TITLE: The Vision #5
AUTHOR: Tom King
PENCILLER: Gabriel Hernandez Walta. Cover by Marco D’Alfonso.
PUBLISHER: Marvel
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: March 9, 2016

***Need to catch up? Head back to the beginning with The Vision #1. 

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

I was bummed to hear Tom King signed an exclusive deal with DC. Yes, he’ll be staying on through issue #12, and allegedly finishing the story he began. And I suppose there’s something to be said for not overstaying your welcome. But The Vision is arguably the best book being put out between Marvel and DC right now.

The Vision’s “normal” status quo with his robotic wife Virginia, and robotic children Vin and Viv, is on the verge of coming apart. Chris Kinzky, a classmate of Vin and Viv, is dead, accidentally shot during a confrontation between his father and Virginia.  Now Vision has is being questioned as part of the investigation. The children are also starting to ask questions, and Virginia may be unraveling…

There’s an interesting parallel in this issue between the Vision and politicians/celebrities who’ve had a public fall from grace. Earlier in the series, Vision had a line about saving the world 37 times. There’s a great sequence in this issue where he recounts each one of them, knowing that no matter how many times he’s saved the Earth, being associated with this murder would still leave him irredeemable. I read that, and I immediately thought of people like Richard Nixon, John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, etc. Granted none of them saved the world, but they were all public servants who fell from grace. So in that sense, King provides us with a bit of insight into modern society.

Not many superhero comics start off quoting Shakespeare. But King does it here with a passage from The Merchant of Venice. It’s Shylock’s famous “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” speech about Jewish people. It’s…a choice. It’s a bit of an uncomfortable one at first, but I suppose that’s part of what he’s going for. And it works, so it’s fair enough.

King and Walta up the creep factor in the scene where the police detective approaches the house (below). Vision, in a suit no less, simply phases through the door, having seen his visitor approaching. Moments later, Virginia pokes her upper body through the door to check on them. It’s something so simple, but it’s a striking reminder that this family is so very different from the humans they interact with.

Also, the way Vision simply refers to Virginia as “wife” is unsettling. Gents, don’t try that at home.

On that subject, one question remains unanswered in all of this. Early in the series it was established that Vision used someone’s brainwaves to create Virginia. Whose brainwaves did he use? Interestingly enough, King addresses this in this issue’s letters column, responding into someone hoping it would be Vision’s former love interest Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a the Scarlet Witch. In King’s own words: “…Wanda’s relationship with Vision has haunted this whole series so far. To me, she’s as big a character in this as anyone in the family…” Very interesting…

The wheels continue gradually come off Vision’s attempt at a normal family life. Guilt continues to peck away at Virginia’s cybernetic psyche, and the teens are being hit with a variety of emotions. And as the cover for next issue has their house ablaze, I’d say things are going to get worse before they get better.

Images from author’s collection.

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