Powers Are All in the Family in “The Vision #1”

Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, has been quoted saying that he deems movies dealing with robots and artificial intelligence to be “our new Frankenstein myth” in updating the story of man and his despised, resentful creation to that of man and his conscious, existential machine. Within the Marvel Universe, perhaps no character has provided such a glimpse into this kind of tumultuous psyche as the Vision, the Avengers’ resident android.

As one of the breakout characters in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Vision has since seen a resurgence in his popularity in Marvel comics, where his unique psychology and outlook have been continuously explored and analyzed. The ultimate result has been Marvel’s most recent series debut, Vision #1, a superhero tale that reads with the literary depth of an Isaac Asimov or Harlan Ellison tale, and that is nothing short of a brilliant and fascinating book.

The story details the Vision’s attempt to live a normal human life, having created a wife and children for himself and settled in the suburbs with normal people. Meanwhile, the Avengers, and most of the public, don’t seem to be entirely comfortable with Vision and his new family. Vision, however, insists on living a typical human life: raising his two “children” with his “wife”, including sending them to a typical public school to be educated. Naturally, being the only robots in town, the family runs into some trouble.

The issue itself is presented like a sci-fi suburban drama as the Vision family struggles to fit in, dealing with the normal problems associated with the emblematic Frankenstein’s monster, especially dehumanization. In the beginning of the comic, the husband of a visiting couple refers to them as “toasters” behind their back. In school the son, Vin, is asked by a fellow classmate if he’s normal. Nevertheless, Vision insists his family try to blend in, even if they see the futility or absurdity of many of mankind’s attributes and behaviors. A particularly memorable conversation occurs between Vision and his wife, Virginia, debating the tired phrase, “they seemed nice”.

“‘Nice’ is in fact often used ironically,” says Virginia, “And I was not being ironic.”

“You misunderstand,” replies Vision. “It is the ironic aspect of ‘nice’ that gives the statement its meaning.”

“Then the phrase is meaningless.”

“Obviously,” says Vision, “to assert as truth that which has no meaning is the core mission of humanity.”

Great dialogue such as this is just one of the many things that makes Vision #1 so thrilling. The comic expertly blends the psychodrama of robotic beings with the typical, endless melodrama that seems to permeate suburban fiction.

In one scene, Vision wakes up in the middle of the night in a state of dread, trying to convince himself that he loves his wife, but instead thinking about the person from whom her brainwaves are taken, assumedly the Scarlet Witch, Vision’s most famous love. The scene is a parallel of a common enough moment in the grand scheme of the human drama: infidelity. The fact that Virginia’s brainwaves are literally taken from Wanda is a brilliant metaphor for a common enough occurrence among couples: the imprinting of a former love upon the new one.

Other moments of such suburban strife and ennui appear throughout the book: a moment of Vision soaring through the sky after visiting the White House shows him concerned over whether he can pay his bills now that the Avengers don’t give wages, and hoping to get a job with the government. Meanwhile, Virginia sits at home on the couch, wondering what she’ll do for work, and reliving her recorded memories.

“She was fascinated by how often she found something that made her cry,” says the narration. The script’s ability to tie such human moments to mechanical beings makes for a wonderfully realist tale, even in the famously fantastical Marvel Universe.

The robotic nature of the protagonists also provides for narration that is both detached and nonlinear, bringing to mind the nonhuman outlook of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, and making for an engaging narrative. After the aforementioned couple, George and Nora, leaves the Vision’s household, the narrator says: “later, near the end of our story, one of the Visions will set George and Nora’s house on fire. They will die in the flames.” The promise of such an event, with the mystery of which of the Visions will cause it, is a gripping plot point right from the comic’s start.

Perhaps the most Frankenstein moment in the whole comic, however, comes at the issue’s conclusion, when, while the Vision is away at Avengers tower, his family is attacked at home. The attacker is the Grim Reaper, brother of Simon Williams aka Wonder Man, whose brainwaves were used long ago to create The Vision. Angered by the Vision family for being what he views as fake copies of his brother, deeming them “frauds” and “not a family”, Reaper stabs the daughter, Viv, and tries to kill the others. In defense, Virginia grabs a pan and bludgeons Reaper, seemingly killing him in the process. Despite defending her family, Virginia is nevertheless horrified by what she’s done.

The narration then relates the scene back to an artifact sitting in the Visions’ household: a levitating vase made of water, given to them by the Silver Surfer.

“The floating water vases of Zenn-La are always empty,” it reads. “The mathanic sulfite that causes the water to levitate is poisonous to all known species of flowers. The mystery is then not why the vases are always empty, but why anyone would make such a vase in the first place?” The scene very much speaks to the modern day “Frankenstein Myth” Whedon mentions, in that they share similar themes: primarily, that the dehumanizing treatment of those deemed “monsters” is what turns them into monsters in the first place.

The Vision #1 proves to be a an excellent social drama and character study as well as a sci-fi tale, and one that brings a new depth to a classic Avenger. Tom King’s script is both relentlessly captivating and psychologically deep, and the artwork of Gabriel Hernandez Walta of Magneto renown provides the perfect, somber feel needed for this kind of story. The comic prevents not just a milestone for the Vision, but for Marvel Comics as well as it enters a new age.