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Post by starfoxxx on Sept 10, 2010 20:14:20 GMT -5
Here's a weird topic i thought i'd bring up
I just picked up Marvel Fanfare #48, which opens with two very weak She-Hulk stories....and includes a strange Vision story.
Written by Michael Higgins (?) and drawn (poorly) by Ron Wilson (who isn't usually this bad): It's about a VietNam vet who hallucinates that everyone, including his family and Vizh, are the Viet Cong. The Vision "heals" the guy by solidifying his hand while touching the guy's brain. WTF??? Anyone ever seen Vizh do this before/again? This would be an interesting power, i think. Or is it just bad writing?
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 11, 2010 6:35:28 GMT -5
Wow, I didn't realize ol' Marvel Fanfare made it clear to issue #48! That title started out as such a strong showcase, and then the quality fell right off the edge of the planet, as it were. But, boy, this sounds like an example of 60's-era-inspired contrived use of superpowers (in an unprecedented fashion) to suit the immediate needs of the plot. . . at its finest. Well, or worstest, depending on how literal you want to be. No, this is just poor writing--- I think that's a safe assumption. Why would Vision have a deep understanding of human brain structure & function? How could he make such a diagnosis? Heck, why on earth would this "procedure" work, even in the fantasy realm of comics? Granted, he removed a "control crystal" from his own brain at one point-- but that seems a pretty straightforward affair, like popping out a big ol' sliver. (Say, I've always wondered about that--- how could Vizh grab the solid crystal w/ his immaterial hand to yank it out? And if the crystal was immaterial as well-- it still couldn't be grasped. Tangibility doesn't have unique, attractive properties between like subjects. And if he solidified his hand even a little inside his own head. . . . YECHHHH! What a tragic mess we'd behold at the end of that issue! )
This sounds cynical, but it sounds like Higgins wanted to write a Viet Nam vet story, and Vision was the available assignment for it.
I know, I know--- I'm sounding a touch disrespectful. . . been a busy week. . .
HB
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Post by Shiryu on Sept 13, 2010 15:48:28 GMT -5
And yet, something remotely similar has happened once, in an Avengers issue from the very early Englehart era, more or less when he and Wanda start accepting their feelings for one another. Daredevil and Black Widow co-star, and she joins at the end.
In this story the Avengers are set against Magneto and his minions, including a piper. Vision enters his body and solidifies his own brain into the piper's brain, essentially taking full control and using him to sucker-punch Magneto. Afterwards he said something along the lines of "it's very difficult" or "it requires a lot of concentration" and to my knowledge he never does it again. And yet imagine how useful it would be against the likes of Count Nefaria and others with a lot of raw power but no way of shielding their brains.
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 16, 2010 5:43:10 GMT -5
Yep, I do remember that trick very distinctly-- and also wondered, "Why hasn't Vision ever done that again?". Now, I daresay that that process would be more related to carefully manipulating or restricting the blood-flow to the brain (via minute amounts of solidifying within the subject)-- as long as you don't examine it too closely (sorta like the "mind control" Magneto used to use, once upon a time). But it just seems to be in a completely different logistical ballpark from what it would take to "cure" the mind of that vet. If it was organic brain damage, then no power exerted by Vizh could have an effect. If it was a blood clot or tumor-- then geeze, the vet would have passed away years prior. If it was PTSD, then Vizh couldn't possibly "see" or "feel" the problem to fix it by touching it. Nah, it was a wish-fulfillment solution to that story.
But your question still remains-- why did he never try that body-control trick again? A really good story is lurking around that question, I think. Perhaps this emergent "prosthetic human being" judged it to be a gross violation of any other person's fundamental humanity, despite the provocation? Perhaps it was traumatic for Vizh, as well? Perhaps there were unrevealed (to us) side effects to that piper-guy that Vision deeply regretted, and thus vowed never to employ it again?
Boy, this would be a neat wrinkle to be explored in another, long-awaited installment of "Earth's Mightiest Heroes". . .
HB
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Post by Shiryu on Sept 20, 2010 18:37:34 GMT -5
Perhaps it was traumatic for Vizh, as well? I remember this is something we talked about a long time ago. Is it painful for Vision to partially solidify himself into another being? During Busiek's run he materializes almost entirely inside Nefaria and it's visibly terribly painful, but in many other stories it seems painless for him. In theory it should hurt though, when he disrupts another being his molecules are disrupted too, which would explain why he always does it with his hands only. Now, using his brain would be a nightmare...
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