scarlet--wiccan

[scarlet--wiccan]

A question about the sketches of the Witchcraft Goddess you post days ago, but what's the first one about?

I wanted to include a representation of the “witches’ wheel” / wheel of the year, which is a recurring concept in a lot of different witchcraft traditions and practices. That language is technically more modern, and I know a lot of ppl primarily associate with Wicca, but it’s an effective way to represent natural cycles— the seasons, the phases of the moon, etc.— in a way that feels interconnected. I thought it would be a cool thing to include to give “witchcraft” more individual character, although wheels themselves are not an uncommon motif, so I wanted to really embellish it.

Anyway, I imagined her standing either in front of a giant wheel, or to use it as sort of a platform or dais for her to stand on.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Giant Size House of M aka the fifth stop in Kamala’s magic school bus tour of x-men history, by Lanzing and fucking Kelly of all people, is not going undo the goddam retcon. You people are insufferable

[scarlet--wiccan]

Do you follow any other Wanda fans/blogs here that you can recommend? Every time I try to find other Wanda fans, all I see are fans of MCU!Wanda who don’t care about comics!Wanda ��

None that are active, or comics exclusive/specifically dedicated to the character in the same way. I’ve become kind of insular, which is not intentional! But my activity on tumblr is focused entirely on my inbox these days and fandom communities on other social media low key suck a lot of the time. The m c u saturation definitely makes things harder :/

I want to be more friendly and outgoing online but I never got the hang of real community building here. Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve started a discord server or smth

[scarlet--wiccan]

I'm curious to know what you think about X-Men, I get the feeling you're not a fan.

Oh, I'm a big fan of X-Men. Which is to say, I read a lot of X-Men, and even if I don't express it outwardly, I'm usually having a good time. It's just that-- and this is going to sound reductive-- X-Men has a lot more in-universe baggage and is often more socially and politically charged, at least on the surface, than most of other books that I'm reading week to week. Krakoa, by nature of its premise, was ethically and intellectually challenging-- in a good way-- and the current era is extremely fraught and messy. So I tend to have bigger feelings and more decidedly critical thoughts about X-Men than most other comics.

Put another way, I find that X-Men comics have higher highs and lower lows-- and the lows hit harder and give me more to talk about. It's also worth nothing that I got into comics in the 2000s, specifically because I was interested in the Scarlet Witch. As you can imagine, it was a pretty grueling era for me, and the fandom has always been... hostile. Those issues were exacerbated during the first few years of Krakoa. So I don't have a great relationship with the fandom, and I unfortunately don't get to engage with it often outside of criticism and sniping-- deservedly-- at people who are being ignorant or offensive. A lot of those problems overlap with the so-called "magnet family" and Cherik fandoms, which I'm extremely wary of as well.

If this is in response to my comments on this post-- I don't like it when characters like Kamala or the Maximoffs get pulled too far into the X-Men's orbit because I don't think it benefits them in any way. I have different reasoning for each of those characters, but the long and short of it is, it's just not where they shine the best. I don't like who Wanda and Pietro become when they're around the X-Men, and I don't like who those fans seemingly want them to be.

If you meant to ask about the current era of X-Men comics, I'm not loving it, and X-Men the title isn't exactly blowing me away.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Just had a brief exchange with Anthony Oliveira on twitter, and it turns out it actually pays to be polite, clear and positive when you talk to comic writers on social media! Who knew! He wasn't doing a q&a, but I raised my concern about the lack of clarity regarding character ages and I got a super informative response!

I don't mean to be didactic, but considering all of the inappropriate fan-behavior on twitter (and now leaking onto bluesky) I just wanted point out that there's a way to stay on-topic-- the original post was about romance in the series-- and present criticism or ask questions in good faith. Act like an adult and be as professional as you can when you talk to these people. It's the bare minimum of the respect they deserve.

