Avengers #57-58Issue(s): Avengers #57, Avengers #58 Review/plot: Man, she doesn't even try to fight it. She just screams like a girl and runs away, in the process giving the creature its name: "It's some sort of unearthly vision!". Then the Vision passes out and Pym shows up, and Janet mocks him just for fun. Meanwhile the Black Widow is back in costume, going on assignment, and breaking up with Hawkeye. Also the Black Panther gets an idea on how to make a difference in America beyond being a super-hero. His motivations given here in thought bubbles are different than what is revealed much later in Christopher Priest's Black Panther run, but they are not irreconcilable. The Vision is brought back to Avengers Mansion, and he wakes up and reveals that he was created by Ultron. He leads them back to Ultron and while the rest of the Avengers are trapped in Ultron's deathtraps, he defeats his maker. His head gets knocked into a vacant lot, leading to this end sequence (the text is the poem Ozymandias by Shelley). Later, the Avengers summon back Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America to decide on whether or not to let the Vision join the team. Cap manipulates things a bit so that the Vision fights himself, Iron Man, and Thor, and the Vision proves himself to be a damn powerful guy. They make him probe his memory a bit more. That triggers Henry Pym to realize that he's got a memory block in place, and they all head back to his suburban home, to find that it has been boarded up. Luckily, Pym has an "electronic memory bank" which he uses to recover his missing memory. It turns out that he created Ultron, which, still in "garbage can on wheels" infancy, turned on him. The Avengers then figure out that Ultron stole their "memory tape" of Simon Williams and imprinted it into the Vision. The Avengers then vote the Vision onto their team (hurray he's a robot created by our deadly robot enemy imprinted with a dead criminal's memory!). Actually, these are very good issues. Buscema's art is great as always, and the production restoration in these reprints adds an extra level of quality. The little subplots with Black Widow and the Black Panther add a little depth, and Roy Thomas' melodrama isn't too overwhelming here. I've heard that Roy Thomas wanted to bring back the Destroyer but Stan told him to make a new character instead, so we get the Vision, a great character. Nice work Stan! Ultron is drawn in strangely simian poses throughout his early appearances. *Not a robot. A synthezoid. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: Avengers: Ultron Unleashed Inbound References (22): show 1968 / Box 4 / Silver Age CommentsMarie Severin did some uncredited redrawing of faces and poses in a few panels. Somewhere between this issue and Ultron's previous appearance, his frown got changed into a grin. Posted by: Mark Drummond | August 6, 2011 10:32 PM Tony Isabella had a letter in #57. Posted by: Mark Drummond | January 12, 2013 7:41 PM According to Roy Thomas, Stan Lee wanted to call the Vision Android Man. Posted by: Mark Drummond | March 4, 2013 6:25 PM This is the best issue out of the first 100. Posted by: Steven Printz | August 4, 2013 10:00 PM Why are the Black Widow and Spider-Man included in the splash page (shown above) from #58, which is supposed to depict the line up, past and present ? The Swordsman is missing, but then he was kicked out of the team. I can understand the mistake with the Widow, who had fought with the team on numerous occasions and had been offered membership, but Spider-Man ??? Posted by: Mike Teague | December 25, 2013 5:15 PM Spidey's shown because he was offered membership in Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3. Posted by: Michael | December 25, 2013 6:30 PM Right. Thor said "both those who were chosen, and those who were but called..." Spider-Man was called. Posted by: Time Traveling Bunny | December 25, 2013 6:42 PM LOL, I guess poor Rick Jones (who often fought alongside the team in #1-#17 despite, you know, having NO superpowers)was neither "chosen" nor "called." Posted by: Shar | December 30, 2013 11:51 AM Good point, Michael and TTB. Posted by: Mike Teague | January 2, 2014 3:59 AM Love that panel of Vision crying in joy. Posted by: David Banes | January 21, 2014 5:04 AM Per Roy Thomas in an interview in Comics Interview #66: Stan Lee hated the Vision's red face and declared it to be silly and clownish. Posted by: Mark Drummond | January 9, 2015 11:36 PM Fnord, you should add in the historical significance - "the last time the Avengers have a low-powered team." Since #16, they've really been lacking in firepower. But, from here on out, with the Vision around, and the eventual returns of Thor and Iron Man, they will pretty much never lack for a major heavy hitter again. This is another issue (#57) I still have in my Marvel Treasury Edition. A really great issue with great art and a fantastic end. You had to know Ultron would return, but it was still a fantastic end page. Posted by: Erik Beck | January 25, 2015 9:13 AM Consider that implied with the 8 rating for the introduction of the Vision, the first character created to be an Avenger. ;-) It's worth noting that to support your theory, the cover of the book starts calling the team the "Mighty" Avengers just a few issues from now, with #62. Posted by: fnord12 | January 25, 2015 10:45 AM About the only thing missing from the new movie is that panel sadly. Oh well maybe another film? Posted by: david banes | July 3, 2015 12:11 AM The Ozymandias sequence is something I've always loved, not sure why (that was my first exposure to the poem, of course). Posted by: Michael Cheyne | February 27, 2018 4:36 PM I love the panel with Vision lifting Iron Man over his head. Where the familiar comics style is kinetic, Buscema is a master at making superheroics look effortless. Here it quietly emphasizes the Vision’s uncanny, inhuman aspect. Vision’s balance on one leg and the relaxed arm at his side remind me of the statue of David. I wonder if that was Buscema’s model? He’s sometimes called the Michelangelo of superhero illustration. Posted by: Chris Z | April 20, 2018 8:57 AM In Karel Capek's RUR, the play that coined the term "robot," the robots aren't classic metal creatures but more closely resemble attempts at human anatomy, including ceramic parts for harder organs like bone. In this way, a synthezoid/android, including others like the original Human Torch, can be said to more accurately reflect a simulation of hominid construction than say, Ultron, whose expressionless face is decidedly static and inhuman (though not, of course, Inhuman). Compare also the hosts in the new Westworld series, who imitate humans very closely, but also do not age and are much stronger. Posted by: squirrel_defeater | May 8, 2018 3:05 PM Comments are now closed. |
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