This is "From a Different Point of View," a feature where I discuss a comic book series with another writer. In this case, it is CBR's own Eileen Gonzalez who will be going over the history of the Avengers with me, story by story!
When last we checked in with our heroes, they had landed in an alternate reality in Avengers Annual #2 (by Roy Thomas, Don Heck, Werner Roth and Vince Colletta) where the Scarlet Centurion had turned the original Avengers into tyrants. The current Avengers defeated the old team and fixed things so that the timeline was back to normal by the end of the lead feature (with a little added memory wipe courtesy of the Watcher). Then there was a back-up feature by Thomas, John Buscema and Frank Giacoia that showed how an Avengers story was written back in the late 1960s.
That behind the scenes aspect of the Avengers is at play, too, in Avengers #57's "Behold...a Vision!" (by Thomas, Buscema and George Klein).
First, though, Eileen and I reflected about how much the quality of the series had stepped up a notch since George Klein had joined the series. Klein was a major hire for Marvel, as he was Curt Swan's inker throughout the 1960s on the Superman titles, the top-selling superhero comic book series of most of the 1960s (except for a brief Bat-Mania inspired surge in sales on Batman-related comic books). Klein was out of the Joe Sinnott school of inkers (Klein, of course, was inking before Sinnott was, but they had that same lush, dynamic style that most pencilers loved having from their inkers during this era. Frank Giacoia was another inker that pencilers loved to see ink their work). As we had discussed in the past, when Carmine Infantino became the head of editorial at DC in the late 1960s, he pushed to modernize and a few veteran creators found themselves on the way out, with Klein being one of them. Marvel was more than happy to add some of that veteran talent to its staff, with Klein being a bit of a jewel that Stan Lee was thrilled to bring to Marvel (where he promptly assigned him to projects by some of Marvel's top artists, like Buscema on Avengers and Gene Colan on Daredevil).
I said to Eileen, "I sometimes wonder if there's a chicken and egg situation here, with the addition of Klein. Does Klein's addition accentuate these classic stories or were they upping their game because they added Klein? Because "Behold...a Vision!" is a dramatic step forward for the series. And it wasn't like they weren't already doing quite well. This, though, is on a whole other level from their time-traveling misadventures in the previous issue and the Annual." Eileen concurred, "Yeah, right from the first page you can feel the tone is different. It's almost like a horror comic, with the dark and stormy night and the shadows and everything. The panel with the Vision's shadow on the curtain? Amazing."
I continued, "I'm just trying to imagine a comic like this with, say, Vince Colletta inking it. And am failing to do so." Eileen agreed, "It really is a whole other animal, isn't it?" I conceded, though, "But perhaps they just had a story that required a certain atmosphere, so they just adapted themselves to said atmosphere. We DO have a Man-Ape story coming up, so it's not like the book automatically ascended to the heavens with this arc. But anyhow, the main thing to note is that, holy shit, this was a stunning opening to a comic book." Eileen noted, "Ha, yeah. Man-Ape was a whole other level in a different direction, but for now, I'll just enjoy this tone and art while we have it."
I pointed out, "Vision's entrance really is stunning. Buscema and Klein capture the otherworldly aspect of the character beautifully. It really is like a horror comic." Eileen responded, "I do adore that panel. What a great entrance the Vision is getting!" I continued, "I'm torn on Wasp's reaction. On the one hand, she showed more competence than normal, but ultimately, she still just went into the next room. She JUST fought Klaw a couple of issues ago, a guy who could blast through a door easily. So why would she think she was safe once she got past a door? However, it DID set up the stunning sequence of the Vision phasing through the wall. And I guess demonstrating his awesome powers are more important than making Wasp look smarter. And they ARE awesome powers." Eileen related, "Jan's strategy has always been and continues to be "go get my big strong boyfriend to protect me." Not a great look for a superhero. But I agree on how cool it was to see Vision coming through the wall, though."
Later in the issue, we learn that Vision is a synthozoid, rather than a robot or a standard android.
Eileen asked, "Is this the first time the term "synthezoid" pops up? I feel like it is, from the way they're explaining it." I replied, "It is. Roy Thomas had planned to add the Golden Age other-dimensional being, the Vision, to the Avengers. Thomas, though, recalled (as I pointed out in an old Comic Book Legends Revealed), 'Stan, though, said no. He wanted a new character...and he wanted it to be an android! Why an android, he never said. But then, he didn't have to. He was The Man. He didn't give me any other instructions or explanation, but left everything up to me. So, being the sly insubordinate that I was, I made up an android -- called the Vision.'" I further explained, "So Thomas came up with this new term rather than just have him be a 'standard' android. But yeah, naturalistic dialogue, that was not. Hawkeye had never and will never speak again quite like he does in those panels. 'Oh, like that synthozoid project you were working on, right, Hank?' 'Right, Hawkeye.'" Eileen retorted, "I appreciate the foreshadowing but I do not appreciate the syntax."
Next time around, before we examine the Vision's turn for good against his creator, Ultron, we'll first check in on some other Avengers characters, with Roy Thomas deciding to explore Black Panther's personality a bit.
Okay, folks, if you have any questions for me or Eileen, you can drop us a line at brianc@cbr.com (yes, it's technically just my e-mail address, but I'll obviously pass it along to Eileen, as well).
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