Anyways, as I assumed, most of the characters are in a two-year age range. Qaari and possibly Marcus are older, but not in a way that feels inappropriate, and we even got some more backstory on their jobs! I know a lot of people thought I was being a prude, but I promise I don't have any actual problems with these numbers-- and I kept my other criticisms to myself, because this wasn't the time or place. It's that easy.

[scarlet--wiccan]

I am personally quite upset at the giant sized x men news, mostly because I think L&K have woefully mishandled Kamala in NYX, but also because one of the issues is revisiting HoM, which I really wish could simply be left in the past.

I also just. Don’t understand what could be gained out of revisiting it like this? I can at least see the outline of how Kamala in giant sized x men or age of apocalypse would go and what value there might be in that storyline. how would you have something like that go?

You might be overthinking things-- I'm pretty sure this is just going to be a time travel story. The announcement for the upcoming Giant Size event reads as follows:

Acclaimed X-Scribes Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing join forces with superstar artists including legendary X-artist Adam Kubert for an epic saga that takes fans on a mind-bending journey through the X-Men’s greatest events – revealing mysteries long buried and secrets that will define the future of Marvel’s mutants!  [...] Now, pulled into the distant past by an unhinged villain with deep ties to mutant history, Ms. Marvel will witness the iconic birth of the Uncanny X-Men and their first encounter with Krakoa from an all-new, all-different perspective. But when history begins to change... can either Kamala Khan or the X-Men themselves survive the experience?

I would take this to mean that Kamala will be jumping through time and witnessing various major events in mutant history-- learning new secrets and apparently changing the timeline, although I suspect that any major distortions will be undone by the end of the story. That's not the same thing as "Kamala in Age of Apocalypse" or "Kamala in House of M." She's not going to be retroactively added into those stories as they were originally written.

I could be wrong, but if I'm right, we don't enough about the overarching story, or whatever Kamala's objectives might be, to predict how any of these individual issues will play out. I agree with you that Kamala is the least well-served character in NYX, and the writers have made some glaring missteps that to me, show a real lack of sensitivity, not to mention investment in her individual history. I haven't disliked everything thats happened to her since the mutant retcon, but on the whole, I'm very tired of Kamala being an X-Men character.

Perhaps if someone else were writing this event, I'd have a little more faith-- Kamala is a deeply earnest and heroic character, and a total nerd about most, if not all superheroes and teams in the Marvel universe. In some ways, she's kind of the perfect character to send off on this kind of time-romp. But like I said, I don't love Lanzing + Kelly's approach to this character, I don't love how she's been swallowed up by the X-Men line, and I'm not enjoying the current state of X-Men comics in general! When you look at the branding and promotion for this event, it's hard not to feel like this is another attempt to capitalize on nostalgia and legacy. I don't know who the target is, but it's not working for me.

Anyways, all of that is to say that, while I'm obviously not looking forward to revisiting House of M in any capacity, I don't think that the goal here will be to actually revive that storyline, and I doubt it will have any serious impact on Wanda and Pietro, et al. But M-world is rife with challenging optics and weird politics-- navigating that world through Kamala's eyes, with writers like Lanzing + Kelly feels like a nightmare.

[scarlet--wiccan]

I have an ask that’s been sitting in my inbox for a while about redesigning the Witchcraft goddess, and I just want you to know I’m taking it very seriously. Don’t know when I’ll have this done but hopefully before whatever big reveal is coming in next month’s Scarlet Witch!

[scarlet--wiccan]

Are there any obscure forms of magic that may not be mentioned in the Marvel Wiki?

Probably!

[scarlet--wiccan]

Prev anon here: Pretty much anything pre-2005 (or just pre-2010s if it’s not HoM related)

Oh okay. Yes :)

[scarlet--wiccan]

Do you have any writings on older comics?

What does this even mean?

