The Vision: Yesterday and Tomorrow

Avengers Icons: The Vision #1-4

by Geoff Johns, Roy Thomas, John Buscema (Illustrator)

The android Avenger goes solo His memories downloaded and stolen, a partially amnesiac Vision must seek help from the reluctant granddaughter of his creator, Professor Phineas T. Horton, to defeat a technological terror programmed by the Nazis during World War II to cause fear and death from the skies. Created using technology stolen from Professor Horton, the newly escaped Gremlin will not be denied its mission in the present day - even if it must reprogram and erase the Vision's very humanity in the process Collects Avengers Icons: The Vision #1-4 - plus "Behold, the Vision," the spooky synthezoid's fantastic first appearance from Avengers #57, written by Roy Thomas and penciled by John Buscema

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Superheroes

120 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2005

About the author

Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.

His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.

Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rare work for Marvel from the two golden boys of DC Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis before they signed exclusively for Superman & co.



Not best starting point if you are a newbie of Vision character, but Johns here returned to the sintezoid his lost humanity and fixed for good the loose plot threads left by John Byrne's decostruction of the character in his Avengers West Coast: Vision Quest saga.



Sadly artworks are faaaarrr better than storyline and characters involved, but if you are a diehard fan of Vision it is a not too bad/decent tale.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before becoming DC exclusive, Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis were making a hash of things over at Marvel, like this four issue Vision miniseries from 2003/04. And in true Johns fashion, his Vision is angry, brain-dead and violent in a badly plotted story that doesn’t hang together well - all qualities he would go on to imbue his DC books with!

Johns’ origin story for The Vision revolves around a 1939 science fair where a Professor Phineas T. Horton creates him using old-timey, yet remarkably futuristic, tech. But The Vision wasn’t his first creation and one of his prototypes, the Gremlin, is stolen by Nazi agents and used in WW2 against Allied pilots. It’s now the present day and The Vision must partner up with a young boy to destroy the bad robot, in a plot that’s basically T2: Judgement Day!

Professor Phineas T. Horton? Didn’t Ultron create The Vision? He did, both in the comics and the recent Avengers movie, as 1968’s Avengers #57, “Behold, the Vision” by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, The Vision’s first appearance where Ultron reveals himself as his creator, is also included in this volume! So what’s Geoff Johns playing at? Who knows, though if it’s a reimagining, it’s not anywhere near as good as the original. Also, when did The Vision get amnesia?

Ok, nitpickiness time so spoilers going ahead but you can tell I’m not recommending this one!

The Vision plays second banana to a dumb kid and a trampy sorority girl because Geoff Johns doesn’t know how to make The Vision interesting. So we have to hear the kid’s backstory which involves a father in the air force and a grandfather who flew planes in WW2 but got shot down by the Gremlin. But if the grandfather died in WW2, then the father must’ve been conceived in wartime - making him, in the present day (2003), at least in his 60s? But he’s drawn to look roughly 40 and his son is a teenager. Also, I’m pretty sure no air force in the world would employ a senior citizen to fly their planes!

Then later the hologram of Professor Horton activates. It’s a pre-recorded message from years ago before the professor’s death - that also has knowledge of a commercial German plane crashing a month ago?! And why exactly did the Gremlin lie dormant all this time, only to be awakened now? And how was it activated again? And why would the professor put it on his granddaughter - whom he’s never met before and doesn’t know is astoopid - to stop the Gremlin!? None of this makes sense!!

I’m not really an Ivan Reis fan and his art in this book doesn’t win me over. The Vision’s transparency is in flux so we sometimes see his robot skeleton which just looks gross for the sake of it. And Reis’ design of the Gremlin is a total rip-off of the Sentinels from The Matrix.

Johns ends the book making The Vision awkwardly and unconvincingly heroic. Up ‘til now he’s been an unemotional, angry and mega-angry force but in the last few pages Reis draws him smiling so he’s a good guy!… yeah, no.

The Roy Thomas/John Buscema comic isn’t much better. It’s cornball Silver-Age stuff full of bad dialogue and plotting on par with Johns and Reis’ poor effort. The Vision just shows up - uninspired stuff for a first appearance.

The Vision: Yesterday and Tomorrow is a pretty terrible comic all over - no wonder DC saw it and decided Geoff Johns was their man!

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad self-contained story from Geoff Johns as he began his mastery of dependable, solid storytelling.

