsiders. You first see it with Vivian’s reaction to the tree that was a gift from Scarlet Witch, who has had a relationship with Vision for the majority of their existence in the Marvel Universe. We don’t know what it is but there but Wanda is casting a big shadow on Vivian’s relationship with Vision. Things then take a sharp turn from artificial suburbia, both in the Visions being synthetic and the fake facade of happy home-life they put on that is not exclusive to them, to grim foreshadowing when we’re told one of the Visions will set their neighbors’ house on fire and their final thoughts. Now we wonder who it will be and why. The moment the neighbors leave the Visions have a brief discussion about meanings of words and language which dips into the existential purpose of the Visions. At this point it seems like the Visions’ imitation of the illogical behavior of humanity is an act of rebellion against Ultron’s logical tyranny. Afterwards, we get more looks into the Visions’ home lives. I’d say the children seem to incorporate much better into the neighborhood. They seem less focused on filling a prescribed role and so are better able to express both their domestic sides as well as their robotic abilities. In fact, when they are getting ready for school Vision’s statement that “children should remain children” elicits a response from Viv of “what else would I be” as if she sees her self as a whole being whereas from the adults you get the feeling that they are actively trying to be something else; “normal” people. Ironically, what feels most normal, again, is where things break down from the idea expectation. After the kids leave Vision and Virginia have the type of disagreement you’d expect from a marriage suffering from a lack of communication but struggling to keep up appearances. The kids’ day at school again feels far more “normal” than the adults’ lives. Even the girl asking Vin if he’s normal doesn’t feel too different from what a high schooler would experience. At that age, no one feels normal. When Vision wakes up in the middle of the night you get the feeling that this is a loveless marriage. There’s a mention of the woman Vision based Virginia’s brainwaves on. We don’t know for sure who this is but you assume it’s Wanda. If it is Wanda then what hope can Vision and Virginia’s relationship actually have when Virginia is essentially a replacement for Wanda? The Visions’ suburban life, artificial or otherwise, is shattered when the family is attacked in their home by the Grim Reaper. I’m not familiar with the character but he’s apparently Wonder Man’s brother and that he’s attacking the family because the Vision and by extension, his family, is an artificial copy of his brother. Virginia is able to subdue and possibly kill him in a very non-super hero manner. The issue ends with the book linking the idea of the alien vase, an object created that cannot fulfill its ostensible purpose, with Vision and his family. Is the family as empty and as unable to fulfill its purpose as the vase? |
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| Issue #2 felt like it went by a lot faster. Maybe because it was less exposition heavy? The family is still reeling from the Grim Reaper’s attack. Virginia recounts the incident but her retelling does not match what we saw at the end of the previous issue. Viv is still severely damaged and Vin is having trouble coping with it at school. Again, I think his response could reasonably considered normal, though maybe he would’ve had more trouble with the bully. The principal’s feelings towards the Visions echoes some of the anti-mutant messaging you’d see in the X books; essentially calling the kids loaded guns. Virginia makes a very maternal response and defends her kids and Vision’s support seems to address some of the emotional void that’s been apparent in their marriage. At the end with of the meeting with the principal you get another hint of bad things to come. Off the back of the small victory over the principal, Virginia finds more reason to feel happy when Viv’s diagnostic suggests that she can be fully repaired. Vision goes off to his lab and Virginia receives a package in the mail. It is a phone with a video showing her burying Grim Reaper’s dead body…then a call from an unknown caller comes in. Who took the video and what do they want with Virginia and the Visions? I do wonder why Virginia felt the need to hide Grim Reaper’s death. I guess Vision is a superhero so having someone so close to him, that he created, killing someone, even justifiably so, would not reflect well on him but it is hard not to see it as a case of self-defense. Grim Reaper clearly wanted to destroy the family and almost succeeded with Viv. Regardless, the story that is developing seems less interested in the superhero side of things but more on the dark side of suburbia. The person on the phone could be a comic book villain or it could be a nosy neighbor. We’ll have to wait and see |
