First off, a note for the hard of thinking - these are First Look Previews. That means a short look at some of the books coming out the following week, based on the Marvel/DC First Look/Sneak Peek program. These are in no way intended to be full reviews - you can check out SBC's review section for that. What they are is an honest and agenda-free (and yes, elitist if you like) look at a few upcoming books, based on over twenty years of reading, to see if Marvel and DC have gone beyond their usual Super-X-crap-of-the-week story.
Secondly. These previews are likely to contain spoilers for the books concerned. Don't read if you don't want to know, ok?
Avengers #503
So, as we all know (as SBC tried to hide on request from xxxxx xxxxxx at Marvel), The Scarlet Witch was behind all this stuff. Because The Wasp inadvertantly let slip that she'd had twins via magic and they'd been wiped out of existence by Agatha Harkness, who also wiped her memory. Except she didn't wipe the memory of the other Avengers, stupid bint. And so when the Witch found out, she went ape-shit, killing Agatha, killing the Avengers, and basically being a bad sort. But it's okay because Doctor Strange takes her down. Does NY state have the death penalty?
Oh, and where did I read that the Witch was originally a villain and therefore it's realistic for her to turn to crime again? Bullshit, she was forced into that life unwillingly by Magneto, and jumped ship as soon as she had the chance. Speaking of Mr M, he picks up her body from the Avengers and Wanda's off [sic]. Ah, but Magneto is dead remember, when Morrison did the X-Men (oh not that old chestnut again, the X-fans cry). Except he's alive and reformed and in Genosha in the Excalibur series. Except he feels Wanda's braindeath across the world, nabs his old costume from storage, zips over the earth, and picks her up. Er. Does anyone at Marvel read their own comics?
To develop the theme - exactly how long has Scarlet Witch been bonkers? The last pages imply that Agatha Harkness was murdered by her quite a long time ago, here's reader Mike McDermott with some interesting points:-
Wanda has no memory of her kids--that was established in West Coast Avengers #52....but what Bendis apparently didn't know is that her memory WAS RESTORED later! We learned in AWC Annual #7 that Agatha eventually realized that the memory wipe was a mistake, and undid it. Other issues of AWC have her using one of her kids' teddy bears to comfort a child in their custody. She bites Spider-Woman II's head off for bringing her daughter along on Avengers business, considering what happened to her own children.
So it has been long established, on several separate occassions, that Wanda DOES remember her children. If THAT is what Bendis is using to justify Wanda going psycho--then his entire story falls apart.
I can't believe that the editors didn't catch that--Tom Brevoort usually knows Avengers history inside and out.
Good point re: Tom - so I asked him! Tom replied:
Agatha's been dead since before those AWC issues--she's always been animated by Wanda's powers since she was seemingly resurrected in AWC. So Wanda's memory being restored by Agatha even temporarily is just a byproduct of her insanity--and has been as far back as those AWC issues.
So this means that Wanda has been insane for years, yet occasionally uses her powers to ... alleviate the insanity ... and no-one (in the Avengers) has considered or even thought about the long-term effects.
Where does Magneto fit into this? I'm scared to ask.
Astonishing X-Men #6
A reviewer at SBC, Kelvin Green I think, says he's still waiting to be Astonished by this series. Well, this issue ain't gonna do it. There's some nice dialogue, there's even some nice non-dialogue (like when Wolvie doesn't have to say "fastball special", we all know what he means as he winks to the camera), and some ominous foreboding for the future (a mutant will destroy all life on earth or something, like that hasn't been said before).
I guess calling the book "Okay X-Men" doesn't sound so good?
Uncanny X-Men #452
From the okay to the ridiculous.
The X-Men (well, Nightcrawler, Storm, Bishop, Wolverine, Emma Frost and Marvel Girl) check out the crumbling Hellfire Club HQ in pursuit of Sage, and Marvel Girl then attacks Emma Frost for the most stupid of reasons to waste eight pages.
Jeez.
But it's okay, they're friends again afterwards.
Oh, and Bishop shoots the others.
Obviously this isn't the real Bishop, because he's in District X solving crimes. And Emma Frost is over in Astonishing being Okay. And Wolverine is...
And as for Magneto...sorry, sorry.
What did you think of this book?
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