Vision's first appearance: Avengers #57 (1968)

Sometimes a first appearance is overshadowed by what immediately follows it. This is the case here, and it creates a situation for the buyer that is less simple than it seems.

The first number carries the status; the second carries the reputation. Knowing what you want avoids paying for what you don't want.

Status and reputation

Two consecutive issues, two distinct functions, and a lasting tension between them.

The number of August 1968 introduces the character. It bears the title that announces it, it shows it on the cover, and it is him that the catalogs list under the title of the first appearance. In terms of status, no discussion possible.

The number of September 1968 exposes its origins and what inhabits it. It's the one whose title has stuck, the one that readers cite when asked to summarize the character, and the one that appears most often in selections of notable stories from the period.

This dissociation between the number which counts administratively and the one which counts emotionally is not specific to this file, but it is rarely so clear. It produces two markets which partially overlap.

Practical advice: decide before you look. If you want the first appearance in the strict sense, only one number is suitable. If you want the story that made the character, it's the other one — and it usually costs less.

Identification without trap

Good rare news on Silver Age comics: this file presents no difficulty of identification.

The catalog does not list only one print for each of these two numbers. No version at an increased price, no edition intended for a foreign market, no reprint likely to maintain confusion.

The verification is therefore limited to two elements, both legible on a correct cover photo: the number and the printed price, which should read twelve hundred.

This simplicity has an appreciable consequence on the way of purchasing: all attention can be focused on the condition of the copy, without having to first decide a question of edition. On other files from the same decade, this prerequisite absorbs a good part of the buyer's energy.

Thomas and Buscema

Roy Thomas holds the script, John Buscema the drawing. The duo was then installed on the series and had given it a recognizable style.

Buscema's contribution deserves to be highlighted on this specific character. It was necessary to make a rigid face expressive, without facial expressions or eyebrows. The solution goes through posture and framing: the character is drawn in attitudes which convey the emotion that the face cannot express.

This bias explains a good part of the effect produced by these two issues. The reader understands what an impassive figure feels, only by the way he occupies the panel.

Thomas, for his part, belongs to this generation of authors coming from the readership, attentive to the memory of the published universe. He constructs his stories by reusing existing elements rather than inventing them from scratch, which gives this period of the series a particular density.

A note on the balance of the issue, useful to those who buy to read. The character does not occupy the scene alone: ​​he is part of a team plot which follows its course, with the other members and their own concerns. His part is important but shared, which is the rule in a collective series and sometimes surprises buyers who come for him alone.

What the character says

The narrative proposition is simple to state and formidably effective: a machine built to destroy, which refuses this function and seeks to become something else.

What sets this treatment apart from dozens of other fictional robots is the sense of failure. The character fails to be human, and the story does not pretend otherwise. He occupies a permanent in-between, neither machine nor person, and it is this uncomfortable position that makes him interesting over time.

The second issue takes this idea to its most explicit point, with a final scene that has become a reference - precisely because it shows a being supposedly devoid of emotion experiencing one.

For the buyer coming from the adaptations, a useful clarification: the 1968 version is more stripped down and more melancholy than the recent incarnations. There is less action and more doubt.

A very dense moment in the series

These two fascicles do not arrive in isolation. They belong to a period when the same publication produced lasting creations at an unusual pace.

A few months earlier, the series had already introduced the mechanical opponent that makes this character. The two files therefore touch, and their respective collectors cross paths on similar numbers.

Two practical consequences arise from this.

The demand for this portion of the series is wider than it appears. Several communities of buyers converge there, which limits off-peak periods and makes obvious good deals rare.

The numbers between the keys remain affordable. They belong to the same edition, the same conservation context, the same creative team - but no catalog indicates them. This is where the room for maneuver for a patient buyer lies.

For those who want to build something coherent, this portion of the series constitutes, in my opinion, one of the best short sets of the late 1960s.

The August 1968 cover

Let's focus for a moment on the image, which is part of a classic editorial strategy of the time: announcing the novelty through the title as much as through the design.

The name of the character appears there in full, in an announcement formula which leaves no doubt about the event of the issue. It was the method used to signal to the passing reader that he had something new in his hands - a process that has since disappeared, replaced by press releases and networks.

For the collector, this convention has an unexpected advantage: it makes the number identifiable at first glance, even in a mediocre photo or in a poorly stored bin. Few first appearances offer this comfort.

In terms of conservation, the composition presents the usual defect of covers of the period: large surfaces of solid color on which the whitening of the fold is immediately noticeable. Examine this area in raking light before making any decision.

Why this character lasted

A question deserves to be asked: how did a figure introduced as a potential adversary become established for almost sixty years?

The answer lies in a rare property of its design. The character wears a unanswered question rather than power or revenge. However, an unanswered question does not exhaust itself: each generation of authors can pose it in the terms of its time.

This explains why the corpus spans decades of very different sensibilities without ever seeming obsolete. The stories from the 1980s approach it through domestic life, those from the 2010s through contemporary alienation — and both work, because the starting material prescribes nothing.

For the buyer, this longevity has a concrete translation: the demand for the founding issues does not depend on fashion. It is renewed each time an author successfully takes up the character, which has happened at regular intervals.

What to look at

Since identification is simple, the evaluation focuses entirely on the object. Four points on these numbers.

Staples. Six decades later, they have often rusted, and the oxidation spreads to the surrounding paper, leaving a brown halo. Nothing makes up for this defect.

The edge of the page block. Claim it photographed from the side: nothing provides information more quickly on true acidification, which a beautiful cover easily conceals.

The back fold. These covers have large colored surfaces where the slightest friction leaves a clear, immediately visible line.

The integrity of the booklet. The advertising pages of the time included cut-out coupons. A lack, invisible on a cover photo, drops the copy of an entire category.

A final word on provenance. These booklets circulate today mainly in batches from old collections or inheritances. This means that their condition depends largely on how an unknown person stored them forty years ago - hence the considerable differences between two copies offered on the same day at the same price. Take the time to compare several offers before concluding: on this issue, patience is better paid than negotiation.

Three ways to enter

The choice arises before the search, not during it.

The first appearance alone. The August 1968 issue, in best accessible condition. It is the most readable objective, and the only one which meets a priority requirement.

The original story alone. The September issue, generally more affordable, and yet the one that contains what readers remember. Excellent report for those who buy to read first.

The couple. The two together, which form a whole: the arrival then the explanation. This is the option that I recommend, especially since the price difference between the two makes adding the second inexpensive once the first is acquired.

On the budget side, see ourdecryption of the rating; reading side, ourrun selection.

What we are asked about this number