[scarlet--wiccan]

Do you have any thoughts about how Avengers Academy - the new infinity comic - tackles its versions of younger Billy and Tommy and their connection with Mephisto and M’Kraan and Blackheart? I have very little knowledge of the circumstances of how Billy and Tommy came to be / their birth outside of it just being Weird, so I wanted to ask somebody who had more knowledge if there’s any merit in how this arc goes about it. (Also, do you like the new AA infinity comic? Im personally enjoying it, but I completely understand why people wouldn’t) sorry if someone else has already asked this or something similar also!!

Yep, I've written about this previously here and here, and I have a few more posts about the series in general that are all tagged as Avengers Academy. If you'd like to do some more reading on your own, my Scarlet Witch reading guide covers Billy and Tommy's birth, death, and reincarnation. I also have a more detailed explanation of what happened to the twins here.

To give a very brief summary-- Wanda became pregnant while channeling an enormous amount of magical power that allowed her to subliminally manifest her wish to start a family. Later, however, it was explained that even Wanda cannot create life from nothing, and she had unknowing made Billy and Tommy's souls using fragments of Mephisto's power, which had recently been scattered across the world. Sometime after they were born, Mephisto attempted to re-absorb the twins, but it caused a shock and he was dispersed once again. Mephisto eventually got better, but the twins were, supposedly, erased. In Young Avengers, however, they resurfaced as teenagers, having been apparently reincarnated in different families. They're also several years older than they should be. In Children's Crusade, Wanda explains that she had attempted to resurrect the twins by using her nexus powers to channel the planet's "Life Force," which is what caused her powers to go out of control in Disassembled + HoM. I suppose it's not explicitly clear, but I have always taken it as read that Wanda's resurrection spell worked, just not how she expected. Her heightened reality-warping can account for most of the weirdness, including the timeline discrepancy with their ages.

In Avengers Academy and Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic, we learn that Billy and Tommy's souls survived as individual beings, but were trapped in Mephisto's Hell until they escaped through a rift caused by the M'Kraan Crystal, as part of larger story that ties together several important events in the Young Avengers' lives. This also further explains some of the timeline weirdness.

In theory, this is kind of a perfect retcon-- it adds onto the pre-existing story and fills in some gaps without altering or taking away from what was already there. The M'Kraan Crystal storyline itself was really cool, and I loved the reveal that it/she has been present in the Young Avengers lives for years-- especially finding out that she was the drag queen in War of the Realms and Empyre! What I don't love is that Oliveira consistently takes an HoM-era approach to Billy and Tommy's origins by invalidating Wanda's motherhood and casting her in a negative light. It's not faithful to what happened in the 80s, or how those relationships have been characterized in more recent comics-- and, honestly, I just think it's unfair. I may be reading into things too much, but Wanda's treatment around this storyline is loaded with very sensitive topics, so I can't help being critical.

I'm enjoying Blackheart's renaissance. If there's one thing Oliveira's great at, it's existential Catholic angst and Biblical deep-cuts, and it works perfectly here. But I also feel like there are times when he's a little too indulgent with his obsessions. Catholicism takes up a lot of air in this series, to the point where, sometimes, I can't help rolling my eyes. While nothing overtly offensive happened, I think that there was a lack of cultural sensitivity regarding Billy and Tommy's proximity to Mephisto. It's really not appropriate to make Jewish characters out to be devil-spawn, and, obviously, Oliveira didn't invent that storyline, but I think he literalized the idea in a way that was uncalled for, and immersed the characters in religious imagery that is not a good fit for either their Jewish or Romani background.

I have felt for years now that the whole Demiurge thing needed to be reworked. This new take works for me on multiple levels, but there are a few things that bother me. I really appreciate that, much like the new and improved Nexus lore in Scarlet Witch, this version of the Demiurge premise includes both Billy and Tommy on equal footing, and it fits into an existing part of the Marvel cosmology in a way that I find exciting. It is still frustratingly unclear what being the Demiurge actually means, although this is likely by design-- it makes more sense, in this case, to leave readers with a sense of intrigue. Best case scenario-- Billy and Tommy have some hand in either retroactively creating the M'Kraan Crystal, or are instrumental in creating some new world with the Academy's shard. Either way, I think it works better as a specific act or contribution, rather than implying that the characters will become omnipotent creator gods. It's the least interesting thing that could happen to any character-- I don't want it for Wanda, I don't want it for Billy, and I don't want it for either of their twins. Unfortunately, I do feel like Oliveira has hinted towards Billy being the architect of reality in previous comics. It doesn't do anything for me, and I worry that, somehow, he'll find a way to make that Catholic, too.

