There might be a bit that seems familiar this issue, but by god they put a great spin on it. From 1999,
Avengers #23, "Showdown" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by George Perez, inks by Al Vey.
The entire creative team was firing on all cylinders, and today so was Captain America, recently reunited with his shield after several months with that photonic replacement. Running a training mission in the Mansion, Justice also seemed to be in gear as well; seemingly over his stage fright, even with a broken leg. But, today's main drama was yet to come, as Wanda goes to have a talk with the Vision. She knew he still loved her, even if she was with Wonder Man now; the Vision says, that's his problem, not hers. Simon tries to make things better, by busting in and saying Vision shouldn't bottle up his feelings, and boy, does he uncork something. (The Starkings/Comicraft lettering? Chef's kiss. So good.)
Vision just wants Wanda to be happy, but does have a bone to pick with Simon: he likes jazz! Pretentious bastar--no, that's not the main issue; he also likes chess and Walt Kelly. Simon is thrilled: his brother, Eric, the Grim Reaper, wasn't into any of that stuff; but he and Vision had things in common. This catches Simon a sock to the jaw, since he was missing the point in an epic fashion. And then we pause for a big preview of
Doomsday and
Young Allies, which really should've had some credits: I'm pretty sure that's Mike McKone and Mark Bagley, respectively.
Wanda is surprised Vision would lash out like that--um, they're superheroes, that's how they work through stuff usually?--and Vision apologizes and takes off, with Simon right behind him. Vision admits, he feels like he was a complete fake: everything he was, was just a copy of Simon's brain engrams: they both had a type, apparently, namely Wanda. He was a pale reflection, no longer needed, but at least Wanda was with the real thing now. Simon turns that back on him, though; surprised Vision didn't know how much Simon envied him. He had made a lot of bad choices, from embezzling from his company to signing up to get super-powers from Baron Zemo; yet had been forgiven or even praised for his 'bravery' over and over. To Simon, the Vision was the best version of himself. Taken aback, Vision needs to think about that, and takes off; leaving Simon to wonder if he would be back...or if he was just something else he had broken.
The Vision's "am I a real boy" fit has been done a few times, before and since, and swings pretty wildly from writer to writer: I think he is 'real,' with authentic feelings and thoughts, but feels like he has to act like he's just an automaton. Also this issue: the ongoing protests at Avengers' Mansion, which a seeming laundry-list of grievances. Foremost today, the lack of diversity in the current team roster, which would be addressed later. And new bad guys the Exemplars continued to grow their numbers: they were all avatars of assorted Marvel Universe magic, and technically Juggernaut was one of them, even if he doesn't want in...And, a favorite Bullpen Bits strip from Chris Giarrusso!
1 comment:
Ha! I actually remember that particular strip. I always enjoyed Chris’s work because he has a similar sense of humor to Fred Hembeck, so it was nice to see his strips show up in the pages of random Marvel comics back then. They should definitely let him come back and make more for new generations of readers & old ones.
Also, pretty genius idea to make Stan a fictitious high school principal or teacher. It just seems to suit him given his background as a boss.
It’s interesting that Simon views Vision as the better version of himself despite Vision’s contrasting viewpoint that he’s the incomplete shadow of Simon. Perhaps, and this is just my opinion, but the ideal version of those two is the combination we got from an old issue of What If, the one where The Avengers lost Operation Galactic Storm, and Simon was killed off but revived in the Vision’s body. Come to think of it, that actually happened before that issue, earlier in the same volume (vol. 2 #5 to be exact) when Ultron took over Vision’s body & killed Simon, only to be killed himself & has Simon’s brainwaves placed into Ultron’s Vision body at the end. Something to think about for the future.
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