Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
(This page is dedicated to Bob Blanton and Mark Orr: two members of the former "Nashville Crazies" with whom I've long since fallen out of touch. Dammit.)
Fantasy versus reality:
One of the modern-day articles of faith held most dear by the comics fans of today is that DC's J'onn J'onzz is the "prototypical" JUSTICE LEAGUE character. Said belief -- on a par, really, with such similarly aberrant notions as, say, the one positing that the federal government has a half-dozen or so E.T.-style critters stashed away in form-fitting Tupperware containers, somewhere deep within the midnight chambers of Area 51 -- is based, primarily, on the grounds that "J'onn J'onzz is the single member of the League to have served with every incarnation of the team, in the overwhelming bulk of the published canon."
This (obviously) falls under the heading of "fantasy," as the good J'onzz
-- a character I do like (albeit in a mild, low-key sort of way) -- has done
no such thing. The self-styled "Martian Manhunter," in demonstrable fact,
took one gargantuan leave of absence from all things JLA at the end of
issue #71 of the original series (the Dennis O'Neil-scripted "...And So My World
Ends"); remained M.I.A. until issue #115, some five years later; and
then immediately vanished yet again, until the advent of issue #228...
an absence of nearly a full decade (!!). Oh, yeah... there's
a perfect attendance record for you. 
(In actual point of f-a-c-t... only one member of the original, Silver
Age JUSTICE LEAGUE may fairly lay claim to having made significant contributions
to even five of the six major incarnations of the JLA: the
Batman. See for yourself, if you don't believe me: the Gardner
Fox era; the post-Fox era, leading up to the "JLA Detroit" incarnation [during
J'onn's long, loooonnnnnng "coffee break"]; the tail-end of said "Detroit
League"; the Giffen/DeMatteis years; and the present-day Grant Morrison series.
If anyone is deserving of the status of "JLA mainstay"... it's this
guy. End of sentence. End of paragraph.)
... and, now, for the reality check: name the Marvel Comics super-hero who's appeared in more total issues of THE AVENGERS than any other.
Oh, for pity's sake, people... look at whose page this is, f'cryin'
out loud -- !
(If you guessed Captain America, by the way... don't feel too badly about placing your ducats on the wrong show pony, in this instance. The Star-Spangled Sentinel did, after all, have the not-inconsiderable benefit of one really good-sized head start on his android ally, membership-wise... but: the former has also taken several long-ish sabbaticals from the company of his teammates. over the years... whereas the Vision [by way of comparison] has been very nearly as much an Avengers "constant" as anyone could be, without actually, y'know, chaining themselves to the front stoop. Cap does come in second, though.)
Pretty impressive tenure, really... given that the Vision actually made his Marvel Comics debut as a super-villain. [See cover reproduction, at top of page.]
Created by the maniacal Ultron for the sole, specific purpose of serving as an undetectable, untraceable assassin, re: the AVENGERS line-up of the day (the Black Panther; Goliath; Hawkeye; and the Wasp), the blood-visaged android didn't even have a name, until a frightened Janet Van Dyne -- his first (intended) victim -- exclaimed, upon seeing him ghosting towards her right through a solid wall, that he appeared to be: "... some monstrous sort of... vision -- !" The android's insane progenitor -- himself, an artificial construct -- couldn't be bothered bequeathing his pet golem with an actual, working sobriquet, any more than you or I might reasonably be expected to "name" a hammer, or a favorite pair of shoes. He was, at this juncture, nothing more than a particularly ingeniously constructed tool; no more, no less.
[SIDE NOTE: Given the circumstances, re: How the Vision Got His Name... I'm just darned glad, in retrospect, that the
first words out of the Wasp's mouth weren't: "... some monstrous sort
of... tomato! In SPANDEX, even -- !" I'm just... y'know...
sayin', here, is all.]