The thing that really bothers me is Tommy's time powers. I know everybody lost their minds when that happened, but here's the thing-- it's fanservice. This has been a popular fanon thing for years, and to me, allowing fanon to become canon almost always feels cheap, and again, indulgent. This might be a personal issue, but it's really hard for me to look past.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Are you happy with the way Amaranth is being written in Wanda's stories or would you change anything about her? After the announcement of her mini with Vision, I have my doubts whether she will continue to be a recurring character in Scarlet Witch's life or whether she will still have strong connections.

I'm enjoying the story arc, but I am a little frustrated knowing it's going to end next month. I wish we could have gotten to know Amaranth better as a person before she, presumably, leaves the series, or actually seen more of her studying magic with Wanda.

It's no secret that Scarlet Witch has pacing issues, although I'm of the firm belief that these arise primarily from editorial and publishing restraints-- when you actually look at them, each arc in the series is technically very well structured. Orlando knows how to plot a story, even if he struggles to end them neatly. I find his storytelling effective, but I sometimes question his priorities when it comes to using his unfortunately limited page space. With Amaranth, there was an opportunity to really deepen Scarlet Witch's worldbuilding and magical atmosphere, which I have always felt the book was missing, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.

Amaranth's motives and feelings are very clearly conveyed, but her actions at the end of #9 felt kind of arbitrary, so not I'm totally sure if I buy the set up for next month's conflict. More than that, though, I just wish we'd been able to spend a little more time with her outside of the main plot-- the story has established her special abilities and illustrated her emotional arc very nicely, but I feel like I don't know a whole lot about her as an individual. I suppose, to some degree, that's the point-- her origins are a mystery. But this is a brand-new character that's being developed totally from scratch, and I think she'd have benefitted from a little more characterizing detail. I might be nitpicking-- I really can't undersell how strongly her personality come through, or how clear and concise her development has been. But moments like the opening of #8, where she briefly mentions learning to work the till at Emporium, make me wish we actually got to see some of that downtime instead of only being told about it. I guess what I'm saying is, I wish that Scarlet Witch didn't have to be quite so compressed, and the preemptive sense of fleetingness around Amaranth is really bringing that forward.

But who knows! Maybe I'm wrong, and she actually will have a more sustained, or at least recurring role. My hope for V&SW, and whatever comes next, is that all of the characters and settings Orlando has established will come together somehow. We've built up a supporting cast and deepened Wanda's relationships with her family, plus we've got a growing number of villains, some cool new settings and magical items, and a few loose threads hanging around. I know this book has had an unconventional structure, but Orlando has built a whole new world for Wanda and I'm excited to see how it pays off in the next year. And I hope Amy will be a part of it.

Either way, I'm really excited to see Dauterman draw this cutie pie again next month! 🩷

[scarlet--wiccan]

New rule— if I say “Wanda’s children count as people of Romani descent” that’s not an invitation for gadje to debate.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Billy and Teddy, illust. Schiti, Gracia

[scarlet--wiccan]

Nico Minoru + Karolina Dean; illust. Kris Anka

fan edit & original graphics @scarlet--wiccan

My tarot collages; my emblem designs

[scarlet--wiccan]

WICCAN & HULKLING banners, illust. Frigeri, Blee

fan edit/recolor, plz reblog if you use/save

[scarlet--wiccan]

WICCAN + HULKLING; illust. Frigeri, Blee

banners feat. van Gogh's Almond Blossom

fan edit/recolor, plz reblog if you use/save