Exclusive Marvel preview: The Vision #1 brings a synthezoid family to suburbia
Synthezoid superhero The Vision received a big profile boost when he made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in this past summer’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and Marvel is capitalizing on the character’s increased popularity with a new The Vision ongoing as part of the “All-New, All-Different Marvel” relaunch. Featuring the Marvel debut of writer Tom King, who has done outstanding work on DC’s Grayson and The Omega Men, The Vision makes good on the promise of the relaunch’s name, taking the titular hero in a very new, different direction as he moves to the suburbs of Virginia and starts a family. It’s a fascinating take on the Vision that takes advantage of his complicated comics history, and giving him an ordinary life in the suburbs with a wife and twins is a smart development for a character whose former attempts at marriage and fatherhood were destroyed by extraordinary influences.
Artist Gabriel Hernandez Walta and color artist Jordie Bellaire, the pair behind Magneto’s intense, evocative visuals, join King to introduce the Vision family to Arlington, Virginia, and this preview of next week’s The Vision #1 highlights how well-suited Walta and Bellaire are for King’s story concept. The detailed narration emphasizes the suburban normalcy that the Visions are interrupting by outlining the general facts about their new neighborhood, and the art further grounds the story with its relaxed pacing, textured linework, and autumnal palette. The mood of the first two pages is quiet, eerie, and a bit wistful, but then the atmosphere brightens when Vision opens his front door to greet his neighbors, grinning with the rest of his family. Exploring that tonal contrast should make for a very engaging series, and this creative team’s past work suggests that The Vision isn’t going to shy away from the complexities of the character’s new suburban situation.