Vision

I read a lot of comics over the course of a year, and I do read a bunch of superhero ones, too, though I rarely review them here. For this book, I will make an exception. Vision is a recently completed 12-issue series collected into two trade paperbacks. The main character is The Vision, a synthezoid with incredible powers originally created to destroy The Avengers. Now this character has existed for decades and has a very convoluted history, and this series takes it all into account while telling an original, streamlined, and compelling tale. Also, impressively, I feel like it is still completely accessible for someone who is new to the character.

In response to all that has happened to him in the past, Vision decides to literally make a family and move to the suburbs. He synthesizes a wife (Virginia), two children (Viv and Vin), and a dog, and moves to Arlington, Virginia just outside of Washington DC. There, they try to fit in, doing normal things like going to work, keeping a house, and sending their kids to school.

Of course, nothing can ever be normal and things get strange. Villains and shades from the past creep into the present, and there are a few shocking developments that turn into murders. All of these twists and turns seem part of a standard superhero yarn but here are all turned on their heads, put into a much different context, which makes the story so much more interesting, horrifying, and affecting. No matter what is happening in these books, the events are filtered through the reactions and sensibilities of this family, and they are surprisingly well-realized, complicated characters. Their wants, needs, and personalities take center stage and elevate the narrative tremendously. These books are some exceptionally well composed, both in terms of the story and the artwork, with cliffhangers and revelations that hit with great impact.

This series was created by Tom King, a comics writer who has since signed on exclusively to DC Comics, and Gabriel H. Walta, who has drawn a good number of comics for Marvel. Jordie Bellaire colored the entire series, which looks beautifully dark and muted for the most part, though the constant repetition of reds and greens creates an otherworldly tone. Artist Michael Walsh also drew one of the chapters. King speaks more about his view of this series in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of these books have been full of praise. Rich Johnson piled on some hyperbole, called the series "Marvel’s Watchmen." James Whitbrook wrote, "That complete tonal difference, and the way it holds up a subversive mirror to everything The Vision has been about as a character for years, is what makes The Vision unlike anything we’ve seen from Marvel in such a long time." Laura Sneddon summed up, "Overall, this is an unexpected modern classic from Marvel, and unquestionably their greatest comic this year."

Vision was published by Marvel Comics and they have more info about the entire series and these collections here.

Beverly

Beverly is a collection of short stories set in the recent past (the 1990s, I would guess) in a generic Midwestern suburb. Most of the stories come from the perspective of bored, somewhat surly, and capricious teens who want to drink, party, and have sex to allay their condition. The first story focuses on some workers stuck in a dull, thankless job that one guy takes way too seriously. I thought it was an interesting take on adolescent relationships, and I have to say it also felt like a time machine for me, taking me back to an uncomfortable and strangely familiar place.

The second tale, "The Saddest Story Ever Told," is about a family taking part in a focus group activity for a new television show. As you can see below, the whole enterprise is pretty mundane and the resulting disappointment is as muted as the color scheme of the entire book.

The rest of the stories in this book (about an uncomfortable family vacation, an alleged kidnapping, an encounter at a party between two estranged friends, and a creepy massage session) share in these themes of desperation, loss, awkward relationships, repressed sexuality, and submerged violence. They are also connected by some common characters, so there is a weird sense of continuity in play as well. Probably the best of these for me is the third tale, "The Lil' King," about that vacation. The disconnect between the parents and their children is to be expected, but the violence in the mute young son's daydreams is terrifying. Overall, I found the stories spare and compelling, and with details and events parceled out to maximize suspense and revelation. These are some finely crafted comics.

This book's creator Nick Drnaso has been nominated for multiple Ignatz Awards. He has published stories in various anthologies and works as a cartoonist and illustrator in Chicago. His artwork is very stylized and geometric, resembling a cross between Dan Clowes and Chris Ware, which is good company. He speaks more extensively about his work on this debut book in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book indicate that the art and stories are artful but maybe appreciated by specific tastes. Publishers Weekly wrote, "The streets, houses, and people that populate the linked pieces of Drnaso’s blandly terrifying debut collection all share a soul-deadening, right-angled sameness that turns into its own kind of nightmare." Hillary Brown wrote that the comics work is deft but the stories are depressing perhaps to the point of being off-putting: "Even if all of this is true (it might be), the daily experience of living is rarely so unleavened by joy, and reading page after page of it makes one want to go turn on a Busby Berkeley musical to compensate." Dan Kois called it" uncomfortable, fascinating."

Beverly was published by Drawn & Quarterly, and they have preview images and more here. This should be apparent by now, but this is a book for mature readers and not meant for children.