Sunday, November 12, 2023

Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1

The opening chapter of one of two miniseries that inspired the hit Disney+ series WandaVision.

The story opens on Halloween night. It's the first day of Wanda and Vision's new life as a domesticated couple. Retired from the Avengers, living in a new house in the quaint town of Leonia, New Jersey, the Scarlet Witch and Vision are ready to unpack and settle in. As a house-warming gift, Avengers butler Jarvis has come to help with the moving in. As yet another housewarming gift, Captain America has gifted Wanda with an ancient spell-book from one of his SHIELD missions in Europe. 

Being Halloween night, the former Avengers are ready for the goblins and ghosts you'd expect trick-or-treating on your doorstep. What the new homeowners don't expect is for an ancient druid god to escape from their housewarming gifts and try to kill them! 

I was thrilled to get to read a Halloween story out of season. I had no idea that this premiere issue took place on All Hallow's Eve. I've been sitting on these two mini-series almost all year, for reasons that I'll explain in a few days. But had I known that there was a Halloween story in the mix, I would have started Vision and the Scarlet Witch last month!

Another pleasant surprise was the writer. It's Bill Mantlo! A talent whose artistic voice was tragically quieted way, way too early, I love his stuff. I cut my comic book reading teeth on his Rom: Spaceknight stuff. His Marvel Two-In-One and Marvel Team-Up works are master classes on how to write crossovers. Mantlo's prose gets a little too flowly at times, especially at the beginning of this issue. But the man could write some amazing stuff!

A great and surprising first issue to start things off! Perfect for your Halloween reads, though I bet many of you overlook this one as an October time read.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

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