I wanted to see what Jason Aaron would do with Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes version.)   So far they are not working well as a group.   And by that I mean the dynamics don't work. 

Also, I still feel rage at Marvel for not realizing how much gas lighting they did during Secret Empire.   Every.  Time.   I.  See.  Cap. 

Every time. 

Anyway, yeah, didn't work for me.   I got this for free with Marvel Insider, and I was curious, but I can't see myself continuing.

I mean, Absolute Vision?   And I'd heard not to expect everything to be Vision.   But there were completely unrelated stories that meant Vision didn't show up until about a hundred pages in, then went away, then was all but gone for a while.   (He was on page, but not functioning.)   I understand why this is Absolute Vision Book 1; it's essential to setting up the second one.   I know this because I've read notes in other Avengers comics that let me know what happened, and a couple other books blatantly referenced this book and volume two. 

I know what's happening here.   I know what's going to happen.   But I still want to finish this badly.   (Both volumes, I mean. I'm a little into the second, and I'm loving it!)  I wanted more Vision.  I wanted much more Vision. I do love what they're setting up, although maybe I love it because I know what's coming up soon.   Reading old comics when you've read newer comics can be odd; you know what's happened, but not the details.  You know whether or not the characters are alive, or active, or dead and then resurrected.   You can see how this storyline affected them years, even decades, down the line. 

And this is a fun comic.   It's old-fashioned as far as both art and dialogue - and any of the writing go.  I've got to admit I am fond of the newer stuff; it's slicker looking and there's not so much exposition in general.   As the world gets more left-leaning in ways, I've found that comics are really trying hard to be more representative, and part of that is a left-leaning quality.   (I'm liberal, and progressive, but also a Zionist, so I step off the beaten path on that.  I'm also struggling with this as I feel abandoned by both the left and the right, and it's influencing a lot of how I view comics, especially those that are political.)  But the point is that I'm a fan of a lot of the politics in newer comics, especially as comics have had a problem with racism and sexism in the past.   They were products of their times, but I don't see this as a reason not to criticism them.  I think that a discussion about why the times were this way is appropriate, and even condemnation of that time thinking these things were okay, is appropriate.   'A product of its time' is normally a pass, much like 'boys will be boys', but a product of it's time doesn't have to be.   It can be used as 'yes it, is, but let's look at why, why it was wrong, and try to make it better.'   

Anyway, older comics can get weird for me for a whole host of reasons.   This didn't as much as many: they didn't deal with Jan's history with Hank Pym that much, but I felt both held their own.   Even though Jan apologized first, she was leading the project, and Hank didn't hold it against her, but instead admitted to his own faults and complimented her.   (And look, it's an old-timey comic.   Jan apologizing first had me cringing a little, wondering if she'd be passively-aggressively held to account for all the weirdness.   She was not.)   Jan was just as flirty as Star-Fox, and neither were held to account.   In fact, there was snark about them being equally flirty but in a way that seemed to be equally snarky at them both.   Neither one was shamed for it in any real way.   When people goggled at She-Hulk, she cheerfully said she was taking it as a reason to goggle right back at them.   (It was her skin color - green, of course - and not her boobs that had them doing double takes.)   Scarlet Witch and Vision's relationship was just done beautifully: they both care a great deal for each other, and while she spends a lot of time at his bedside, it's because he's unwell for a while.   (And while I believe it's to an unhealthy degree, as in she doesn't even eat, I understand why after her hellish, worried life.   She clings to him.   It's not a scenario where she gives up everything and he just takes and takes either.   It's later, in West Coast Avengers, that you find that he doesn't need to sleep, but stays beside her all night because it brings her peace when she hasn't had much in her life.  In other words: I think it would be problematic for a character to give up everything in this unhealthy way, particularly if their parter weren't giving back.   They give up, and in a way that feels fairly equal, so it didn't feel super creepy to me.)

In other words: I just didn't see any of the cringe-worthy sexism.   Yes, Jan strips down to a bikini on a boat to work on her tan.   But to be fair, when she mentions it's for the tan, Star-Fox starts stripping down, too.   And she's not posed in a stick out her boobs way, but rather more naturally. 

Anyway, one star knocked off for the obsession with the weird mouths and poses that have you looking up people's noses.   Two stars knocked off, because why did Absolute Vision Book 1 have so little Vision?   Seriously, a lot could have been taken out without messing up the setup.   Still, it's a good read and I'll probably reread at least the Vision parts. 

Fuck the Damnation storyline, fuck Nick Spencer's storytelling, fuck stories that spin out of Spencer's events.

And since this is Nick Spencer's co-author on Damnation, that means this is towing Spencer's line.  Sorry, no, you have the ability to say no to that bullshit, but Nick Spencer was the one responsible for Marvel gas lighting us in a way: it was his storyline that cornered them into that.   

You have to understand, Marvel seems to think that saying Hydra had nothing to do with nazis ever is okay when it's blatantly untrue; they were nazi stand-ins at the beginning .  They could have evolved into something else, but that's what they were created as.   

And it's this gas lighting that makes me one hundred percent okay with one-starring authors who are willing to co-write mini-series and events with Spencer.   Although, ugh, I'm really disappointed in Coates right now.  I will not be picking up the new Strange because I think it's going to be tied into Damnation, and I'm not convinced Waid will write Strange well.   Also, not picking up anything by Coates or Spencer in the future. 

Damnation is written by Nick Spencer, who wrote nazi-cap.   This is written by his co-writer on Damnation.   Yeah, Marvel, I'm still mad about that bullshit, and especially about you gas lighting us about Hydra!