The Bittersweet Finale Of ‘Vision’ And The Rest Of This Week’s Best Comics

Throughout Vision, Tom King and Gabriel Fernandez Walta’s suburban noir that ends today on issue #12, King and Walta have stuck to their tone. In bare plot summary, it seems a strange idea: A super-powered robot struggles with his family and a moral quicksand that slowly begun to engulf them. In many respects, it’s more James M. Cain than Stan Lee. But over the last eleven issues, it’s been a fascinating take on a hero who can sometimes feel bland, and it wraps up with its final issue today.

This issue, though, has a surprising tone to it, a mix of optimism and sadness as the Vision manages to keep some of his family together. But it’s not without a cost, and perhaps the most affecting aspect of the story is that the Vision isn’t sure if he wants to pay it. It’s taken out of his hands, though, which touches on one of the key themes of the book, that it’s better to choose our fates, and accept our responsibilities, than to hide from them.

This hasn’t beenMarvel’s best-selling book, and it unwound over a year that found it obscured by relaunches and crossovers. But it was, many of the weeks it came out, the best book Marvel put into print, and King and Walta’s take on the Vision will likly be the defining one for a long time.

Recently Chip Zdarsky took the unusual step of revealing Jughead, Archie’s food-obsessed buddy, as asexual. As in, just not interested in sex. At all. Period. It seems an unusual development to try and spin into Archie-esque hijinks, but Zdarsky pulls it off by having Jughead screw up and impress Sabrina the Teenage Witch, take her on an awful date, and then find himself on the receiving end of her vengeance. One problem: The unstoppable force of Sabrina’s slapstick weirdness is no match for the immovable object that is Jughead’s jaw-dropping luck. The result is a clever tribute to Archie gags of yore while normalizing Jughead’s lack of interest in romance.

Also Archie has upped his relationship fail game. We won’t reveal how, but it might be the funniest gag in the book, especially with the very busy Derek Charm on art, who offers a clean angularity to Archie’s house style that makes the book stand out. And, oddly, imitating that house style is exactly what benefits Charm in the other book he has out this week.

Fred Van Lente’s take on the superhero teen team takes a bit of a turn here thanks to guest artist Derek Charm, who takes the art in a new direction as the team delves into the mind of a teenaged girl, and, well, let’s say it’ll look a little familiar. Van Lente, though, contrasts the cheery art sharply with the awkward corners and uncomfortable realities of being a teenager, especially one in a town controlled by a mysterious force. And it works well, not least because Generation Zero are weirdoes. And that plays into the plot in an important way we won’t ruin, but suffice to say not even a superhero enjoys being one all the time. Valiant’s strange team book is making some smart choices that stand out, and push a seemingly stale genre forward.

It’s still not entirely clear what Rick Remender and Jerome Opena are up to with their high fantasy comic, but after a somewhat slow first issue, the book takes off in rather explosive fashion as we discover the tyrannical dictator who runs this world has a weaker base of support than we thought. Opena’s endlessly imaginative monsters and heroes are certainly a big selling point for the book, but Remender is building something here reminiscent of the grand space operas DC and Marvel loved doing in the ’70s and ’80s, and that’s something any comics fan can get behind.

Gary Phillips and Elena Casagrande reboot a classic DC action hero, with an interesting take about not just becoming a hero, but a social awakening. Donny loses his girlfriend in a seeming accident and accepts it, at first. But as he tugs at a few threads, what unravels in his lap brings him towards being a hero. Of a sort, anyway. Casagrande is excellent at mixing gritty style with technical polish, and Phillips tells a superhero story complex enough to feel like it deserves six issues in an incredibly promising start.

Frostbite #2, DC Comics: Josh Williamson and Jason Shawn Alexander continue their unreconstructed ’80s cyberpunk action story, and while it’s not breaking new ground, it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

Prowler #1, Marvel: Hobie Brown, small-time hero, is back and working for a surprising boss. Marvel’s recent quest to revive the ’90s has led to some questionable choices concerning which characters to revive. (No offense to the team who delivered a polished book, but who was clamoring for the return of Solo, exactly) But this has some promise, and we’ll be curious to see where it goes.

Lake Of Fire #3, Image Comics: Nathan Fairbairn and Matt Smith’s story of Crusaders fighting aliens continues to be a brisk, engaging adventure story that doesn’t let its high concept get in the way of its fun.

Bloodshot USA #1, Valiant: Jeff Lemire and Doug Braithwaite finally ask the question comics nerds have long been wondering: What happens when Bloodshot’s nanites jump into other superheroes. Nothing good, as it turns out, but something that’s a blast to read.

Wolfcop #1, Dynamite: Despite some generic art, this tribute to the best Canadian movie about a police officer who turns into a werewolf is a gleefully gory, campy good time.

Bait: Off-Color Stories For You To Color, Dark Horse (Hardcover, $20): Chuck Palahniuk’s latest story collection takes the unusual step of having coloring pages. The stories themselves underscore Palahniuk has let go of the grim self-seriousness that’s hindered some of his recent work, and it makes for an amusing, if decidedly for-adults, read.

The Signature Art Of Brian Stelfreeze, BOOM! Studios (Hardcover, $50): Black Panther artist Stelfreeze has long been overdue for a coffee-table book of his own, and this finally puts that on shelves.

The Art Of Atari, Dynamite (Hardcover, $40): The art on the boxes of Atari’s games were, much of the time, richer and more powerful than the games themselves. They’re finally getting their due in this handsome volume from Dynamite, with some surprising names between those covers, and prolific illustrator Susan Jaekel in particular finally getting a well-deserved spotlight.