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 If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| I wanted to place the series in time a little so I read Vision's wikipedia page up to the series start. It mostly just told me that I am not a heavy Avengers reader. Vision has been destroyed and rebuilt a few times, and on top of that had his emotions turned on and off and switched brainwaves a few times. This particular series, at least by my read of the wikipedia article, doesn't come after any super-important story or plot point. | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| The story starts fairly matter-of-factly, kind of as if being narrated by a robot. It describes the people who live in the Vision's neighborhood, and introduces us to the Visions via a visit from their neighbors George and Nora. But it then tells us that this story will be a tragedy, as one of the Visions will set their house on fire and George and Nora will die. Virginia is also sad about things in her memory (I'm not sure if we know where it comes from), and Viv and Vin are maybe too ready to tussle, since they break furniture when they fight. It's fun (? interesting?) that Viv and Vin are basically kids. They show off and have silly contests with each other, which allows their mom to say mom things like "you'll be up all night charging". Even still, all the people around them (including the president) are various amounts of curious and nervous being around robot-people. Viv and Vin having a discussion about if Vin is 'normal' while they fly might serve as an example of why. Vision leaves to run tests on himself because of a potential flaw he sees in Virginia, and while he's out the Grim Reaper launches a pretty vicious attack on the rest of the family. He's upset that the Vision, who he considers to be a fake copy of his brother Wonder Man, is making more fake copies. Virginia kills the Reaper in self-defense but seemingly somewhat accidentally. The issue ends with a metaphor, going back to the Zenn-La vase that Vision has. It's a vase but made from a material poisonous to flowers, so they are always empty. Thus the question, why make a vase out of that? Maybe this will relate to the issue of where Virginia, Viv, and Vin come from; perhaps the Vision made them from a material that was doomed to go wrong. But since I'm already behind on the reading I'm not going to think too hard right now. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Issue 2 starts on the repercussions of the Reaper's attack. Virginia decided to lie to Vision and not tell him the Reaper died. Instead she makes up a story about the attack, ending with the Reaper running away. Viv is in rough shape, and Vin is having trouble at school without his sister. After he attacks a fellow student, Vision and Virginia have to talk to the principal. It's vaguely reminiscent of the superhero Civil War discussion, in that Viv and Vin are essentially walking weapons and the principal is not happy with them being in the school. The largely unmentioned counterargument is that they are people, not tools. But when the people are (look like?) robots, there's an extra layer of skepticism. We get another narration of impending doom when it says the principal might have saved the world if he didn't back down in the end. This issue's cliffhanger is that somewhat recorded Virginia burying the Reaper. The question is what will the blackmail be, and what will Virginia do about it? |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| I haven't mentioned the art so far, but the cover for #3 is morbidly funny. I like it. In general, I like the art fine. It isn't flashy but it's also a little off house style, especially in the coloring. I think it makes the art look a little closer to the pencil work, especially with the extra lines on the Visions' bodies. Having read @dielinfinite's summaries, I think this issue starts with a good example of being more about the suburbs than supervillains. A couple of kids come to graffiti the Visions' house and the narration makes it clear that they act nice but are otherwise happy little racists. Virginia is still probably overreacting when she phases through the garage to knock one out though. Maybe? The issue combines two stories. One is Vision repairing Viv with Iron Man's help. It shows Vision's connection to his daughter, as he is willing to take on a lot of pain and threaten Iron Man to bring his daughter back. The other story takes place at an unclear time and has Agatha Harkness killing her familiar to see the future with an Everbloom flower. She seems focused on what will happen to Vision. The issue ends with Virginia putting the moves on Vision, which can only ever remind me of Data from Star Trek. But it also emphasizes how much more human Virginia seems than Vision. Much more emotional and passionate. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Issue 4 starts with a funny Charlie Brown reversal. Instead of trying to kick the football and having it pulled away, Vin runs up to kick the ball but then phases through it so it seems like he's going to kick Viv. The kids are certainly childish. Viv and Vin return to school, where they are stared at. Vin thinks that everyone hates them, but Vision told him that they don't actually know them and they just have to let people get to know them. That seems verified by CK, the kid that Vin choked out to get his suspension. He seemed pretty upset then and said rude stuff to Vin, but talking with Viv it seems more like he has a crush. Or maybe, since we get another narration mention of impending doom, it's humans acting like they change when they actually don't. Virginia goes to meet with the blackmailer, who turns out to be CK's dad. In a scene you can see coming, he tries to shoot Virginia but instead shoots his son when she phases. He wanted the Visions to leave, but then he threatens to get everyone together to kill them, so Virginia kills (?) him. Things are escalating quite a bit. |
