Wordy Affairs And Petty Squabbles: Reviewing ‘Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver’ #3

Comic books, by their nature, are very much that sweet spot combination of two different art forms: prose and illustrations. Mix them, and, well, you’ve cooked up something pretty special.

Unfortunately, sometimes the recipe can be a bit too heavy on one ingredient, and you get a result like Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3. This wordy affair comes from Steve Orlando, Lorenzo Tammetta, Frank William, and Ariana Maher.

Flip back through previous reviews and you’ll find (if you didn’t already know) I have been quite fond of the Scarlet Witch starring books lately. Bringing the character back to a space of independence, power, heroics, and no longer letting her traumas and past define her. It’s been pretty good, until this little miniseries that should have just been an arc of the previous series (ahead of a relaunch in June).

Orlando can hit character beats and work with various premises quite well. Sometimes though he has a propensity to turn issues into easter egg fests, trying to bring in as many “Remember this?” characters or references as possible. Other times, he throws a bunch of words that should mean something but come off as word salad onto the page.

This is one of them.

We get some good character beats in there, don’t get me wrong. Beside that, though, this is a whole issue of characters spouting fountains of words at one another. Some of them dealing with their issues, most of it just being a recapping moment or the whole series so far or a space to lay out the plot motivations (sans actual information).

Basically, the comic is talking at you, rather than talking to you.

Also, Speed is prominent on the cover but summarily dismissed (to handle something we’ll never see on page anywhere). Such a comics thing to do.

At least visually it all sings. As Tammetta delivers another issue of really solid, emotive, fluid artwork that leaps off the page. Plenty of vibrant energy is behind each character, as the more active sequences have weight and motion to them. Enough weight is added to each character and space to allow the heftier portions of the story to work and have power. On the other hand, it has enough whimsical or fun tonal power to keep things lighter and more fun.

These visuals tell the story so smoothly. Yet, the words that are all over the page are trying to double down on telling us what is happening. If this was a novel, it would be the way to go. We’re in a comic though, and if the visuals are showing things, there is no need to tell us.

Especially when the artwork is this dynamic.

Paired with William’s colors just makes the illustrations explode even more. So smooth, bold, and vibrant. Everything is very bright, while existing on its own section of the color spectrum. Setting colors for buildings and nature, feel closer to normal and help set the overall tonal energy for the world. It’s the costumes, powers, and magical elements that pop even more. Full of pinks, greens, reds and other off the chart colors.

I would call some of the vibrant colors aggressive in their vibrancy, and that is a good thing. We’re supposed to feel like this world is ours but populated with beings and things beyond our scope. This artwork makes us intimately feel that.

So many words are sprayed across the pages, but they are handled with care. Maher works her magic and makes it flow around smoothly. Dropping in all the right bits of modifications so that it’s bright, bubbly, colorful, loud, or whatever else it needs to be in the moment. I love how they keep having Vision’s bubbles different, with colorful fonts, to stand out from the others. It’s a small thing to make it clear that his “synthetic” voice sounds quite different from the humans he’s beside.

All those SFX are fun, as they should be, selling the moment. Colorful and big or small, either way keeping the provided sound tightly connected to the action. Keeping everything where it needs to be, and without our gaze.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver #3 is now available from Marvel Comics.