Scarlet Witch #4: Betta Watch Out for That House

“If your need is great, and your hope is gone, there you will find the Scarlet Witch”, the new status quo for Wanda, making her a sort of fairy godmother, for the lack of a better term, for those who are at their absolute rock bottom, with no one to run, or nowhere to hide, and it’s been a pretty novel concept so far. Orlando and Pichelli have been knocking it out of the park with this run, that runs the gamut of character development, while also world building, giving Wanda a cast, and her own little niche in the greater Marvel universe. So get ready for the issue of all issues, and let’s go. 

Orlando and Pichelli have been pure fire this run so far, and it has a lot to do with their takes on the book thus far. They’re giving us some jaw dropping visuals, interwoven with character development on one person who’s tangentially linked to Wanda with each issue, letting us poke into their heads, and see how they relate to one another. This issue the team focuses on Darcy, who you might know owes her origin from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the cheeky intern for Jane Foster, who would provide much of the comic relief for the films, so her role in Wanda’s solo is pretty much an unknown at this point. Well, up until this issue at least. 

This is how she do it

Scythia, aka Marvel’s Hippolyta (not to be confused with DC’s Hippolyta, the mother of Wonder Woman), is an immortal demigoddess, and daughter of Ares, was the former queen of the Amazons. She’s also the founder of the sect of women warriors, the Bacchae, that protects women and the abused, so you’d think that Wanda and Hippolyta’s goals would be the same, and they kinda are, but Hippolyta’s after Darcy, and Wanda doesn’t take her friends, or in this case, associate and employee, being threatened well, so the two warrior women go to the mats over the life of Darcy, in what can easily be described as the biggest battle of this series. 

The story here is just full of potential, giving us a powerful female villain that could go toe to toe with some of Marvel’s biggest names. I could even see other Marvel women joining the Bacchae, like Thundra, Man-Killer, Titania, Superia, and so many more. It’s a very interesting concept that I could see involving so many of these strong women, who have been brutalized and attacked by men, making them not villains, or even victims, but gray area defenders to brutalized women. It’s something that would give some gravitas to some of these often overlooked female characters whose rationale for becoming villains to begin with. What it was that drove these women to the point where they felt the need to terrorize the society that treated them so horribly. Or in Thundra’s case, why her society is one that’s so misandrist. 

You betta drop that ^*%#% house down. Boots.

Sara Pichelli has been a phenomenal partner on Wanda’s adventure, and it sounds cliche, but it gets better with every new issue. Whether it be the designs on Wanda’s costume, or the armor worn by Scythia, I just keep looking at every panel, and just love every little nuance that you can pick up. Having Sara be the main series artist has been one of the biggest strengths to this series that Wanda’s last one felt missing. It’s this consistent artistic vision that she’s providing, where having a different artist with each issue I feel was one of the biggest hindrances to the last book, and I’m glad Marvel learned from their past mistakes. I was a fan before, but I’m all in with Sara.