Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (1940)
by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
cover by Alex Schomburg
After the embarrassing Marvel Boy, the Simon & Kirby create a character that will stand the test of time for decades. But before Captain America, they created the original Vision.
We’ll catch up with the cover story later. Let’s first have a look at the Vision story, which begins with a peculiar splash page that showcases the title character…
…but bizarrely enough also includes an infodump that spoils the whole story!
The premise is quite bonkers: Professor Mason believes ghosts are actually beings from another dimension, so he builds a device to come into contact with them.
It’s incredible that Professor Mason is relegated to flashbacks to Vision’s origin, because it would have been SO easy to integrate him with other stories. Other Golden Age scientists come up from time to time, and new ones who lived in that time are retconned into being from the same era.
Surely SOME story could be done with someone recreating his machine to actually speak to the dead?
Since this is the Golden Age, even super-scientists who bend the rules of nature are not safe from mobsters. Although I do like the idea that the Professor had to borrow money from the mob.
The mobster interrupts the Professor during the experiment, which turns out to be exactly what he needed: in order to open a portal to the other dimension, his machine needs smoke.
It’s for mystical reasons, but imagine if Vision ended up being popular. He would surely have been used in cigarette ads.
Our hero is Aarkus, “Destroyer of Evil”, who wastes no time whatsoever killing the mobster’s gunman.
It can be hard to distinguish the earliest Kirby artwork, especially when he’s working with Simon.
But this is UNMISTAKABLY a Kirby panel!!!
Either this guy is SO terrified of the Vision that he runs head first into an incoming car, or the Vision just hypnotized him.
Presumably he really WAS killed by the car, since Vision soon shows up in human form (!!!) to explain that he didn’t even kill the first one… he died because of the Refrigo-Coil of the Dimension Smasher(patent pending).
Sounds legit.
Later the mobsters show up again and kidnap Professor Mason’s daughter, only to then end up fighting Vision. With fisticuffs, because Golden Age.
Amazingly the do manage to capture Vision. I did not see that coming!
Oh come on, I WAS KIDDING with the cigarette ad!!!
Seriously, Vision needs smoke to turn back into his superhuman form. Maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t become popular when smoking was no big deal.
The story has big horror vibes to be sure, and they hold up pretty well.
The inter-dimensional being with vaguely-defined mystical powers then proceeds to punch his way out of the situation.
The Vision, Destroyer of Evil and Stealer of Pants.
Yeah, Vision’s horror vibes sure evaporated quickly!
And that’s already the end. But the Vision’s crusade against pants has only just begun.
Historical significance: 4/10
Despite introducing the name and most of the visuals, this Vision doesn’t have a lot of influence.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
There sure is a lot of effort to make sure we believe the Vision doesn’t kill anyone.
I’m not buying it, he CLEARLY murdered the frozen guy!
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Better than the average of the era, but way too short and uneven. The horror scenes REALLY hold up, and to a lesser extent the opening scene.
But having the Vision beaten up in human form is just lame.
How close is this to the modern character? 5/10
The Vision had a respectable career in Marvel Mystery Comics, lasting until #48 in 1943.
However it seems nobody knew what to do with him: his powers and his origins were all over the place. His connection to smoke was basically the only constant. He could basically do anything the story demanded and he oscillated between being a policeman in his smoke dimension (the most consistent version) to being a guardian to humanity to being an immortal Tibetan monk.
He ALMOST came back in 1968, when Roy Thomas wanted to make him join the Avengers!
I said, “What if I brought back The Vision from the old comics?” He said, “Naw, just do an android.” I never asked him why. He didn’t care what I did as long as it was an android, so I made up an android and called him The Vision, and he looked a lot like the old one. John Buscema added this great artistic touch, this little jewel on his forehead.
ROY THOMAS
Roy Thomas being Roy Thomas, he couldn’t resist bringing back the original Vision anyway: in 1972, a duplicate of him was summoned by Rick Jones in Avengers #97 to end the Kree-Skrull War.
Strangely enough, Vision doesn’t join the Invaders in their 70s series like other Golden Age heroes… but Roy Thomas corrects that by giving him a role in Invaders volume 2, in 1993.
He’s showed up in the modern era a couple times, being an important player in “Invaders Now!” in 2011.
In 2013 he even met Legacy (Professor X’s son), of all characters! At least in theory… his characterization is all over the place.
However take into consideration that Legacy is completely insane, so he’s not exactly a reliable narrator.
Most recently, Kurt Busiek revamped him in “The Marvels” series. We learn that time works differently in his dimension, so he’s suddenly extremely old.
He comes out of retirement in a completely new look, which is different enough from the more famous Vision while still looking the part. I REALLY like this redesign!
He’ll never be as famous as his android namesake, but clearly this Vision does have a place in the Marvel Universe not easily filled by other characters.
What else was in Marvel Mystery Comics #13?
The Human Torch cover story is not particularly noteworthy, although it does show that the idea that the Torch’s body is hot enough to melt bullets WHEN HIS FLAME IS OFF lasted for a while.
The Namor story is a bit more interesting. It features both Namor’s mother and his cousin Dorma, who will be his love interest in the Silver Age.
She’s drawn in the same style of all the other Atlanteans in the Golden Age (although their skin color underwater is inconsistent, and often changed in the recoloring).
Same character, Golden and Silver Age.
In the story, Namor and Dorma go to the surface world to deal with the war. They decide to wear gas masks to protect themselves from attacks (!!!) and new costumes that look absolutely ridiculous.
Namor’s Golden Age stories are SUPPOSED to be in continuity, but only in broad strokes.
At this point Dorma was already able to breathe air just fine, which is most definitely something she CAN’T do in the Silver Age… it’s the whole reason she eventually dies!
It’s important to note that American hasn’t joined the war yet, and Captain America won’t be created before a few months, but Namor is ALREADY involved in World War II.
Yep. Namor was already kicking Nazi butt before Captain America was a thing and while all other heroes were busy with racketeering and mobsters.
I’ve mentioned many times that Timely Comics, unlike DC and Quality Comics, tended to give non-superheroes just a couple of appearances.
Teen detective Terry Vance is an exception, because he gets around 50 stories throughout the Golden Age.
On the other side of the spectrum, Electro only gets 16 Golden Age stories.
No, not the Spider-Man villain. The remote controlled robot.
Little known fact: until the 1940s, the Moon was inhabited by a medieval city with super-robots.
How did Roy Thomas NOT retcon this into being an alien from an already known species settling on the Blue Area of the Moon???
Well at least we know why the aliens don’t show up again: ELECTRO DESTROYS THE CITY.
We then go from that ABSOLUTELY BONKERS story to one featuring Angel.
Who I’m still convinced is the Golden Age Punisher.
And finally we have the Golden Age Ka-Zar, who has absolutely nothing to do with the Silver Age Ka-Zar despite both of them being blond Tarzan rip-offs with the same name.
Good thing Captain America is about to show up, because these Marvel Golden Age characters sure are bloodthirsty.
