**** (four of five stars)
Summary
Summary
(A lot goes down here so I'll do my best to keep the summary coherent and short.)
Several Avengers have their quiet breakfast at the Mansion interrupted by the arrival of a (seemingly undead) Jack of Hearts. Ant-Man goes to investigate, only to be killed when Jack detonates, taking part of the Mansion with him. Tony Stark, addressing the United Nations as U.S. Secretary of Defense, suddenly verbally assaults the Latverian delegate, telling the Scarlet Witch later that it felt like he had suddenly become intoxicated (despite not having had a drink). The Vision arrives, crashing a Quinjet into the Mansion, informing the assembled Avengers he's no longer in control of his functions, and expelling five Ultron robots from his body. She-Hulk flies into a rage over the death of Ant-Man and (inexplicably) rips apart the Vision. She later seriously wounds the Wasp and Captain Britain. She's stopped by Iron Man, who later abandons the Avengers when only Cap believes him that he wasn't drunk at the United Nations. Seemingly every Avenger in history gathers in front of the Mansion to support the team in its darkest hour, despite Nick Fury telling them they're interfering with a crime scene. The United Nations then breaks off its relationship with the Avengers just in time for the assembled superheroes to have to defend themselves from a sudden attack by the Kree. A series of flashbacks reveals that the Scarlet Witch has been, at some point, reminded of the existence of her children. The Avengers come to realize that the Scarlet Witch is, indeed, the culprit behind their misfortune. They eventually confront her, and she is defeated by Dr. Strange, who shows her what she's done. Her mindless body is collected by Magneto.
The Good
Several Avengers have their quiet breakfast at the Mansion interrupted by the arrival of a (seemingly undead) Jack of Hearts. Ant-Man goes to investigate, only to be killed when Jack detonates, taking part of the Mansion with him. Tony Stark, addressing the United Nations as U.S. Secretary of Defense, suddenly verbally assaults the Latverian delegate, telling the Scarlet Witch later that it felt like he had suddenly become intoxicated (despite not having had a drink). The Vision arrives, crashing a Quinjet into the Mansion, informing the assembled Avengers he's no longer in control of his functions, and expelling five Ultron robots from his body. She-Hulk flies into a rage over the death of Ant-Man and (inexplicably) rips apart the Vision. She later seriously wounds the Wasp and Captain Britain. She's stopped by Iron Man, who later abandons the Avengers when only Cap believes him that he wasn't drunk at the United Nations. Seemingly every Avenger in history gathers in front of the Mansion to support the team in its darkest hour, despite Nick Fury telling them they're interfering with a crime scene. The United Nations then breaks off its relationship with the Avengers just in time for the assembled superheroes to have to defend themselves from a sudden attack by the Kree. A series of flashbacks reveals that the Scarlet Witch has been, at some point, reminded of the existence of her children. The Avengers come to realize that the Scarlet Witch is, indeed, the culprit behind their misfortune. They eventually confront her, and she is defeated by Dr. Strange, who shows her what she's done. Her mindless body is collected by Magneto.
The Good
1) Wow, issues #500 and #501 were a rush. Jesus. You actually got the sense of what it must have been like to live through that succession of events. Honestly, they're two of the best written and most exciting comics I've ever read.
2) The two-page spread of different Wanda images was both awesome and heart-breaking. The use of old images of Wanda was really satisfying to an old-school Avengers fan like me, particularly because so many comics of that era were ignoring the past and changing characters and their personalities willy-nilly.
3) I thought the dawning realization by Captain America and Warbird that Wanda was behind the atrocities was really well done. As I've previously mentioned, Warbird isn’t my favorite character. I generally find that she’s been written with so many different personalities over the years that she’s become just a sort of “strong woman” archetype with little to make her into her own character. But, Bendis does a nice job with her here (as Johns did during “Red Zone”) and she is really the emotional core of the story, along with Cap. From her emotional reaction to Scott Lang’s death (whom I believe she was dating at the time) to her defending Wanda to Dr. Strange and, eventually, confronting Wanda, she’s really the frame of reference for the characters’ reactions to the dizzying events of the story arc.
4) I enjoyed Spider-Man’s comments about the Vision...because, really, he’s a robot. I mean, it’s always been a little...weird. I mean, seriously, I can’t be the only person to ever think about, I mean, you know, what they do...? Anyway, it’s always been weird and I’m glad Spidey mentioned it.
5) Thanks, David Finch, for the scantily-clad Clint by the pool. A fitting good-bye!
The Unsure
2) The two-page spread of different Wanda images was both awesome and heart-breaking. The use of old images of Wanda was really satisfying to an old-school Avengers fan like me, particularly because so many comics of that era were ignoring the past and changing characters and their personalities willy-nilly.
