Broken Frontier

One advantage of having a robot as a protagonist is that they can be blown in half and later reasonably reassembled. After all, it worked for C-3PO.

Then why not the robotic hero of Ultimate Vision? If you missed the first issue of the re-imaging of the Avenger, don’t let that slow you down. Jump right in. In the first issue the now female (but still robotic) Vision, was distracted from her mission of warning sentient beings in the universe of Gah Lak Tus’ coming by Dr. Tartleton. Under false pretenses the ingenious (if loathsome) doctor lured Vision to his orbital lab where he tricked her into reactivating a disabled Gah Lak Tus module. Then he shot her in half. Working for A.I.M., it appeared that the doctor’s intentions were to dissect the module for useful technology and weapons, then sell this material to the highest bidder. Unfortunately for us, it would seem Dr. Tartleton is prepared to break ranks with his masters at A.I.M. for his own nefarious purposes. That’s the problem with mad scientists; you just can’t trust ‘em.

Of course, it’s rather silly to think that something as big, smart and nasty as Gah Lak Tus wouldn’t have a backup plan. Well, guess what? It does.

Not unlike the aforementioned Star Wars hero, Vision finds herself starting this episode in a trash can. In this, and spots like it, the book really shines with its attention to detail. Whether it’s the dialogue between two trash collectors or the big speech of the main bad guy, the way the story is flushed out makes it believable. This is crucial considering that the plot revolves around an egomaniacal scientist that has managed to develop an extremely large orbital lab in pursuit of world domination. This, obviously, isn’t the most original plot. But whether it is James Bond or G.I. Joe, anyone who’s used this ultimately runs into the same problem. How does the leader of said group convince the necessary personnel to join in on his or her cause? After all, fanatics need some kind of cause, political or religious, to rally around. More often than not, most recently exemplified by the re-emergence of HYDRA in the mainstay Marvel Universe, this issue goes unanswered. However, Ultimate Vision shows us the answer to this question throughout the book. Dr. Tartleton has managed to recruit a group of scientists as brilliant, immoral, greedy and ego-centric as himself. And they are all scared witless by the head doc. While this is a ploy that has been used before, the writing and the art actually make it seem plausible in this case.

This attention to detail continues with the artwork, which is gorgeous. The scenes ranged from the cramped interior of a space station to the limitless expanse of the black and all are rendered nicely. Truth be told, the art alone is worth the price of admission.

While there is precious little of Vision in this issue of Ultimate Vision, it is just as fun and interesting as the first issue. Grab it.