Review: THE VISION #12

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THE VISION #12
Written by Tom King
Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date: October 26, 2016

And so, it comes to an end.

This is the moment readers have been waiting for: when everything comes to a head and it all comes crumbling down for Vision and his suburban family. The series has been masterfully crafted up until this point, but does it stick the landing?

You’re damn right it does. King, Walta and Bellaire continue their fabulous run and finish it off in the perfect way, completing the arc of Virginia and finalizing Vision and Viv’s place in this world. Virginia is one of the most compelling characters I’ve read in years and the creative team does her final tale justice, ending things with the perfect balance of darkness and hope.

That’s right, I said hope. I’m as shocked as you are, as The Vision hasn’t been the happiest of tales, but I actually felt this comic closed out on some happy notes, which I appreciated. Vision and Viv are not shackled down by the end of this series and the tragedy of Virginia will shape them, for sure, but not doom either character. I’m still not entirely sure how the team did it, but I they closed out this epic series in a way that had me feeling a simultaneous happiness and melancholy that perfectly sums up my entire reading of The Vision.

King’s interpretation of these characters is magnificent and Virginia’s dialogue throughout this issue is chilling, haunting and well executed. He managed to make these synthezoids completely robotic while also more human than most characters in comics, giving Virginia and Vision some heartbreaking moments together. The humanity of the characters is almost jarring when the dialogue is paired with Walta’s artwork that made them so stunningly rigid and robotic, a juxtaposition that encapsulates everything about this family and their place in the world.

Walta’s pencils, when paired with Bellaire’s colour work, are a wonder to behold. The visual aesthetic of this comic is unlike anything else and their stellar work really sells this finale. They convey a thousand emotions in these characters while outwardly showing none, using subtleties like body language and shading to tell so much of this story. The visual tone set in this issue (and series as a whole) reminds me of the early seasons of Mad Men whenever tales are told inside the Draper household, a place that looks perfect on the outside but is a raging hurricane behind closed doors. That is not an easy thing to convey in any medium but Walta and Bellaire do it with ease. This is a fantastically rendered issue and they close this series out wonderfully.

The Vision #12 caps off what has been an amazing series with a final chapter that represents everything that has come before it very well. I never expected to see this sort of comic in the Marvel lineup and I applaud whoever gave this the initial green light. This issue is perfectly crafted and a wonderful ending to what has been a tumultuous ride with Vision’s family and it’s going to be a long time before I have fully processed this series. This finale made me well up with both sadness and unexpected happiness, and you just don’t get that from comics all that often. Bravo, Tom, Gabriel & Jordie.

The Verdict: 10/10

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