Avengers: Vision and the Scarlet Witch

 

Reprints Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1-4, Giant-Size Avengers #4

Written by Bill Mantlo and Steve Englehart.

Penciled by Rick Leonardi and Don Heck.

Inked by Ian Akin, Brian Garvey and John Tartaglione.

It's Halloween Night in Leonia, New Jersey. The Vision and his wife Wanda, the Scarlet Witch are enjoying a walk through their new neighborhood while the Vision entertains trick or treaters with displays of his superpowers. They have recently quit the Avengers and moved into their new home.  Edwin Jarvis, butler from Avengers' Mansion, has come to help them unpack.  

Jarvis gives Wanda an ancient book. Scarlet Witch puts the book down and walks away, not noticing that the book has opened itself. When the book is hit by moonlight, it causes Samhain to emerge from its pages. He attacks Wanda and tells her his backstory. Samhain is the personification of Halloween.  He wants to know why Wanda summoned him.

Samhain's power transforms trick or treaters into the costumes they're wearing. They attack Vision and cause him more pain than he's ever experienced.

Can Wanda and the wounded Vision overcome the power of Samhain?

Next, the two heroes are contacted by Robert Frank, better known as the Whizzer, a World War II era crime fighter who possesses super-speed. Wanda believed Whizzer to be her father at one time and he is the closest thing to a father she has ever known. Frank still thinks he's Wanda's biological dad. 

Frank wants to take custody of his autistic son Nuklo, who currently lives in a special medical facility.  Nuklo's nuclear-based powers made him a deadly opponent for the Avengers in the past, but he has the IQ of a toddler.   

Nuklo's therapist I.S. Bischoff has been very helpful to Nuklo's mental and emotional development.  But the heroes are shocked to discover Bischoff is actually Whizzer's arch enemy Isbisa. The villain wears a suit that allows him to drain Nuklo's power and use it as his own. Whizzer is killed and Vision's battle with Isbisa costs him an arm. Wanda's hex power is strong enough to defeat Isbisa, but the fight leaves the Vision in critical condition.  

Doctors stabilize Vision by inducing him into a coma. His android "brother" Simon Williams, better known as Wonder Man, is summoned to help save him. When the Vision was created, he was given some of Wonder Man's life energies. In order to save Vision, Wonder Man must repeat this process. 

But things get complicated when Wonder Man's brother the Grim Reaper shows up to kill the heroes!

Finally, Scarlet Witch and Vision fly to the moon to visit the Inhumans. They believe the Inhumans' advanced medical technology can restore Vision's arm. This also gives them a chance to visit Wanda's brother Quicksilver and his wife Crystal. They have recently become parents to a daughter named Luna.  

But the pleasant family reunion turns dark when Magneto, master of magnetism, arrives on the moon.  He has recently learned that he is the true father of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The heroes attack Magneto. But is the purpose of his visit to destroy them or to make peace?

Plus, the Vision and Scarlet Witch tie the knot in one of the the most unusual weddings of all time!  

Review:

Before I go any further, I should mention that this book opens with a reprinting of Giant-Size Avengers #4. This is unfortunate, because that issue was the last in a multi-part epic. If you haven't read the whole Celestial Madonna story, skip it and go straight to page 48, which is where the reprint of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch miniseries begins.

Story:

Wanda and the Vision were two of my favorite characters of the Bronze Age, so I've always enjoyed this miniseries. They were two long-serving Avengers who never got many adventures outside of the team. This series shows they could have starred in their own Bronze Age series. Bill Mantlo gives us a good story about a married couple.  

Magneto is also well-written here. The master of magnetism was undergoing a bit of a transformation from "bad guy" to a more complicated character who was persecuted during the Holocaust. This is an important part of Magneto's development.    

