Marvel Pick Of The Week – January 6, 2016 [SPOILERS]

Pick Of The Week:

The Vision 3, by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and Jordie Bellaire

The Vision was one of the best surprises of 2015, a pair of issues following the emotionless android Avenger that sparked some of the most genuine fear and romance the industry saw all year. This issue keeps the quality up as the Vision and his family slowly come back together after the tragedy of the first chapter.

Since the Grim Reaper’s attack, the Vision’s daughter Viv has been in a terrifying state of disrepair, repeating “mother… mother… mother…” with no other ability to interact with her world. This time, our hero recruits Tony Stark to set up a dangerous experimental surgery, and by the time he embraces his healed daughter, there is no doubt that his emotional wiping has not taken. It’s a story of sacrifice and devotion, and the happy ending is a relief after two issues of dark twists.

The Vision’s wife, Virginia, has become the breakout star of this series, from killing to defend her family in the first chapter (and sweeping the body under the rug in Mike Del Mundo’s chilling cover this week) to struggling with a blackmailer in the second. This week, a pair of frightened, bigoted neighbor children vandalize the synthezoids’ garage door, and Virginia dissuades them with shocking violence. Her tone is pitch-perfect for a suburban mom enforcing her rules to the kids who threw a football too close to her picture window, but when this comes from a woman floating through a wall after assaulting a minor, it’s the stuff of nightmares. Walta’s imagery in this scene is going to stick with readers, and he draws Virginia with a sexy, athletic body type that we don’t see in enough of our female leads. And her confidence from this win leads her to initiate sex with her husband. Her persistent seduction in the face of his hyper-logical recounting of his day’s events will feel familiar to anyone who’s been in a long-term relationship, and when she gets him to give in to the marital bed, the reader feels joy for her – right before the camera pulls out to show some of the suburban danger this couple has ignored.

Again, Tom King is drawing the reader in with his deep understanding of families – the duty, the love, the way we can hurt and save each other. And again, this makes his penchant for terror that much more effective. I have no idea what’s going to happen next. But I am utterly convinced I’m going to be reading this book until this team is done.

Honorable Mentions:

Contest Of Champions 4, because Night Thrasher is back. Kids, ask your parents why we are all squealing and trying to remember where we left our skateboards.

Spider-Man 2099 5, because it is nice to see that even in comic books with cyborgs and time travel, everyone outside of Texas thinks open carry is freaking ridiculous. And I say this as a native Texan.

Weirdworld 2, because Marvel is willing to give us a book where sharks jump out of the desert, and I am not going to sleep tonight.

A-Force 1, because instead of a Kryptonian and Kansas farmers, Marvel gets a Battleworld refugee and a pair of hipsters. Point to Marvel for this round.

Amazing Spider-Man 6, because switching Cloak and Dagger’s powers and making them bad guys was one of the coolest ideas out of Spider-Island, and I am so happy to see that it’s still going on.

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Catch up on previous Picks here!