Hello and welcome back to another great week in Ye Olde School Café! After my vacation last week, I’m invigorated and ready to go with another awesome story from yester-year! This week, in honor of the upcoming holiday, I’ll be focusing on a story that features some ghoulish villains! The book is called Avengers: Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and it contains a classic Avengers issue (Giant Size Avengers #4), and the subsequent limited series starring Wanda and her android husband! The Giant Size issue was brought to us by Steve Englehart and Don Heck (1975), and the limited series by Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi (1982/83).
The story begins with the wedding of Wanda and Vision, just after they and the other Avengers stopped Kang the conqueror and then thwarted the plans of the Dread Dormammu! The Avengers then return home, but Wanda and Vision go on a honeymoon, then head for their new home in New Jersey. As they walk down the street, they’re approached by some kids that are trick or treating. Vision has nothing to offer them for a treat, so he shows them a trick instead. The kids are amazed, and then realize that it’s the Scarlet Witch and Vision that are their new neighbors!
Once inside, the two are greeted by Jarvis, who has come to help them move in. He gives Wanda a present from Cap, and then goes to help unpack some boxes. Wanda tells Vision that the book is an ancient druid book of spells. What Wanda doesn’t know, is that it’s possessed by an evil druid that comes to life when the book is handled. So only moments later the book flops around like a fish while Wanda and Vision are making out. They then separate, and both have thoughts about all the recent trials they’ve been through. The kids that were in the street then decide to come and knock on the door because they want to meet the Avengers. As they approach the door, though, the book starts to emit some kind of evil magic that turns the kids into the monsters that their costumes had represented. Wanda hears a knock at the door, and when she answers it, she’s stunned to see these creatures. Jarvis then enters the foyer, and is thrown back into the kitchen. Vision is then attacked by these creatures. They blast him with beams from their eyes, but Vision takes the blast due to his density shifting powers. He gets whisked away by the “ghost,” and that leaves pumpkinhead and the goblin to help finish the job.
Meanwhile, Wanda senses that the spell book has something to do with all this, so she investigates. As she does, she’s greeted by an unholy looking druid priest carrying a scythe. He uses his immense powers to take Wanda back in time, and show her how he and his cult have been influencing people and worshiped for centuries. Ancient Egypt, a scene of druid priests dancing around Stonehenge, and the middle ages, as well. The druid then tells her that he’s the embodiment of All Hallows’ Eve, or Samhain. He also tells Wanda that he was freed by someone evil that sought out the book (Captain America #256). At that moment, Wanda and the priest begin to do battle. Down below in the lower level of the house, Vision has some success against these creatures that have plagued their new home. He stops them, along with some help from Jarvis, then joins the fight alongside his wife. Between the two of them, they can’t seem to stop Samhain, but then Wanda’s hex powers blow the book into the fireplace, and it sucks Samhain back into it, and burns to a crisp!
Afterwards, the children are attended to, but then Vision notices something different about Wanda, especially in her eyes. A ring of the doorbell breaks up the moment, though, and Wanda answers it. To her astonishment, a man is standing there, and he claims to be her and Pietro’s father!
Well, that’s it for now, but be back next week, and we’ll see the mystery between this man and the Maximoffs, then we’ll see Wonder Man, the Grim Reaper, and end it with the master of magnetism himself, Magneto! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
