Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1

The second miniseries to star Vision and the Scarlet Witch begins with quite a few changes. What do you expect? 3 years have elapsed since then. Here's a small rundown of important things that have some impact of the current plot:

• The American Government has decreed that there are too many Avengers. The team has been trimmed down to 7 members with Hawkeye and Iron Man going to California to start the West Coast Avengers. 
• Since revealing that he is the father of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, Magneto has pledged to repent of his past sins against humanity and is currently on trial for his past crimes as the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
• Ultron, acting through a super-computer, turned Vision temporarily evil. Just inches away from taking over the world, the Avenger reclaimed his synthetic humanity and is awaiting being cleared of any dark influences on him...

Issue #1 opens with Wanda and Vision quitting the Avengers due to how Vision has been held by the government without due process. But the heroes' freedom is short-lived when the biological brother of Simon Williams, the Grim Reaper, sends an army of zombies to capture Vision and Scarlet Witch. Meanwhile on the West Coast, Ultron has tracked down Wonder Woman and kidnapped him, leading Hawkeye and his team on a search for their missing comrade.

One of my greatest pet peeves about comic books takes place at the closure of this issue. It ended on a cliffhanger. But instead of being resolved by reading issue #2 of this mini, you have to read issue #2 of West Coast Avengers. Normally, I would have held off on reading any further. But I really want to get to a certain issue of this series before Turkey Day. As I've been waiting almost all year to read these books, I said 'screw it' and went on ahead to the next issue. 

If you are someone who has to have all the correlating issues in your possession before reading the whole story, take note. Otherwise, trust that the team of Steve Englehart and Richard Powell will keep readers abreast of what was missed out if you decide like me to forgo reading West Coast Avengers #2 first.

Worth Consuming! -but losing points for the cliffhanger pet peeve.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.