All Out Of Tricks — Reviewing ‘Scarlet Witch’ #1

Comic books, as a medium, are truly magical. Various creators glide gracefully on stage to pull off mind-blowing amazing feats. Other times they stumble onto stage with the same impact as a poorly designed card trick.

One where they take a deck of cards, have you pick one, throw them all into the air 52 card pickup style while frantically pointing at every card pleadingly asking, “Is that your card?”  A bit hyperbolic perhaps but calling Scarlet Witch #1 the first type of trick would be a disservice to the big-time magic acts.

A whole new shiny number one for the red-clad chaotic magic user of the Marvel Universe from Steve Orlando, Jacopo Camagni, Frank William, and Ariana Maher.

Look, this is not a terrible book. Trust me, I’ve read terrible comics, and this wouldn’t even crack the top fifty on that list, were I to ever bother to spend the time to make such a list (I never would). It’s overly talkative, a series of events, and pulls out deeper and deeper cut characters or concepts with a big grinning “ta-da!” every chance it gets. Every pointed critique that I made about the Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver series that preceded this relaunch pretty much carries over here.

Maybe it’s a good thing the first volume ended and turned its next arc into the sibling miniseries to get a shiny new number one followed by this new shiny number one. Marvel loves their shiny number ones, even though it seems unlikely such measures are actually bringing in more new readers. Joining the number one race robbed the book of something special and it’s just sort of a shell of that first ten-issue series I raved about.

Done in one adventure that were rich with character and relationships, using callbacks and deep cuts sparingly but in ways that elevated the overall story. Replaced by characters just word vomiting at us (especially through captions) and a bunch of vague events that center around the aforementioned walking easter eggs that Orlando leans on far too heavily in his Marvel works.

At least it looks pretty fun.

A third volume means a third regular artist, as Camagni takes over for Sara Pichelli and Lorenzo Tammetta who handled the previous books. Much like the previous artistic styles there is an airy nature with a hint of whimsy that plays through the artwork. Bringing a levity in certain places while holding onto some more severe weighted feeling for the more serious moments. Plenty of depth and detail richly sown through things so that the spaces and the characters definitely feel alive. In a few spots that whimsy and airy feeling feel a little disconnected to the more serious elements at play (almost horror like) but only slightly.

Colors are still the domain of William who remains on board from previous volumes. Employing a lot of the same color palette choices from before, with minor adjustments complementing the overall artistic style. Most spaces are brought to life with more middle of the road tones that feel more natural and almost real. Thus, allowing the magic and superhero related elements be the ones soaking up richer more vibrant and notable color tones. Making sure that the world at large feels fantastical to certain degrees.

Another holdover is Maher, one of the best letterers working today. Always game to bring tons of crackling energy, letting captions and dialogue really sing. Dropping in all the styles of fonts with plenty of colors and framing magic to bring even more life. As noted, there are a lot of words being deployed here and while things are a bit overwhelming with their mere presence, Maher makes it less so with the deployment. Making sure that no one moment or space is too heavily taken over by the words, so that everything still has room to breathe.

Scarlet Witch #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.