Plot Summary
The unbreakable metal, Adamantium, makes it first appearance in this comic.
The Avengers lend SHIELD a hand by testing out the strength of this new metal. It seems that even the powers of the Avengers isn't enough to break this unbelievable material. Mysteriously, the Vision disappears during the testing. As if he was being summoned.
Returning to their headquarters, things start to go awry when the Avenger's training room machinery goes haywire and nearly kills Iron Man. Next the Vision infiltrates the SHIELD Helicarrier and steals the Adamantium cylinder! Has he gone mad?! Well surely he must, because he later returns and starts fighting the Avengers! Ah, but we discover just why he is acting so strangely as Ultron-6 explodes into the last page of the issue! To be continued next time...
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Story Arc
Betrayal
Well this issue marks the debut of the ultra-material, Adamantium. Back then it was just one cylinder of a powerful unbreakable metal. Who knew it would become so popular and prolific as to be attached to bones and every other unbreakable object!?
The story is okay in this issue, being a solid Avengers tale of the time. What I really found intriguing though, is the art. This was "Barry Smith", back before he became the pencilling god "Barry Windsor-Smith" who did phenomenal work on the X-men (see Uncanny #205), Weapon X, Machine Man, and several Valiant titles. At this time his art was reminiscent of a Kirby hack, but this issue is magic to me as I see some other influences in there. It's not really Barry's style, but it seems like he's channeling some Jim Steranko. So yeah, this issue is a lot of fun if you like to see the evolution of an artist. It's also quite entertaining if you still have some of that kid in you, and just want to read a fun story about the Vision. One of my favorite characters. Oh, and Ultron-6 makes a splash entrance on the last page. In a form that I had always mistakenly believed to be drawn by Jack Kirby!
