Scarlet Witch #5 // Review
Darcy Lewis came through The Last Door because she was in trouble. She might have needed help, but she got...a job. Luckily, it was a job with the one person who could help her better than any other. That doesn’t mean it will be easy for Wanda Maximoff in Scarlet Witch #5. Writer Steve Orlando continues a refreshing alternative to more traditional magic-based Marvel heroes in another issue brought to the page by Russell Dauterman and colorist Matt Wilson. It’s a dark battle between magic users for the fate of a single woman and so much more.
Wanda doesn’t have much trouble completely reconstructing a whole building. She’s bleeding, though. Darcy might not be able to do much to help her out, but she CAN see that her protector is bleeding. There’s a first aid kit inside. The least she can do is put a few bandages on her while she plans her next move. The woman who is after Darcy is Scythia--leader of the Bacchae. She’s not going to just...go away. She’s still out there...and she’s coming. By helicopter...in the most dramatic way imaginable. The Scarlet Witch won’t have much time to catch her breath.
Orlando has a fairly deft mastery of what ties the overwhelmingly fantastic to the exceedingly accessible and social. The problem with even the best authors of Marvel magic series has always been the human element. It’s all well and good to populate the page with demons and dimensional doorways and ancient texts and powerful sorcerers, but the human element can so easily be pushed off the page. Orlando does a brilliant job of maintaining a very real relationship between Darcy and Wanda that serves as a solid emotional center to the book. The emotional core of the series keeps it warm, whereas others have been cold and distant.
Dauterman makes Wanda appear positively heroic without making her appear larger than life. Even as she’s doing fantastic things with magic, there’s an intense look of thoughtful focus in her eyes that keeps her appearing totally selfless and emotionally engaged in everything that’s going on. Darcy’s presence on the page keeps the action firmly rooted in the very human. Dauterman and Wilson carefully render real concern in her face and posture that make for a palpable connection between the wizard and her friend. The action hits the page with a profound impact throughout...shots are framed with a brilliant sense of composition that maximizes the intensity of the action.
Orlando has kept the series going at an impressively quick pace. It’s been a great deal of fun so far. There’s more than enough charm between Wanda and Darcy in Orlando’s dialogue and Dauterman’s art. The series could be perfectly satisfying running forever with this creative team as Orlando slowly explores every corner of magic in the Marvel Universe...one troubled soul at a time. The series has been a success so far. There’s more to come in the months to come.
