Another very surprising Romita, Jr./Austin team-up on this cover. It’s weird how “regular comic book art” Vision looks compared to the rest of the image. Sal Buscema’s in on breakdown with Mike Esposito handling finishes this month. We get going with The Scarlet Witch waking up from a nightmare. She finds Vision elsewhere in their house and tells him her dream was a mysterious figure beating the crap out of him, only for her to learn the mystery person was her.
Necro… damus. Aaaaalright. Who’s this nerd, then? I’m sure we’ll find out. Vision is actually still with Spider-Man at the end of last issue…
Oh no! Paunch! That’s so rude! I guess we can assume ol’ Paunch doesn’t make it out of this one alive, but let’s see. Spidey is righty freaking out about Paunch selling him out when out of nowhere, lighting starts striking the ground around Paunch and The Vision. Spidey swoops back in and saves his wouldbe betrayer, and we see a “projected image” of Necrodamus and the unconscious form of Wanda up in the clouds, zapping down lightning. Necro helpfully tells us he’s an old Defenders villain who was trying to put his consciousness in Namor’s body, but was defeated. So then he made a deal with some evil gods or whatever that put him on a collision course with The Avengers, and Wanda hexed him into another dimension in Avengers 128, which woulda been some time ago. So now he’s back, and he’s chosen Vision as the latest person whose body he wants to steal.
Sure, ok. He does his hoodoo and now he’s in Vision’s body. He frees Wanda as he promised (So, obviously, her dream is gonna come true), and then he destroys his old body with Vision’s eyebeams! Really putting all his eggs in one basket here. Spidey calls Necro a slimy sonuva– for the 2nd time in 3 pages, but loses a short battle and is knocked out.
Hardcore. As the sun rises, Necrovision appears in Concord, New Hampshire, and just starts ripping up everything in sight. Not the most creative use of his newfound power. Then we cut to Paunch driving the remaining heroes to New Hampshire, which is kind of hilarious. They get there with relative ease, Paunch being a real jerk about Spidey’s identity the whole way, for some reason, and then they see Vision’s rampage and it’s fightin’ time.
Paunch is a complicated dude. Vision is beating the crap out of Spider-Man as Wanda works up the strength through her sadness to hit Vision with a zap that puts him down instantly. But when she gets close, he’s right back up, and the fighting continues. And it goes pretty badly, with Necrovision overwhelming Wanda and then preparing to choke the life out of her.
But… then… why was Paunch basically taunting Spidey about not knowing where Peter Parker is the whole way to New Hampshire? That was weird. Ah, well. The day is saved, Vision has a soul, and Paunch gets to retire. Who could ask for more?