Ultron, however, had constructed far better than even he knew, ultimately. The existentially- inclined automaton, even then, harbored grave doubts and misgivings, re: both his putative "mission" and his place within the larger scheme of things, overall. Stricken with pangs of a wholly unforeseen conscience, the Vision betrayed his deranged "father figure," casting his plasticene lot with the (then-)captive Avengers, and enabling the heroes to escape the malevolent mechanoid's death-trap of the moment.
All well and good, of course... but: that still left the Avengers with one niggling little problem. Namely: what to do with the suddenly purpose-less Vision...?
Given how many members of that august assemblage, over the years, had started out their own respective careers on the wrong side of the law-and-order "tracks" (Hawkeye; Quicksilver; the Scarlet Witch; etc.)... it came as little surprise to the readership of the day, then, when the heroes offered the deeply conflicted android a place of honor within their own ranks, as a full-fledged Avenger in good standing.
The Vision quickly distinguished himself as a loyal and versatile team member, utilizing his mass- and density-altering abilities on the behalf of his newfound friends against an impressive array of menaces (Kang the Conqueror; the frost giant, Ymir; etc.).
Given that the rest of the Avengers line-up (at that point) was, likewise, comprised chiefly of Marvel characters sans the benefit of their own monthly solo titles -- meaning, of course, that there were no putative "big guns" present to detract from his own glamour as the "new kid" on the block -- it wasn't long before the melancholy android had established himself with the readership as the most popular member of the team... period.
All the more startling, then, when -- scarcely even a full year after his induction -- the Vision seemingly betrayed> his teammates, at the insane behest (once again) of the calculating Ultron. [See cover reproduction, below]
(Androids. You just can't trust 'em, really.
They're not like us, you know. Filthy little synthetic reprobates;
just give one of 'em a cheap bottle of muscatel, and he's perfectly content
to lounge in front of the television all day in his underwear, scratching
himself and channel-surfing for Baywatch. Oh, yeah; and they want
our women, too. Kill the vile little brutes! Kill
'em ALL, I say -- !)
As it turned out (of course), the Vision was no traitor to the cause. Ultron had been utilizing his first-hand knowledge of The Android Avenger's interior schematics and suchlike to "control" the hero from afar, making an unwilling green- and-yellow catspaw of him in the process.
If it's beginning to sound to the alert reader as if the chiefest elements
in this particular character's formula for success, popularity-wise, were: nagging (and incessant) self-doubts, re: his own humanity and free will;
an inviolate awareness of his essential "other"-ness from his flesh-and- blood
teammates; and a large, healthy dollop or three of big-time existential angst,
in general... go into the kitchen, and ask Jarvis (the Avengers' loyal manservant)
to give you all the cookies you want. Tell him I said it was okay.
(MMMmmmm... oatmeal raisin.)
Even granting (solely for the sake of argument) that the "poor, poor pitiful me" approach to character explication was part and parcel of the entire Marvel Comics approach, as first popularized by Stan Lee -- and, later on, perfected by the Vision's real "creator": Roy Thomas -- I think it's safe to say that Ol' Tomato Puss, here, was a sucker bet to win, show or place in any Melodramatic Breast-Beating competition of the 1970's.
Other Marvel heroes (and heroines) would make pouty and kvetch ("My
shorts are riding up on me. The rent is due next month, and I'm broke.
I think my gerbil is seeing someone else.") just because it was something to
decently do, between interminable fight scenes. It took the Vision,
however, to transform extended, free-form whining from "personality defect"
status into rare High Art.
Now, please don't misunderstand: I really do like this character. And -- in all honesty -- it certainly isn't as if the various Marvel scribes of the period didn't give the poor schlub reasons aplenty to engage in a little gnashing of emotional teeth, every now and again. I mean... the extended, years-long "Vision Falls In Love" sub-plot alone, f'chrissakes...
... well: let's pick up right there, on the next page.
The Silver Age AVENGERS
PAGE ONE
PAGE TWO
PAGE THREE
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