I suppose it's a retcon, which is about Golden Age origins, which makes it perfect for this primarily DC writer. It doesn't matter if this connects with his Avengers arc or not, although the way Vision phased with a robot skeleton at the time was pretty cool. It's just a nice introductory tale of a famous character, with kids as the POV, and a good FOIL as villain.

Like a decent early 2000s superhero movie, and it didn't need to be more than that.

Also, illustrated by Ivan Reiss before such classics as Green Lantern and Blackest Night. Very much worth reading for the Johns follower...

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the best stories ever! It starts off with Vision having forgotten his memories and going to find his creator Phineas Horton in a way and there is a flashback explaining how he was made before WWII and then a solar gem was stolen by Axis people and then we come back to the present and have Vision fighting other things, meeting this kid Derek, going on the adventure to find his creator or his grand-daughter Victoria and learning the secrets of his creator and his hope for them both and fighting this new villain Gremlin and what it actually is and then Derek going his own way with his dad rescuing him and Victoria affirming her aim in life and Vision getting his humanity back and that scene where he cries in the end while giving speech is so emotional. This volume was good and can feel rushed in some areas but that doesn't take the human genuity of emotion you feel in the end with these 3 characters learning something! The art by Reis is just phenomenal like next level perfect! One of the better books Geoff has written!

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this rating primarily for the art, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Vision look this good in a comic before.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se volete leggere la mia recensione, cliccate qui! http://ascwblog.blogspot.it/2016/08/v...

[bri 🧸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

if i have to see vision cry one more time,,

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bella mini serie dedicata a uno dei miei Vendicatori preferito.
Ritengo che Johns, nella sua breve run sui Vendicatori, abbia svolto un lavoro eccellente, e che fu un peccato che se ne andasse, anche perché dopo arrivò quel salame di Bendis.
Questa bella mini mi conferma in pieno l'impressione.
Buoni anche i disegni di Reis.
4 stelle.

[Benjamin Kimble · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ivan Reis is a great artist and I loved his work in this. He did a good job of making the Vision look creepy and different than the typical heroic Vision. Geoff Johns however falls flat in the writing here. He gives us ideas about Vision and his identity; who is he really, is he man of machine; what is family, but he doesn’t expand upon them. Everything moves so quickly that he sets things up but doesn’t follow through on them enough for the ending to feel satisfied and earned. I hate comparing works to other works but both King and Englehart did a better job at exploring the themes brought up here when they wrote The Vision and Vision and the Scarlet Witch respectively. The best part of this book was the Roy Thomas John Buscema Avengers #57 which gives us the first appearance of Vision.

[Chalupa Batman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...wasn't what I expected. Crappy story about a Gremlin. Plus, as an added bonus, the vol includes the 1st edition of Vision.

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 2 out of 5]

¿Quien es la Vision?, ¿que quiere hacer?, ¿LE TIENE MIEDO A LOS FANTASMAS?, ¿PUEDE LLORAR?.

LO BUENO: Ver los lapices de Buscema es una gloria, esa fuerza, el dinamismo, todo muy lindo,y un primigenio Ivan Reis que marca unas paginas y diseños muy buenos, que nos muestra el talentoso que viene en camino, además con una historia que se mueve, un enemigo interesante y chungo.

LO MALO: La Viso sola no funciona, tienes que ponerle un cast de secundarios, o sino no le interesa a nadie, y en 04 números, ente poco y nada se puede hacer con el y estos 04 numeritos, podían ser contados fácilmente en un especial de 50 paginas.

[Ronny Trøjborg · Rating 3 out of 5]

En slags ny origin for Vision. Fin lille historie, med interessante karakterer. Havde været spændende hvis det havde været et run Johns havde fået lov og fortsætte og udvikle på, i stedet for kun de her 4 kapitler. Det tager lidt fra historien at den er så kort.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool little Vision story from Geoff Johns. I'm not sure how it got into Vision's narrative, but I enjoyed it. Cool art too

[Sai Rahul Poruri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can’t recommend it. Not worth it.

[Brannigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short story. I particularly liked the creepy way Vision was portrayed. Granted this is my first exposure to the character in his own story so I’m not an expert.

[Bryce Starzec · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was pretty anti-climatic and not very intriguing to me, but the artwork totally makes up for it.

[Night · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story was interesting, and the artwork was top notch.

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revisiting Vision's origin, with the modification with the Cain and Able brothers gone bad scenario.

