Review of Scarlet Witch: Witches’ Road

Scarlet Witch, Vol. 1: Witches’ Road by James Robinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(This break in my regularly scheduled reading program is brought to you by my husband)

I’m the first reader to applaud providing a character with a stand-alone series. It feels long overdue considering how prominent they are to multiple storylines, story arcs, and even story developments. But if you’re going to make that jump, it’s only fair to provide at least a brief introduction from one step to the next. Otherwise, you leave the reader out of sync, grasping at straws. (Or – in my case – relying on previous hasty research)

This first volume requires HEAVY knowledge of – well, everything. Wanda’s background, the previous events (at least those in “House of M”), and even an unknown trigger that appears to have launched in another comic. I flipped through the pages, confused and itching for reference materials. Not the feeling a writer wants to engender in their reader. And not something I’ve experienced, even when I’ve launched into previous “out of sync” comic volumes. Whatever vision Mr. Robinson held, it wasn’t in readers’ interest.

The disparate pieces did little to assemble a clearer picture of Wanda or even Scarlet Witch. They read like entries in an anthology: interesting, naturally, but not defining a whole. I’d expect this treatment from a collector’s edition – not the first volume in a limited series.

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