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| Issue 3 feels a lot slower and more meditative. No huge shifts in the story, which did surprise me. We didn’t see a follow-up to the blackmail call yet nor nothing really pointing us toward the looming doom. We did learn that SHIELD has searched for the Grim Reaper, following up on Virginia’s story that he fled, and couldn’t find him literally anywhere. I guess their search was limited to living people? Viv is back, though I’m not sure how that changes the trajectory of the story. I’m guessing we might see her alone at school while her brother is still suspended? I gotta admit, Virginia using her phasing powers to get undressed was…novel The ending with Agatha seeing the future and quoting the opening line of narration from issue 1 is starting to recontextualize the book but I still don’t see enough of the picture to understand how. I’m guessing this means she has been the narrator this whole time so she knows Virginia killed the Grim Reaper and that she lied about. She also knows that the Visions will bring disaster I agree that the covers thus far have been great. I really loved Mike Del Mundo’s work on the 2014 Elektra series where he handled covers and interior art. These have been very different than his Elektra covers which have a more evocative action/espionage movie poster feel to them, appropriate for the book. Here they’ve felt like more darkly humorous Mid-century suburban advertisements. Again, very appropriate for the book |
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| Issue 4 starts of seeming like things are turning back to normal for the Visions. Viv is back and she’s playing with her brother the way siblings do. And Vision is home playing with his kids. I’m assuming the old school mascot was a reference to the Washington Redskins. Though this was released a few years before they changed their name the controversy surrounding it had been brewing for some time before. Vision’s comment about people changing but not changing pretty much summarizes a lot of what the family and Virginia in particular are dealing with. You expect people to know better and be better but put something different in front of them and they behave the same way they always have. We get to see a bit of Viv being back and school and you feel happy that she had a positive experience that she would remember to herself for the rest of her (ominously short) life. The confrontation with CK’s dad is quite tense and while you know what’s gonna happen once CK wakes up it’s still rather shocking to see a teenager shot in the head in a Marvel comic. The narration also keeps Viv’s walk to class in mind as CK died so while CK’s death is sad you’re really thinking about Viv and how she’s going to respond. I don’t think Viv killed CK’s dad as the book so far has made it very clear when someone’s dead, but I think that only makes things more complicated. CK knows Viv killed Grim Reaper and wants their whole family out of the neighborhood. He also accidentally killed CK, which he blames on Virginia. Meanwhile Viv was building an attachment to CK. How will she respond to his death? Who will she blame? Virginia’s happy, normal family feels like it is hanging by a string. One thing I really like about this story is that it is very easy to imagine this story, minus the superheroics and it would still be tense and engaging. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| #5 shows that Chris' father indeed didn't die, but is in bad shape in the hospital. The police are investigating Chris' death and talk to Vision. Virginia is not taking things well. Vin is struggling with what he is. Viv is struggling with Chris' death. And Vision responds by making a small lie to the police, that his whole family was home when he was home that night. The issue intersperses the 37 times that Vision explicitly counts himself as having saved the world, and says they do not make up for his lie. Quite a thing to say! With the interspersed panels, this issue was a quick read. But King is doing a good job of reminding us of the tragedy of the story. We've been told that Viv will die, but at this point it would be a surprise to me if anyone besides Vision makes it. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| #6 is where the wheels come completely off. The neighbor's dog finds Reaper's body and electrocutes himself, bringing everything to Vision's attention. We don't see what happens immediately afterward, but the house is destroyed when the neighbor comes to ask if they've seen the dog. Vision takes out the dog's brain (did Vision kill the dog? it was in rough shape but not clearly dead the last we saw it) and turns it into a pet for the family. The narration throughout the issue is revealed at the end to be Agatha Harkness warning the Avengers that Vision has given up on thinking he can calculate how to keep his family together, and is instead just trying anything that will work, up to and including killing them all and destroying the Earth. For anyone else interested in what the heck the narration meant about P versus NP problems, here's the wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_versus_NP_problem |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| It's a quiet Wednesday so let's finish up this tragedy. Issue 7 recaps the Vision and Scarlet Witch's relationship. It's a little startling at the beginning, seeing Vision look happy and show such emotion. They have a very passionate relationship, which makes her joke about him being a toaster seem endearing. But it becomes much meaner when things fall apart over their children. And, as we suspected, Virginia's brain patterns are based on Wanda. The story comes full cycle when Vision tells Virginia the same joke he told Wanda, but it lands differently when it's two synthezoids talking to each other. There's a different artist this issue but I think it works ok. The issue is nearly entirely flashback, which is a common place for a different artist to come in. It feels like it fits in with the other issues though. |
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| And now I went to the top and saw we were supposed to wrap at 6! That feels like a cliffhanger to me so I'm going to read a bit more but will keep it to myself for a bit. | ||
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