‘Scarlet Witch’ #2 uses the medium to its advantage

The Last Door welcomes its latest wayward soul.

February 1, 2023

As teased at the end of the last issue, the latest person to find themselves walking through the Last Door is none other than Wanda’s daughter*, Viv Vision. Orlando threads the needle of Wanda’s fraught history well. Both not getting too bogged down in the details while still addressing the strangeness of their relationship and expressing how their connection is still meaningful.

*Her relationship with Wanda is uniquely comic book style messy. So, Viv is the daughter of Wanda’s ex-husband, The Vision, and his wife at the time, Virginia. Virginia was created by Vision from Wanda’s brainwaves, I guess? So Viv isn’t really a biological or adopted daughter (or niece?) but Wanda isn’t interested in a specific label, as far as she is concerned, Viv is her daughter. I explain this here to demonstrate how deftly Orlando navigates the medium of comics with all the twists and turns of continuity in just a few panels.

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Wanda enters the world of Viv’s mind to help free her from what turns out to be the torment of Dreamqueen. Dreamqueen has found Viv’s mind to be exceptionally appealing as it has experienced a fair amount of trauma but is a bit more durable than a human brain. The ensuing banter and and Pichelli’s rendering of the twisted dreamscape are a joy and are an excellent use of the comic medium.

The “chaos” of Wanda’s life has touched a lot of people and she’s currently in a position to nurture those relationships and use her connections to benefit herself and others. The talisman introduced in issue #1 is a great example of the potential this series has to explore all these seemingly unrelated connections. She needed Quicksilver’s help in the previous issue to polish the talisman and a cute letter at the end of the issue tells us she has enlisted the help of her sister Dr. Lorna Dane Ph.D. as well. Lorna’s expertise in geophysics and other superhero wackiness will surely come in handy in Wanda’s quest to figure out what, exactly, is up with this rock.

Sarah Pichelli is truly a master of her craft. The fashion in this issue is immaculate and the imagery of the dream sequence is inspired.

The issue also includes a backup story by Stephanie Williams, Chris Allen, and Dee Cunniffe. Wanda and Storm go to the moon to procure some tea ingredients in a short, breezy story. Williams has a great track record of telling fun fan-made stories with Storm and I’m thrilled every time she gets to play in the Marvel Universe.