Comments on: The Comic Book Alphabet of Cool – V

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:14:22 +0000

It seemed to me that during his period on West Coast Avengers, John Byrne was on some strange crusade to destroy everything that had been established before. He also drove the Scarlet Witch insane for the first time, setting a precedent for many later horrors.
He did create the Great Lakes Avengers, but that doesn’t make up for all the other stuff.

By: HellRazor

HellRazor — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:22:46 +0000

The Vision was never the same again after John Byrne had him dismantled in West Coast Avengers. Way to totally destroy a cool character.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:49:12 +0000

So which is the REAL original Vision… This one, or the World War II one?

Also, I’ve only just seen the obvious homage made by Whackos #45 to Avenger #57.

Mind you I don’t think I’ve ever seen a physical copy of Avengers #57, but I did own the entire run of West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast…

By: Jax

Jax — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:04:53 +0000

Just say what you really think Graeme…..

By: Graeme Burk

Graeme Burk — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:02:44 +0000

I’m sorry I can’t stop laughing. The VISION. In a comic book alphabet of COOL!?!

Are you on drugs, Brian?

The Vision is the superhero equivalent of those guys who worked at Bell Labs in the 1960s with the square crewcut, the horn-rimmed glasses and a pocket protector on an perfectly starched short sleeved white shirt with a black tie.

The Vision is the Dilbert of superheroes. Actually, that’s not fair to Dilbert because Dilbert has wry observance on his side.

The Vision is BORING. He’s duller than dishwater. He’s duller than the Red Tornado, and that’s saying something because the Red Tornado is a pale imitation of him.

I don’t care how many foil covers he got or how many creators chose him as their special teacher’s pet over the years, the Vision is not, never has been, never will be cool.

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:31:39 +0000

I had no idea that The Vision was ever meant to be a ‘power house’ character.

I always felt I missed the boat with that character – he and Scarlett Witch were already over by the time I got into comics, and he was constantly getting changed.

From the few glimpses I saw of the old one, I never could see why you would do that.
(Or play up the ‘he’s scanned from Wonder Mans’ brain pattern angle. Bit weird that Scarlett Witch never felt weird boffing WM – especially when Vision was alive).

It involved magical sperm.

Hilarious.

And it went for twelve issues?

By: dhole

dhole — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:21:08 +0000

@David:

Thanks for the quote. Knowing it’s a Biblical reference makes the caption a little bit less corny.

Just a little bit, though.

Also, looking at that 242 cover reminds me that Milgrom/Sinnot were a very respectable art team. Vision’s been blessed with some fine depictions over the years.

By: jazzbo

jazzbo — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:26:50 +0000

Thanks, Brian.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:17:06 +0000

The new Vision is made up of the armor (and sort of the personality) of Iron Lad, the guy who formed the Young Avengers. Iron Lad was really a younger version of Kang. He ended up killing Kang but then had to take his place in the timeline. He left behind his armor, which became the new Vision.

By: jazzbo

jazzbo — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:13:53 +0000

So who exactly is this new Vision? I haven’t seen an explanation in the couple of issues of Mighty Avengers I picked up.

Vision and Hawkeye are my two favorite Avengers, as well. Avengers #194 was one of my first comics, and I always loved that cover.

By: Jbird

Jbird — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:05:08 +0000

Wow. I knew there was a Mighty Avengers in 1985, but not an Ultimate Vision!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:52:34 +0000

I’ve always liked Vision’s off-white “blank slate” look.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:49:00 +0000

The Vision is a great, great character– he’s the Martian Manhunter of the Avengers. It ain’t the Avengers without him.

By: tk.

tk. — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:47:55 +0000

“One of our androids is missing!” Hilarious. How many do they have at the mansion, anyway?

The Vision is a great character, he and Hawkeye were my favorite Avengers, growing up.

By: David

David — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:12:52 +0000

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,
I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh:
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men shall dream dreams;
And on My servants and on My handmaidens,
I will pour out in those days of My Spirit;
And they shall prophesy.

Acts 2:17-18

By: dhole

dhole — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:52:24 +0000

Growing up, the core Avengers outside the big three were Vision, Scarlet Witch, Beast and Wonder Man. Vision was always the Mr. Spock of the group, which made him very cool indeed.

The issue (211) where Moondragon messes with the team and ultimately leads those four members to leave all at once was an incredibly dark time for this nine-year-old (they got replaced by Tigra (!) for cryin’ out loud!).

By the way, you have to love cheesy 70′s cover captions, don’t you?

“Your Young Men Shall Slay Visions”. What the hell does that mean? Doesn’t matter, I love it.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:04:45 +0000

“Well, yeah, that’d be great, but what would they rename the new kid? Revision?”

Considering the team has a speedster named… wait for it… SPEED, they really don’t have to worry about the name.

And re: the corner box: my impression was that he got that as the highest-profile Avenger who didn’t have his own title – EG, Cap / Thor / Iron Man would all have their own corner boxes, and giving him that made Avengers visually distinctive.

Another point for Vision – he was prominent enough to be one of the four featured Avengers in the Captain America and the Avengers arcade game, along with Cap, Iron Man, and Hawkeye. Too bad it was the horrible white costume, though. Why is it that you need saving?

By: Jeff Ryan

Jeff Ryan — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:42:32 +0000

Visionary? Double Vision?

Vision had the honor of serving with Quasar. For that the world respects him.

By: rwe1138

rwe1138 — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:17 +0000

“Well, yeah, that’d be great, but what would they rename the new kid? Revision?”

How about The Glimpse?

By: Ajit

Ajit — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:18:03 +0000

Wasn't the Vision the third member of the team to make his debut in the Avengers? Wonder Man was the first and the Black Knight (Dane Whitman) was the second.