Scarlet Witch #3

COMICON

One of the many beauties of comic books is their versatility in how they can present and tell any type of story. Much like other visual mediums, they have the range to fit any genre or scale of story, but unlike many of those others, they come without limits to what is depicted in those moments as they are not constrained by budgets, physics, and just all around reality itself that other mediums have to account for. When we get a particular comic that takes that ability and runs wild with it, giving us something beyond a normal set of panels and story momentum, it sure is something. Something awesome. Scarlet Witch #3 sure is something, pretty awesome. (...) Basically, it really feels like Steve Orlando, Sara Pichelli, Elisabetta D’Amico, Matthew Wilson, and Cory Petit created a comic book that is akin to a fantasy fairy tale storybook. That’s the best way I can think to create a comparison to what is on the page. We have bookends that take place on Earth that fall into the more standard appearance we associate with superheroes and just comic books in general, with the panels and speech bubbles and colorfully drawn characters. The vast majority of this story is told through full-page panel illustrations (thus the reference to a storybook) where the saga of Wanda and Polaris trying to help free people of Tryfa, from the invading Nillans, alongside one of their members Mardj becomes an epic tale. (...) There is just so much about this issue that is amazing and it has to be experienced to really understand and get the full impact. Anyone that likes these characters or this world or just wants a unique powerful comic book experience needs to pick it up right now.

ComicBook.com

Scarlet Witch continues to be unabashedly, effortlessly sensational. In this issue, Wanda teams up with Polaris in a fight to save part of Subatomica – a near-perfect combination of personal and larger canonical stakes for her case-of-the-week superheroics. Steve Orlando, Sara Pichelli and company take that idea and have some stylish and unexpected fun with it, and the execution is wonderful on practically ever level. You owe it to yourself to be reading this book.

Comic Watch

Orlandos showing a real mastery when it comes to handling Wanda. Shes self-confident in her abilities, as well as those around here. While there are some things, like the truncated fight scenes, and the lack of exploration of Wandas feelings towards Magnetos death that are the standouts, the character work here is second to none. Hopefully with time, and less one and dones, these issues will be addressed.

The Super Powered Fancast

The Story: Orlando crafts a wonderful tale of myth and legend in this issue and I loved seeing how their adventure together affects the bond between Wanda and Lorna. The story is filled with great character moments and a narrative structure that is engaging and compelling to the reader. The story takes some interesting and entertaining turns throughout and ends on a fantastic cliffhanger that makes me excited to see what happens next. The Art: Pichelli delivers some visually stunning moments throughout the issue. The art is absolutely beautiful and perfectly captures the beauty and majesty of the story being told.

AIPT

Each issue of Scarlet Witch so far, including this one, has contained an adventure bookended with personal drama. This structure works well and allows for uniquely Scarlet Witch-style adventures accessible to new readers, while still exploring the more dialogue-heavy aspects of Wanda’s life established over decades of comics. Orlando captures the sassy wit of Darcy Lewis’s MCU origins well and she is a welcome presence when she’s on panel. How she differs from and is comparable to her MCU counterpart is a fun question to ask each month and it seems we will be getting some answers to those questions soon.

Henchman-4-Hire

This issue makes one really big, bold choice, and I mostly like it. Part of me feels like it’s a little too bold for only the third issue, but it works and definitely gets the point across. Again, admirable chutzpah. Basically, when our heroes set off on their quest, the comic switches from a traditional comic book and turns into a narrated montage. A huge chunk of this issue is big spreads with flowery narration over the top. It means we can cover the entire quest and the battles in only a single issue, and it’s definitely not something we’d want to see drawn out. But it’s still a big choice. And by my high rating of this issue, I think it totally works. It worked for me. I was engaged with the story and was satisfied with how it all played out. And it’s a fun, if straight forward story, so that’s nice. I’m loving this Last Door concept. I love the whole concept of this series. Wanda, in light of all her baggage, has just opened a quaint little shop, with a magic door that brings people in need right to her so she can help immediately. It’s fun, and has led to fun stories so far. Couple that with gorgeous art by Sara Pichelli, and some high quality character interactions, and you’ve got a good series. I hope Lorna and Pietro remain supporting characters, popping in for family cameos. And Darcy Lewis is fun. I look forward to her story being expanded with that cliffhanger. Some bold storytelling choices are made in this issue, and they totally work for me. It helps that the overall series around these bold choices remains strong and engaging.

Comic Book Revolution

With each passing issue Steve Orlando and Sara Pichelli are getting better and better at telling one-shot style stories that build up Wanda Maximoff and the new life she has built for herself. Scarlet Witch #3 is the best issue so far with the Polaris team-up providing us with a fun journey through Sub-Atomica. Along the way we get great moments between Wanda and Lorna Dane that taps into their relationship as sisters. It all comes together to further establish Scarlet Witch as one of Marvel's best series right now.

The Fandom Post

Scarlet Witch continues to be an absolute delight and that has me wary about when the bottom might fall out from under it. Steve Orland is one of those folks that I trust to write a book like this but the crossover nature of Marvel is what keeps me away from so many of their mainstream books overall, as well as the way some come to such a quick and problematic end. I’m thoroughly enjoying this more languid approach to the character and their story and the small moments aspects that allow us to really connect with the characters. It’s charming, engaging, and gives you the opportunity to enjoy it all the more. This issue also goes for a really good approach to presenting the Sub Atomica storyline so that it’s not quips and action but rather something that has a fairy tale approach with great artwork and color design. The next piece with Darcy is going to be where we truly see what Orlando is playing with.

Impulse Gamer

This was an interesting story in that there was not really any dialog when they were off in Sub-Atomica (I think maybe a different place than the Quantum Realm or they would have called it that) so it makes it a showcase for the artwork in this issue. There is a bit of a wrap-around for the main storyline at the start and end of this issue but it mainly a stand-alone story so I did not feel like I missed anything by skipping one of the issues in this series so far. Worth it if you are a fan of the Scarlett Witch and want to see her off doing her own thing. This series does seem to have strong emphasis on women characters in general. Maybe not as much as She Hulk but still fairly good.

Multiversity Comics

So far Marvel’s latest “Scarlet Witch” comic book has been a slow series devoted to fleshing out some of the magic sides of The Marvel Universe. Despite the fact that the plotting in this series may not have impossible stakes, there’s still something to be said about the bright tone of the series that extends to the artwork and character interactions. Pichelli’s visual direction have emphasized some of the most intriguing visual moments possible with unique elements of design that makes the page come alive. It’s great to acknowledge how Orlando has used such a wide cast of characters in Wanda’s family to make this series more interesting. With the recent announcement of Agatha Harkness returning to this series and with the ‘Contest of Chaos’ just on the horizon for Wanda, I hope this series will continue to get more ambitious in future chapters leading up to that story. For now, the strong characterization that Orlando brings for Lorna and Wanda is enough to carry the series towards immense quality. “Scarlet Witch” #3 offers stunning art and an in-depth characterization for Wanda and Lorna.