3) I thought the dawning realization by Captain America and Warbird that Wanda was behind the atrocities was really well done. As I've previously mentioned, Warbird isn’t my favorite character. I generally find that she’s been written with so many different personalities over the years that she’s become just a sort of “strong woman” archetype with little to make her into her own character. But, Bendis does a nice job with her here (as Johns did during “Red Zone”) and she is really the emotional core of the story, along with Cap. From her emotional reaction to Scott Lang’s death (whom I believe she was dating at the time) to her defending Wanda to Dr. Strange and, eventually, confronting Wanda, she’s really the frame of reference for the characters’ reactions to the dizzying events of the story arc.
4) I enjoyed Spider-Man’s comments about the Vision...because, really, he’s a robot. I mean, it’s always been a little...weird. I mean, seriously, I can’t be the only person to ever think about, I mean, you know, what they do...? Anyway, it’s always been weird and I’m glad Spidey mentioned it.
5) Thanks, David Finch, for the scantily-clad Clint by the pool. A fitting good-bye!
The Unsure
Bendis pretty clearly stays purposefully unclear about the exact details of the timeline of Wanda losing her mind. In the scene by the pool with Jan, it’s unclear whether Jan’s worried she’s pregnant by Clint from their recent fling or if Bendis is implying the two had a fling at some point in the past. Nick Fury noting that Agatha Harkness has been dead for “a long time” also muddies the waters, making it seem that, in fact, both scenes happened a significant time ago and that Wanda has actually been unstable for a while. If it has been happening for a while, it does make the whole affair seem more tragic. But, from a pure narrative standpoint, allowing for this sort of uncertainty interrupts the flow of the story, because the reader is constantly trying to place the events in some sort of continuum. I’m still not sure if the good (conveying the tragedy of how long Wanda had been quietly falling apart) outweighs the bad (inspiring the confusion over how it happened), so I'm marking it "unsure."
The Bad
The Bad
1) Again with the Yellowjacket hitting Wasp comments? Really?
2) Wait, Wasp has been making Yellowjacket’s life a living hell? I mean, if we accept the fact that Jan did actually cheat on Hank with Hawkeye (which, lalalalalala, didn't happen, lalalalalala), I could see him making a comment about him being mad at her or something. But, Bendis seems to ignore the fact that he just asked her to marry him a few issues ago and, despite her saying no, they were still together.
3) Amidst all the action, the plot suffered. It's still unclear to me why Wanda did what she did and why she did it when she did it. We're not really presented with a trigger, particularly because, as mentioned above, it appears that she began losing her mind a while ago. At no point are we given a reason why she snapped when she did and, when she did snap, why she held the Avengers responsible and attacked them. I mean, I get the argument that a crazy person doesn't have to have a reason to engage in crazy behavior. But, from a narrative standpoint, we probably needed an extra issue in this arc so that we could get some more information on why Wanda was doing what she was doing. Based on the "conversation" had between the two disembodied lips, it actually seems like she had something specific in mind that Bendis never really explored. Wanda has been in comics for, you know, DECADES. She deserved more than she got here. This absence of any sort of explanation is the only reason I didn't give this story arc a five.
A Note on the Scarlet Witch
2) Wait, Wasp has been making Yellowjacket’s life a living hell? I mean, if we accept the fact that Jan did actually cheat on Hank with Hawkeye (which, lalalalalala, didn't happen, lalalalalala), I could see him making a comment about him being mad at her or something. But, Bendis seems to ignore the fact that he just asked her to marry him a few issues ago and, despite her saying no, they were still together.
3) Amidst all the action, the plot suffered. It's still unclear to me why Wanda did what she did and why she did it when she did it. We're not really presented with a trigger, particularly because, as mentioned above, it appears that she began losing her mind a while ago. At no point are we given a reason why she snapped when she did and, when she did snap, why she held the Avengers responsible and attacked them. I mean, I get the argument that a crazy person doesn't have to have a reason to engage in crazy behavior. But, from a narrative standpoint, we probably needed an extra issue in this arc so that we could get some more information on why Wanda was doing what she was doing. Based on the "conversation" had between the two disembodied lips, it actually seems like she had something specific in mind that Bendis never really explored. Wanda has been in comics for, you know, DECADES. She deserved more than she got here. This absence of any sort of explanation is the only reason I didn't give this story arc a five.
A Note on the Scarlet Witch
OK, my old back issues of "Avengers West Coast" are at my parents', where I won’t be for a few months. It’s been a while since I’ve read them (and probably about 20 years since the issues were first published), but I don’t remember Agatha Harkness wiping Wanda’s memory clear of her children when the whole business of revealing her kids were fake went down. Wikipedia says she does (AWC #51-#52), so I guess it’s true. But, if so, then it does seem kind of weird that EVERYONE knew but her. I'm with Dr. Strange on that one. No one thought, "Golly, this woman can alter reality, we should probably make sure she's psychologically stable." Also, when it's revealed that she has, in fact, gone insane, no one really expresses any remorse for not being there when she obviously needed them. I feel like we needed a little something more here, other than everyone just conveniently blaming the whole affair on a distressed mother.
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