[Sud666 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I'm the first to admit I don't know a whole bunch about the Vision (other than he's an android, was married to the Scarlet Witch, he's an Avenger). This is an origin story of his and well it could have been better. Apparently at some point when the Vision was created in the early 1930's by Dr. Horton in NYC, somehow the Nazi's got ahold of one of the AI chips and created a "brother" called the Gremlin. The Gremlin then created clones that it used to take out Allied planes during WW2, but they were destroyed by what looks like the Defenders (?) I think its them since it says in the story "Allied heroes" and shows the Human Torch...and wasn't he, Namor and Captain America part of that bunch? I don't know and this doesn't explain it. The original gremlin was allegedly captured by the Russians (who for some reason are drawn wearing German style uniforms) and then we come to present day where some teenager discovers the Vision just hanging out in the ruins of an old World Fair exhibit in NYC. Um what's he been up too? Chillin apparently. For 7 decades. Okaaayy. Um the rest of it..kid finds Vision who has lost his memory, they go to find Dr. Horton's granddaughter who should be able to help- except she's a blonde dumb-slut sorority party girl at Penn State. Uh no I am not making this up. So she hates her subject of Cybernetics and just parties and drinks and sleeps through class....but Vision finds her with the kids help. Um then kid's dad who is in the Air Force tracks him down...gets captured by the Gremlin...hijacks a B-52 to destroy Philly and is saved by the Vision and his erstwhile partners. Story ends with Vision thinking he has a family, dad and kid are reunited and dumb blonde party girl decides to study and do something in Cybernetics. Riiiighht. Cuz we all know its just THAT easy...one day beer bonging at a frat house, the next day we are just going to study Cybernetics (and math, mechanical engineering, physics, programming, etc)-and not just study it become Tony Stark smart (which you kinda have to be to work on Vision). Um the reason I told you all this is to spare you reading this comic. There....I just did you a favor. Don't believe me? Go for it and read this underwhelming and strange story. Um the art is nice though.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geoff Johns, of Green Lantern fame, takes on an origin story, of sorts, for The Vision. We get a vague idea of where Vision comes from and a quick little story to flesh out John's version of Vision. Here, Vision hunts down a Nazi Gremlin made with one of the same solar stones that powers him. Vision is inadvertently teamed up with army brat Derek as they first track down daughter of the creator of the stones. Overall, the story is pretty interesting and occasionally funny. The writing isn't quite as good as Geoff's work with Lantern, but it holds up well. The art isn't perfect, but there isn't necessarily anything wrong with it. If you aren't familiar with Vision, this isn't going to catch you up too well, but it can be read with no prior knowledge, you just won't appreciate some of the bonus issue of Avengers #57 as much. The bonus issue is Vision's first Marvel appearance, though he starts of as somewhat of a villain. It's not a top flight story to go down with the classics, but it is a solid start for Vision.

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this was a pretty confusing book. While it was entertaining if you didn't consider the Vision outside of the main storyline, this just doesn't seem like the Vision to me. It creates a new origin for him (and then includes a reprint of the actual origin story at the end of the book), and the Vision is weird looking and full of angst throughout, except for the sappy ending. I would probably give this one a miss, since despite not saying anything about it, it is pretty much an alternate universe story. Honestly, I was surprised that the part that I enjoyed the most as the reprint of the original story, which is a lot faster paced than most older stories I have read, and was actually kind of fun.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice art and a decent attempt to give the Vision, one of my favorite second tier heroes, a chance in the spotlight.
Problem is, the Vision spends half the story as practically a supporting character to an only mildly interesting little boy and a pretty annoying sorority girl grand daughter of the Vision's creator.

Geoff Johns did a great job on the DC heroes, but never seemed able to capture the same magic when he wrote for Marvel.
Not a bad story, but not a great one.

[Indika de Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first comic related to The Vision I read ever read and boy isn't it awesome. The art work was really good and the story is superb.

The only complaint is that the story is rather short. But still it is a good read.

Also contains a re-print of the first appearance of The Vision in a Marvel comic. A must read to fans of Marvel.

[Bradford D · Rating 3 out of 5]

With The Vision’s dry personality, this third-person style of storytelling really serves the story well. The villain wasn’t that interesting, but the rest of the story kept my attention. Vision’s whole history and powers are just ripe for stories like this, and it is past time he was explored further.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never really read much of the Vision before, sometimes he's cropped up in a team up somewhere, but on his own he stands up well. A good page turning story, and a good way to bring the Vision back.