Review by Ian Keogh
In the 1980s there was editorial recognition of the Vision and Scarlet Witch as supporting characters who might sustain a series away from the Avengers. After all, a married couple one of whom was an android and the other a witch was a pretty good concept even before considering their complicated backgrounds.
Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi were given the first shot at the characters in The Avengers: Vision and Scarlet Witch, wherein Mantlo introduced the idea of the couple settling into suburbia, but then did little with it. Steve Englehart, though, exploits the idea far more comprehensively in this material, along with characters associated with them.
Unfortunately, it never comes to life. Englehart populates the series with guest heroes and the villains Avengers readers want to see, but the plots are nowhere near as dense or ambitious as the work Englehart did with the characters when writing The Avengers a decade earlier. Good ideas such as Wanda having a baby and small town bigotry are swamped with melodrama and way too much dialogue. It’s accompanied by misjudgements such as attempts to turn the Toad into a credible criminal mastermind, which only previously worked in The Avengers because it was such a surprise, and largely dull supporting characters, even taking into consideration many are supposed to be ordinary townspeople.
Under other circumstances the art might elevate the material, but Richard Howell’s talent doesn’t equal his dedication and enthusiasm. The stories are told well and Howell takes no shortcuts, but there’s so little dynamism about his art featuring stiff and misproportioned figures, while Wanda’s face is frequently distorted beyond something that can be attributed to stylistic choice. Neither is Howell helped by his pencils being inked by someone different with every new chapter. Some try to fix his deficiencies, while others see that as beyond their remit. The most interesting visual is seeing the Vision in an assortment of ordinary clothes.
Two stories stand out, the first an exceptionally awkward extended family dinner to celebrate Wanda’s pregnancy. It’s going well enough until Magneto turns up, in 1985 most definitely a villain, not a complicated mutant, yet also father to Wanda and Quicksilver. Even better is the Enchantress messing with everyone’s emotions. However, those comments relate to story only as the art never improves.
While it took Marvel over thirty years to collect this material in the first place, they’ve made up for lost time with the amount of reissues since 2010. It’s also found in hardcover as Marvel Masterworks: Vision and Scarlet Witch, and in paperback combined with Mantlo’s earlier work as Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and most recently as Vision & the Scarlet Witch: The Saga of Wanda and Vision.
