Vision: The Complete Collection

Marvel Comics
Vision: The Complete Collection
By Hervé St-Louis
March 4, 2021 - 22:56

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Tom King
Artist(s): Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Michael Walsh
Colourist(s): Jortdie bellaire
Letterer(s): Clayton Cowles
Cover Artist(s): Mike del Mundo, Marco D'Alfonso
ISBN: 978-1-302-92055-5
$29.99 USD, $38.99 CAD

The synthezoid Avenger known as the Vision has a new assignment In Washington D.C. to inform the president of the United States on meta-human affairs. Thus, the Vision creates for himself a whole new family. For his wife, he uses the brain wave patterns given to him by his ex-wife, Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Avengers’ Scarlet Witch. Melding their mind together, they create a boy and girl that go to school while the family settles in the suburbs with a new synthezoid dog. What else can go wrong?

The Vision is Tom King’s breakthrough series that elevated him to super star status in the world of comics. King expertly melds all the Vision’s history, including his bouts with Ultron, his first wife, Wanda Maximoff, his friends in the Avengers as well as the continuing perceptions that others have about his inhumanity and machine-like origins. The premise of the story is that every time the Vision or his family do something, there is an unforeseen consequence and problem that occurs that creates a situation where one of them (usually the Vision or his wife) must fix the something which creates even more chaos. By the time the series’ end, there are a multitude of situations that have degenerated and that are causing more issues for the protagonists.

King is not an action writer. He is very cerebral and even the fights that we see are less sequenced and choreographed than they are plot points meant to advance his story. Through these plot points, he advanced a lot of backstory on the characters and develop their psyche in detail. Thus, reading this series is like witnessing a series of premises falling like dominoes and anticipating the chaos that ensues.

Hence, by the time the Vision is faced with his many errors, he is about to enter into a conflict with his Avengers’ colleagues and unleash unmitigated hurt on them. All of this is framed with the apparent need to “keep up appearances” and appear normal and human even as the synthezoid is one of the most powerful Avengers and nothing about him is normal.

Doing this, King plays on the classic themes used as the basis of the character about transgressing norms and rules just one more to see how much the Vision and his family can pass for normal. This creates a feeling of absurdity and dark humour which will enchant readers. This type of writing is often used in television series like Desperate Housewives, where you can see the protagonists racing to catch up with their errors until it is too late, and all unravels.

King, like Alan Moore and other good writers like Neil Gaiman does extensive research to back up the events unfolding in The Vision, making long time reader feel the legitimacy of the story. Even if some of that confusing history passes you by or seem new to you (in my case Victor Mancha, Vision’s “brother”).

Artist Gabriel Hernandez Walta serves as the main illustrator while Michael Walsh draws a flashback issue detailing the Vision’s history and his relationship with the Scarlet Witch. The artwork by Walta works because Vision and his family easily seem like they are floating and unaffected by gravity. Because he is the main artist for the entire series, it reinforces the message and look of the series. He understands the characters and even though they are synthezoids, they have emotions.

While I enjoyed the comic, I felt a bit underwhelmed from all the hype that accompanied it when it was first released as a monthly maxiseries. Still, I heartily recommend this comic, especially for new readers who need to find out more material related to the WandaVision streaming series on Disney +.

P.S. synthezoids are not androids nor robots. They mimic biological animal life with artificial parts and processes. I’ve always enjoyed the term synthezoid which was used to describe Vision and other beings like him.

Rating: 9.5/10