If there's any problem with the stories reprinted in Vision and the Scarlet Witch, it's that their battles with villains have repetitive results. The Vision experiences pain that he's never felt before while battling Samhain in the first story. Next up, Vision's arm gets melted during his fight with Isbisa.  Maybe it was Mantlo's way of dealing with a character that was so powerful. It gets old. Other than that, the stories are solid.

Art:

Rick Leonardi penciled the miniseries, inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey. Their art here sort reminds me of the early-80s art of Michael Golden. They do a nice job, especially when it comes to fight scenes and action.  

The art in the wedding story, from Giant-Sized Avengers #4, looks kind of rough. It's penciled by Don Heck and inked by John Tartaglione. As I understand it, Dave Cockrum was originally scheduled to pencil this issue and could not, so Heck and Tartaglione were pressed into service at the last minute because they could work quickly. So it was a rush job and looks like it too.   

How Does It Look?:

Here's a page scanned from my 36-year-old copy of Vision And The Scarlet Witch #3:

And this is how the same page looks in the tpb:

Extras:

The tpb includes a two-page humor story that features Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Forbush Man that was originally presented in FOOM #6. There's also a painting of Vizh and Wanda by David Mack.  

Rating:

I always enjoyed Wanda and Vision as a married couple. These stories are a nice reminder of one of the most interesting relationships in comic book history. Avengers: Vision and the Scarlet Witch features some important moments in the lives of these characters, good stories and enjoyable art. It's recommended to fans of this couple and those who want an introduction to their Bronze Age adventures.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Avengers: Bride Of Ultron

Reprints Avengers #157-166
Written by Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter.
Penciled by George Perez, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Don Heck, George Tuska.
Inked by Pablo Marcos.

The Avengers are home at their mansion on Christmas Eve. Suddenly the mansion is attacked by their ex-teammate, the Black Knight! Or, to be more accurate, by a statue of the knight claiming to be the real deal. He takes out all of the Avengers except the Vision. Can the synthezoid defeat the Black Knight statue?  

Later, tensions are rising between the Vision and his "brother", Wonder Man, AKA Simon Williams.  The android Vision had Simon's brainwaves transferred into him when he was created. Now Wonder Man seems to be interested in Vision's wife, the Scarlet Witch. The two heroes slug it out until Iron Man breaks it up.

Vision tangles with his "brother" Wonder Man.

In the middle of this, the Avengers are called to the Rocky Mountains to halt the attack of Graviton! He controls gravity and easily defeats the team. Graviton then pulls an entire town into the sky and takes it to New York City. The villain threatens to drop the town on New York, which would kill thousands of people.

Graviton takes down the Avengers.

The only remaining Avengers are Thor and Black Panther. It's up to them to stop Gravition and free their teammates.

Graviton pulls a town out of the ground.

Following that battle, Wonder Man's brother Eric Williams, AKA Grim Reaper attacks the Avengers mansion. He defeats and imprisons the team and decides to place Wonder Man and Vision on trial. The Reaper says only one man can truly be his brother Simon and if he rules against either one of them, the verdict will carry a sentence of death!

Wonder Man decks Grim Reaper (note the error in the top right panel: Reaper's scythe disappears!)

Next up, the Avengers are attacked by Ant-Man! Henry Pym has lost his memory and thinks it's the early days of the Avengers. He wonders who these Avengers are and presumes they're enemies. As Ant-Man, he sends hordes of ants to attack the Avengers. Thankfully, the Wasp is able to defeat him.

Ant-Man attacks the Avengers!

We eventually learn that Pym is being manipulated by his own creation, Ultron! The mechanical madman needs Pym's technical expertise to construct a bride for him. Ultron attacks the Avengers in their mansion headquarters and captures Wasp. He plans to transplant Wasp's life-force into a robot body. It looks like Ultron will finally defeat the Avengers...but Iron Man has an ace up his sleeve that could save the team. 

Ultron returns.

