Target: The Vision!

 

OR: "Attack of the Living Pinheads!"

Following the Avengers' battle with the Grim Reaper and the Space Phantom, there came a moment when the cat was finally let out of the bag regarding two Avengers in particular, as the Vision and the Scarlet Witch took a moment for themselves and openly displayed their deep affection for one another at last. And while most of their teammates were supportive and no doubt extended their congratulations, there were reservations as far as sharing the news with the general public.

Since then, the team has been busy with both internal and external concerns. Hawkeye has left the team to strike out on his own; threats from both Magneto and the Lion God have been dealt with; and the Black Widow briefly accepted Avengers membership, only to return to her relationship with Daredevil on the west coast. Now, the relationship between Wanda and the Vision has been brought out into the open--which, in turn, has prompted public reaction, not all of it positive.

But in matters of hate, there are often extreme elements which can go well beyond expressing ignorant judgments or verbal outrage, dangerous individuals who normally wouldn't pose a threat to a group like the Avengers--but when banded together, and able to deploy explosive force, their threat becomes very real, especially when their method of deployment makes it clear that they are literally willing to die for their cause.

 

When I bought this issue in mid-1973, I honestly didn't give much thought to this story's provocative title, "Your Young Men Shall Slay Visions!", since its meaning was surely connected to the fate of the prone Vision who was lying in the arms of the raging Scarlet Witch on this issue's cover; and by that cover's imagery, I could only initially assume at the time that the mysterious militia group which had reluctantly engaged the Avengers had carried out the attack.  But then, it turned out that the  "Living Bombs" were the ones gunning for the Vision, and I found myself wondering if the story title was merely rooted in some literary passage retrieved at a moment's notice and adapted to this fringe group of suicide bombers. Yet now, more curious about the title than I was in '73, I was able to make the connection between the title and a Bible verse--specifically, Acts 2:17, where the prophet Joel (as told by Peter) tells of the return of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: ...

How that passage aligns with the fanaticism of the Living Bombs is probably making too much of the connection; more than likely, we're just looking at a rushed adaptation of a historical phrase which offered a more dramatic association with the attack on our android Avenger, thanks to the substitution of a couple of words. (Unless the title had its origin elsewhere--if that's the case, someone will hopefully educate me.)

Following the introduction of the Living Bombs, it doesn't take long for Englehart's story to cut to the chase--the very next panel, in fact, as we find the Avengers coming across a scene of violence on the street involving an anti-Semitic militia whose armed ranks the team makes short work of. But when the dust has settled, and the grateful victims rush forward to extend their thanks, one of the Living Bombs reaches her own target and discards her cloak which concealed her harness of death--and before anyone can react, she carries out her fatal mission.

The sudden horror of the scene, however, obscures a number of questions that go unanswered in order to all but open the door for this living bomb to step forward and do her work. For one thing, the Avengers' full lineup has seldom if ever patrolled the streets of New York City without being on a mission of either pursuit or investigation, neither of which appears to apply here--unless they received some tip-off of this militia's activities, and that simply isn't established in the story. (From what we see of the situation beforehand, it's a safe bet that the militia had no intention of showing up on their radar.) Further, the Avengers just happen to come across this scene, while no police officers show up either before or after the deadly event that took place. And what of the bomber? "Carol," we learn, has also been lucky enough to end up in the right place at the right time--but why not simply establish that she'd been assigned to keep tabs on the Avengers' comings and goings from their mansion?

As for the distraught Wanda, not even a god is able to explain the reasoning behind why a human would go to such lengths to destroy the Vision; but after getting word of the incident, the rest of the Living Bombs are determined to finish what their comrade nearly accomplished.

Meanwhile, at Tony Stark's plant, Donald Blake, Stark, and T'Challa assemble to pool their skills in an attempt to save the Vision's life; but down the hall, our group of pinheads (heh, get it?) close in, having already dealt with Stark's security and appropriated their stun guns for their own use. (It's the first I'm hearing of Stark's plant guards being armed with ray blasters, but what do I know.)

As we can see, Wanda's status as a "one and done" Avenger has her fleeing from a battle following just a single use of her power, effectively sidelining her and forcing her fellow Avengers to come to her aid until she's able to call forth her power again. Here, it's Captain America who must hold his own against armed men who could also detonate near him at any moment; but Wanda's retreat also deprives the Vision of critical care when she races in to alert Stark and the others to Cap's predicament, and the three men are forced to trade off with each other and shuffle themselves individually to and from the "operating room" in an attempt to devote their efforts to each crisis. The situation unfortunately provides further evidence that whatever hand-to-hand training Wanda may have received as an Avenger appears to have been wasted effort.

During these mad dashes to and from the lab, however, Englehart at least doesn't completely neglect what's happening right under these Avengers' noses, as both Stark and Blake finally admit to knowing each other's identity as Iron Man and Thor, respectively. But T'Challa, who still has difficulty adding two and two in this matter, must be wondering why both of these men have to run out to "find" the other Avengers; and as for helping to fight off the intruders themselves, it's unlikely since Blake, who is lame, isn't going to be able to be of any help to Cap, while Stark at this point in time hasn't had any training that T'Challa would know of that would allow this industrialist to deal with armed men.

Though speaking of T'Challa, it seems the least he could do here would be to retrieve Cap's shield to help block these stun weapons and enable Cap to fight more offensively--while Thor's hammer could easily block their beams. But again, what do I know? Suffice to say that Thor's power finally deals with the threat of the Living Bombs--which in turn leads to the bombers dealing with themselves.

No, I don't know why Cap is so visually appalled at Wanda's reply to Stark's announcement in this scene; had Wanda in some way maligned Stark's efforts to save the Vision, it would help to explain why Cap reacts here with shock at her words, which taken at face value would normally elicit merely bewilderment from Cap and the others. At any rate, Wanda's path forward turns rather dark in terms of relating to humans--though at some point she'll be forced to turn her attention toward becoming a more effective Avenger.