The Vision #3 (Marvel)

I read the first few issues of this series last year, but decided to skip going further, because I had already made a commitment to one Tom King story (Omega Men), and didn't want to entangle myself with another such commitment (I'm really trying not to spend all my money on comics).

The gist of this one is that the Vision, the robotic Avenger, built himself a family, but it's not turning out as he would've thought.  Of course, he doesn't know it yet.  And that's the rest of the story.  I assume the conclusion will be him finding that out.

It's a story that's familiar to me already.  In Star Trek: Voyager's "Real Life," the holographic Doctor creates for himself a holographic family.  His colleagues suggest that he's made it too perfect, so imperfections are introduced, and tragedy ensues.  It becomes a learning experience.

In a classic sense, this is how family life always turns out in a Marvel comic.  It implodes.  I mean, it's written into Vision's backstory.  Like Buddy Baker in DC's Animal Man, family tends to mean trouble for superheroes.  The Vision previously had a family with the Scarlet Witch.  King acknowledges this. 

As a lead character, the dispassionate Vision presents a unique opportunity, one that King is playing out to its logical conclusion.  Like artificial life in Star Trek, can such an individual truly understand the ramifications of what he's committed to experiencing with this family?  Like I said, Marvel superheroes tend to have worse family relations than DC.  That King, who has written the majority of his comics for DC, and recently signed an exclusive deal with the company so it'll remain that way for a while longer at least, The Vision represents a unique opportunity indeed.  I'm told there'll be twelve issues, like his Omega Men.  I guess that's the magic number, a full year to explore a given scenario.  This is the first time he's focused on a story like this.  In a lot of ways, it's the classic wartime narrative, too.  What effect does Vision's life have on his family?

I don't know, though.  I'm still not convinced to read the complete story.  The Marvel partisans at my local shop suggested this issue would do the trick.  It's got some valuable insights, but I wish there were more moving parts.  King's Omega Men worked so well because it worked in the opposite fashion as his Vision.  It was constantly bold.  His Batman, at the outset, seems to be bold, too.  The Vision reads tentatively.  As an offbeat character study, as Marvel does a lot these days, it gives King a chance to experiment.  Hopefully it'll at least lead to something greater.

Then again, maybe it's just me.  Maybe The Vision already is great.