It seems like doing yet another retelling of the Avengers is commonplace at Marvel right now. Like they think our ADHD is so bad that we can’t even remember who the heck Thor or Ant-Man is. It gets me angry and enraged and….what was I talking about? Oh yes, the retelling of origins. I will say that some these new one-shots coming out this year seem to be good timing. Particularly this one because it dawned on me while reading this: I really don’t know a thing about The Vision.

It’s weird because The Vision is a pretty big deal in Avengers lore. He might not be ‘A’ material in the grand scheme of things but he is integral to many Avengers stories. (If you want a comparison, he’s like the Martian Manhunter of the Marvel U.) What I like about this one-shot by Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel is that they go straight into the origin with no fuss. We don’t anything complicated or a massive info dump for thirty pages. In this one-shot we get how the Vision came to be and why he decided to go against his creator. (In both cases it involves Ultron) But both do an excellent job getting into the (robotic) mind of The Vision even though most of what he thinks isn’t very philosophical. It might not be the most original of a robot getting feelings for the first time, but Higgins and Siegel do a good job none the less. I do like the subtle backstory for Wasp and Ant-Man in a few, short panels. As comic fans we know how bad that marriage is, but to introduce new readers they did a great job.

What really got me excited for this one-shot was the art by Stephane Perger. It must be said that ifanboy’s article on him made me pick this up in the first place. Ever since I got introduced to Alex Ross so many years ago I have enjoyed anything with a painted style to it. That’s what you get in this issue as there are some lush, painted strokes in this one-shot. (Although now a days with computers I do question whether this is by hand or down solely on a computer) I mean how can you not be blown away by his work after the first two pages? Some really striking stuff in these pages. He also handles his own coloring and his picks of dark red and green are a nice touch throughout the book. My only criticism, and it is noticeable towards the end, is that his faces can look a bit off sometimes. Hank Pym in particular never really worked for me. Also, the final page is a bit of a mess in terms of a layout structure. Other then those two issues I had, this is a gorgeous looking book.

I’m really glad I gave this a shot. Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel does a nice job retelling Vision’s origin without getting muddled. You could have easily done a complicate info dump on us but they kept it simple and that’s what made this enjoyable. But the art by Stephane Perger, aside from a few technical problems, is the real highlight for this comic. I hope he gets a lot more work in the future because his beautiful, painted style made this all the more reason to be a solid origin story for a seemingly ignored character.