All Will Return to Normal
Published:
August 10, 2016
Story:
Tom King
Art:
Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire, VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor:
Wil Moss
Something
happened in Vision #10 that was so crazy that it warranted a new category of
posts that I hadn’t considered before: How is God or Christianity portrayed in
comics? This seem like an obvious opportunity with such series as Vertigo’s
Preacher, but many of those interpretations swing so far to the mature content
extreme that I don’t have much desire to read them. Besides, it’s more
interesting to see when God pops up in a place you weren’t expecting...like a
story about super-powered androids!
Synopsis
(SPOILERS):
In Vision’s
quest to be normal, he builds himself a family of four and moves to the suburbs.
But it’s hard to be normal when you and your family all have superpowers and supervillains.
(Last chance to leave before spoilers) Long story short, Vision’s son is killed.
There are implications that the Vision family is up to something so the
Avengers put the rest of the Vision family on house arrest while they figure out
what is going on. That leads us to this three page gem:
The
author comments on the scene in the letters section of issue 11:
“I think that might be my personal
favorite scene in the whole book. There’s something in there that reminds me of
my relationship with my own daughter, Claire – who is not a robot, to my
knowledge, but who does enjoy discovering the world in her own unique way. Sometimes
I’ll visit her while she’s in the midst of these discoveries and she’ll try to
bring me into what she sees, showing me a twist on reality that I’d never
considered before but makes perfect sense as soon as she shows it to me. It
changes my world. I hope I captured some of that in that scene with Viv and
Vision.”
My Thoughts:
I
don’t think anyone says to themselves, “Ya know, I think I’ll trying praying
today!” Devout religious followers might think like this, but while prayer is designed to be a continual activity through the day, I suspect that for the average non-church-going person there’s an event that triggers this desire to pray. Vision #10 does an excellent
job of expressing that moment.
I
believe the ultimate goal for Viv is to get some closure on the death of her
brother, Vin. With nowhere else to turn, Viv follows the pattern of many
Americans. She asks for help from a “higher power.”
The
thing I love most about this scene is the theological irony which I believe was
completely unintentional by the author. As clarification on irony (Alanis Morissette
accidentally confused a lot of impressionable young minds way back in 1996, but
that’s now over 20 years ago so perhaps we’re set free), irony is the use of
words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. Taking
Viv’s words at face value – (1) it’s unlikely that there is a God, and (2) it’s
unlikely her android brother had a soul – in her mind, it’s astronomically
improbable that who she’s praying to or what she’s praying for even exist in
the first place. So the whole idea is utter nonsense. But here’s the thing: she
prays anyway. What outwardly sounds like an expression of unbelief is actually
an expression of faith. Despite her unbelief, she still prays.
To
you devout religious followers out there, how often do you pray for things that
are impossible? Do your prayers reflect that God is “able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). Or are most of your prayers
about things that could be solved by you ...or the right doctor ...or a lot of money?
So
an atheist android has more faith that most Christians!
It’s
important to note that God doesn’t answer all prayers, but “if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us…and we know that we have what we asked of
Him.” (1 John 5:14-15) It's the whole "according to His will" thing that makes this so confusing. For many answered prayers, it doesn't end with you getting what you asked for, but a new perspective on the whole situation.
So here’s
my prayer. It’s the same prayer as a father concerned about his son written
about in Mark 9:24. "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"