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mysteriousmre 's review for:
Scarlet Witch by James Robinson: The Complete Collection
by James Robinson
I picked this collection up on sale after hearing several people rave about the art. I agree on that point, the art teams on this series knocked it out of the park, but I don't find the stories to be all that compelling. At the beginning of the series, Wanda claims she's on a journey to "heal witchcraft", but most of the stories collected here don't connect to that premise in any meaningful way. Most of them are just self-contained issues of Wanda fixing whatever problem she wanders into and most of them aren't resolved in ways that are interesting.
Take this for example, Wanda's fights several foes where the only way to defeat them is to cast a verbal spell in the language that the initial curse was made. That's cool! Especially since Wanda is traveling all around the world. Unfortunately, Wanda knows the correct spell every time, killing the tension in every story and making every magic person she teams up with feel a little less important than they could have.
There is one over-arching story I did like though and that was rehabbing of the Maximov family. There's been a LOT of fuss made behind the scenes at Marvel over whether her powers are a result of her being a mutant or a science experiment gone wrong, Robinson wisely sidesteps all that nonsense and focuses on the fact that her name is Scarlet *Witch* and I think Wanda is better for it. There's a touching story about Wanda reconnecting with the aunt who raised her and learning more about her birth mother, who is revealed to have been *a* Scarlet Witch herself. Wanda also finally hashes it out with her brother Pietro in a Civil War 2 tie-in story and it is *glorious* to see Wanda finally stand up for herself and give that little sociopath the verbal beat down he deserves. Her decision to separate herself from her brother felt like a very mature move, and I wish Robinson had chosen to keep their estrangement permanent instead of them reconciling in in the space of two word bubbles at the series conclusion word bubbles in such a sloppy manner.
I'm happy I read this for the art alone, but the overall plot is chaotic and sloppy. That description might make sense for the character thematically, but it wasn't always a pleasure to read. There's not a doubt in my mind now that you can write a good story focused on Wanda when she's not mentally unstable and I hope one day someone can use the groundwork here to build a story worth telling. The character certainly deserves better than this.
Take this for example, Wanda's fights several foes where the only way to defeat them is to cast a verbal spell in the language that the initial curse was made. That's cool! Especially since Wanda is traveling all around the world. Unfortunately, Wanda knows the correct spell every time, killing the tension in every story and making every magic person she teams up with feel a little less important than they could have.
There is one over-arching story I did like though and that was rehabbing of the Maximov family. There's been a LOT of fuss made behind the scenes at Marvel over whether her powers are a result of her being a mutant or a science experiment gone wrong, Robinson wisely sidesteps all that nonsense and focuses on the fact that her name is Scarlet *Witch* and I think Wanda is better for it. There's a touching story about Wanda reconnecting with the aunt who raised her and learning more about her birth mother, who is revealed to have been *a* Scarlet Witch herself. Wanda also finally hashes it out with her brother Pietro in a Civil War 2 tie-in story and it is *glorious* to see Wanda finally stand up for herself and give that little sociopath the verbal beat down he deserves. Her decision to separate herself from her brother felt like a very mature move, and I wish Robinson had chosen to keep their estrangement permanent instead of them reconciling in in the space of two word bubbles at the series conclusion word bubbles in such a sloppy manner.
I'm happy I read this for the art alone, but the overall plot is chaotic and sloppy. That description might make sense for the character thematically, but it wasn't always a pleasure to read. There's not a doubt in my mind now that you can write a good story focused on Wanda when she's not mentally unstable and I hope one day someone can use the groundwork here to build a story worth telling. The character certainly deserves better than this.