Two short weeks after reading up on Wanda Maximoff’s sojourn to the frozen north, Scarlet Witch #9 has arrived featuring an extra-special guest star, Felicia Hardy! Steve Orlando, Jacopo Camagni, Frank William, VC’s Ariana Maher, and Alanna Smith unite for this tale of a heist literally gone sideways. However, Black Cat’s elaborate break-in and subsequent showdown with Scarlet Witch begins as an entertaining romp, but is ultimately absorbed by The Amaranth Show.
We’ll get to how Amy is being used in a minute. If you’re just jumping into the story right now, Scarlet Witch is doing fairly well. Wanda and her magic shop have integrated into the community of Lotkill quite nicely despite periodic superhero shenanigans. She’s aided many a lost soul who has wandered in through her Last Door, and has even started taking a proactive approach, trusting the Door’s magic to send her where she’s needed most. The Scarlet Witch has worked so that she and her friends feel cared for, and has been putting in the work to maintain her various family ties across the Marvel Universe. All would be well if not for the concerns surrounding Chthon’s escape and the dangerous mystery attached to her mystical apprentice, Amaranth.
Across the past four issues, Amy has served as Wanda’s sidekick, requiring more direct tutelage than your average Strange Academy student. She has an intuitive talent for abjuration–the ability to dismiss and disperse even the most powerful bits of magic–and an unsettling knack for inducing insanity in others. Amaranth has helped Scarlet Witch battle ancient Asgardian ice worms and even held her own against Nicholas Scratch. However, Wanda’s apparent inaction towards the mystery of Amy’s past, and the potential dangers posed by her powers has led to the bond between the two to run thin. Aggravated, Amaranth even confronted her mentor about it, seemingly setting the stage for an issue focused on getting to the bottom of all this.
Instead, Scarlet Witch #9 finds Wanda and Amy having returned to their lodgings in Lotkill, only to be awoken by the Black Cat’s attempt to steal from the Scarlet Witch’s vault. By scheming her way into some assistance from Rintrah, Felicia managed to safely break into the sub-dimensional storage space and get her hands on a particularly powerful scrying artifact. Wanda attempts to reclaim this treasure, but it turns out probability hexes and luck powers are quite volatile when used against each other. Amaranth is able to abjure the ensuing chaos, only to set Black Cat’s mind aflame and then stumble upon the most guarded secret of the vault: the Tri-Crown of the Chaos Godhead. The unique blend of teenage curiosity, hubris, and a lack of knowledge of the events of Empire: X-Men embolden the young witch to just go ahead and grab that staff. The mayhem to come is being saved for next issue, along with the promise of “AMARANTH’S TITANIC TRUTH.”
Abracadabra amor-ooh-na-na
Credit: Marvel Comics
Amaranth’s entrance into the greater narrative of Orlando’s Scarlet Witch run was a surprise, but initially wove in with relative ease. Across two ongoings and a miniseries co-led with her brother, Wanda’s story has been in a period meant to showcase her character growth in recent years, reflecting on how themes of bodily autonomy, atonement, and responsibility connect to her character. The arrival of her new apprentice set the stage to consider how Wanda sees herself as a mentor, instructor, and even as a parental guardian. It seemed to be a promising direction for the story, especially as the Scarlet Witch introduced Amaranth to her sons, but instead the momentum slowed. By Scarlet Witch #9, the usage of Amaranth as a narrative device to induce growth or new insight in Wanda has seemingly stalled out. Instead, the form of the book is morphing into one where Wanda is busy with any given adventure, while Amaranth wanders off and gets into trouble. The story mostly follows Amaranth, flashing back to Wanda now and again where she inevitably wonders, “Gee, where’s Amaranth?”
Of course, it’s worth noting that this is Amaranth’s introductory story, so a healthy amount of focus on her is understandable if Marvel really wants her to stick with audiences. Also, this arc has yet to be completed, so it is entirely possible that this critique is premature. The next issue or two may really crystalize this journey into a great Scarlet Witch saga. But as it stands at issue #9, Wanda’s response to Amaranth both as a student and a potential source of a mystical crisis is inadequate at best and negligent at worst. Playing the inattentive caretaker is discordant with Wanda’s current characterization, and it remains to be seen if this idea is meant to be explored or is the accidental result of trying to stretch the story’s suspense just a bit farther.
Taking a moment to talk specifically about the art of Scarlet Witch #9, Camagni and William feel like they’re really in sync here. There’s a lot to take in: balancing the color palettes for Wanda, Amy, and Felicia, the dynamic paneling during Amaranth’s abjuration, and spooky phenomena like Milfour’s Dragonhelm give us all so much to sink our teeth into. But above all, something here draws us back to the eyes, which not only bring more color into play, but also forms a visual shorthand for what the effects of Amaranth’s madness magic look like. Taken together, it’s a job well done.
Scarlet Witch #9 is a heist gone awry, but the fun face-off between Wanda and Black Cat ends up just serving as a catalyst for more Amaranth-centric drama. It’s a fine comic, but the concept feels a bit wasted. In a publishing era where the next issue never feels guaranteed, this installment draws out the intrigue of Amaranth’s mystery for the sake of drawing it out. Thankfully, next issue promises some form of resolution.
You must be logged in to post a comment.