The series that inspired more than thirty years later is part of the Disney + WandaVision series. In a cute New Jersey town The Vision and the Scarlet Witch they intend to lead a quiet and family life … as long as they are left.
At the end of 1985, a limited series of The Vision and the Scarlet Witch that it would have twelve deliveries, the first and the last of greater length. Panini comics publishes, in a hardcover volume, a collection that had only had the staple edition of Comics Forum and that was more than thirty years ago.
Leonia, NJ, long before Westview
Back in the mid-80s of the last century, Roger Stern perpetrated a long adventure, in the collection of The Avengers, in which The Vision ended up acting as a villain before freeing himself from the control crystal located in his head and that had returned “sensitive” to the influence of ISAAC, the computer that controlled Titan, the moon of Saturn where a split from Los Eternos lived, with Mentor, Starfox and Thanos as major references of that society. At that time The Vision held the position of president of the East Coast branch of The Avengers (he was the creator / ideologist of his West Coast counterparts under the leadership of Hawkeye) and resigned so that his actions would not affect the becoming the Most Powerful Heroes on Earth.
This is how we find The Vision and The Scarlet Witch at the beginning of the maxiseries, with the Shinto being the subject of an investigation by government liaison officers Henry Peter Gyrich and Raymond Sikorski. Abruptly ended they will consider restarting their lives “outside” from The Avengers in peaceful Leonia, New Jersey, an idyllic town that really exists in the US, where countless neighbors will see their lives change with the arrival of these two celebrities. From an early crossover with the West Coast Avengers collection to guests such as Mercurio, Crystal, Powerman or Spiderman and with his black suit, the plot will turn in putting in high value the relationship between The Vision and Wanda, exploring both magic of her as the greatest humanity displayed by everyone’s favorite sytozoid. And the villains are best experienced by yourself but the lineup is top-notch.
What’s under the green suit and the yellow cape
The Vision has been characterized by suffering from its creation a process that led it from the coldness of a robotic origin and a cold mind to become a man trapped in an artificial body. Much of the last step was suffered precisely in these pages, when he fully assumed that he had to embrace his most human part, the brain patterns that gave “soul” to his synthetic limbs. That mind comes from Simon Williams, the Wonder Man, so now there is a bond between the two that leads them to twin and feel part of the same family.
We have always seen The Vision with the same appearance, without repairing between what is part of its body and what is the clothing that covers it. Now we are going to experience that the whole of your body is covered with a “skin” In red, he is going to change his wardrobe for one more appropriate to that of an ordinary neighbor in a residential area, with his crew neck T-shirts and jeans, with a tuxedo to attend a gala or in a robe to walk around the house while he finishes unpacking the moving boxes. And even using a voice far removed from the mechanical synthesizer, more human than ever.
I have a neighbor with a witch of good intentions
Wanda (Scarlet Witch) also undergoes changes, not only those that will cause her to end up being the mother of those twins so “Peculiar” which are Tommy and Billy. Throughout the episodes that follow one another, his magic and the relationships he maintains with characters such as Agatha Harkness or Doctor Strange will take center stage. It is certainly interesting to see how their combat outfit undergoes the modifications typical of maternity fashion because Wanda, like Vision, do not leave their profession as superheroes even though they have now found a retreat that they could consider a haven of peace and tranquility.
The Scarlet Witch is shown as a full woman, surrounded by everything she ever dreamed of having. A united family, although that does not exactly entail the happiness of all its members, a faithful, loving and dedicated husband and the proximity of completing their love nest with the birth of their offspring. Even Magneto joins the party to ensure that the arrival of his grandchildren can take place without any more surprises than those of a superheroine birth. He was already Luna’s grandfather, although we have never seen him change diapers.
The wickers of this basket are solid
Steve Englehart was chosen for the scripts of this series just as he was also in charge of The West Coast Avengers. He cannot boast of having created either of the two characters since that honor falls to Roy Thomas and Stan Lee, but since his arrival in The Avengers in the number 105 USA of the collection it has already had a tremendous impact for both of them as he made them the center of much of his narratives, to the point of giving them a tremendous prominence that ended in a wedding during the narration of what is known as the Saga of the Celestial Madonna, with the Immortus himself (one of the incarnations of Kang the Conqueror, in case you are not very knowledgeable in the subject) as officiant in the Giant-Size The Avengers # 4 USA.
Englehart does superb and inspiring work that has been reflected in the WandaVision series many years later. Much of Westview’s day-to-day life is reflected in Leonia, bridging the distance and the entity of history. However, the drawing did not have the same acceptance, especially because Richard Howell’s line has not aged well, too classic although not lacking in charm and suffering a lot with Frank Springer’s inks in the second half of the limited series. And we have Al Milgrom in the crossover with The Avengers West Coast, to add more. Even so, we can talk about correction in the graphic section.
The Vision and the Scarlet Witch offers us a different point of view, away from the big cities and the events that bring together the most popular heroes. It is a story that speaks of the family, of finding it, of enjoying it, of suffering with its sorrows, of enjoying the joys, although there is always someone who shows their discontent for any reason, large or small. A social portrait of an attempt to live away from a noise that seems to never stop pounding on the window, because what would superheroes be without their fist battles or casting chaos magic spells. Not many years later, John Byrne would come to undo so much happiness, but that is another story.