Subsequently, Iron Man summons Hercules to New York. Herc brings along his teammates from the Champions, Black Widow and Iceman. When they arrive, Iron Man attacks them. We learn that Iron Man is being forced to do this by the giant Greek god Typhon, who is holding Beast hostage.  Eventually, the heroes figure out what's going on and team up against Typhon.   

Scarlet Witch uses her Hex power against Ultron.

Finally, the Avengers' old enemy Count Nefaria shows up in New York. He seeks out Power Man, Living Laser and Whirlwind and offers to boost their superpowers. The villains call themselves the "new" Lethal Legion, they rob a bank and encounter Captain America, Wasp and Yellowjacket.  At the same time, Nefaria is meeting with former Nazi scientists in an attempt to gain super powers for himself.

Cap & Yellowjacket battle the Lethal Legion.

The Legion is giving the Avengers all they can handle. But all of a sudden, their powers disappear and they're easily dispatched by the heroes. Nefaria shows up and reveals that he has siphoned off the Legion's power and given it to himself. His scientists have helped him become one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Nefaria picks up an entire 40-story building on drops it on the Avengers. The battle appears lost, but Thor shows up and gives the Avengers hope.

Thor takes on the super-powered Count Nefaria.

Review:

A mostly great collection, with some exceptions (see story & art below). It's interesting that this hardcover mentions Ultron in its title, but the longest (and best) storyarc is the three-part Nefaria story.  I guess Ultron has more drawing power than Nefaria. 

The Whizzer tries to stop Count Nefaria.

Story:
This collection starts out with a weak entry. The story that centers on the Black Knight statue isn't very good. We never learn why the statue attacks the Avengers or who is behind said attack. Many years later it was retconned that (SPOILER ALERT) Ultron was controlling the statue, so I guess it makes sense in that context to include it here.
 
But most of the book contains excellent examples of Bronze Age stories. These are some of Jim Shooter's best Avengers stories. We get two-parters that feature battles with Graviton, Grim Reaper and Ultron. I've always seen Graviton as a poor man's Magneto, but he's portrayed as an A-list villain here (his first appearance).    

The Ultron portion of the book is great, too. I truly felt sorry for Hank Pym, ranting maniacally at the Avengers due to Ultron's brainwashing. Not to mention the Wasp, who has some of her life-force stolen while (seemingly) losing her husband to madness.

After Ultron is defeated, we get another fill-in story featuring Typhon. This is a difficult story, because there's an attempt to shoe-horn it into continuity. The previous story ends with Pym's aforementioned rant, the Typhon story gives us a one-panel explanation of the treatment Pym is receiving, and the next thing we know, he's back to normal. Weird.

Lastly, the Count Nefaria three-parter is the highlight of the book. It features one of the greatest battles of the Bronze Age, as the newly super-powered Nefaria gives the Avengers one of their toughest fights.  I also liked the way Power Man is initially reluctant to join Nefaria.

Art:
Two issues reprinted here contain less-than-stellar artwork. The first story is penciled by Don Heck. He did some great work in the Silver Age, but Heck's art in the 1970s wasn't so great. Same goes for the Typhon story drawn by George Tuska, another great artist who'd seen better days by the Bronze Age.  Tuska's portion comes right after George Perez', and the change is quite jarring.  

But the pencils by Sal Buscema, Perez, and John Byrne are all excellent. Take a look at this page here from Perez:

While I'm not crazy about the helpless depiction of the Wasp here, I love the way Perez uses halves of her and Jocasta to frame the action. Byrne and Buscema deliver some of their best Avengers work here as well, and Pablo Marcos (who inks everything in this book) does a good job as inker, embellishing the pencils without ever detracting from their power.

How does it look?:

The pages here look great, as you can see by looking at the scans in this review, including this great splash page:

The Avengers: Bride Of Ultron is a great book, featuring some of my favorite Avengers stories. It's great to have them in glossy reprints after all these years. It's definitely worth picking up, but the "fill-in" stories prevent me from giving it my highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5


3 and a half Sals.