Writer: Leah Williams
Artists: Lucas Werneck & David Messina
Color Artist: Edgar Delgado
Cover Artists: Valerio Schiti & Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, has been murdered. And all signs seem to point to Magneto. But more evidence puts that all into question, and on top of that, Wanda may or may not really be dead. And if that wasn’t enough of an ordeal, there are now three giant monsters attacking Krakoa. In X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #4, we see how the Scarlet Witch gets herself out of this one.
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, simply click the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon.
Review:
There are many things that can be said about this series and this issue, but let’s stick with the more relevant information. This comic starts with the Scarlet Witch’s resurrection from the end of the second issue, but that moment, along with so much of this comic only raises more questions then it will likely ever answer. Not to mention, the comic ignores years of established history and character development for the Scarlet Witch to make that happen.
The story is framed more as the Scarlet Witch trying to overcome her self-loathing and move past her guilt for what she did during House of M before it destroys her loved ones. This is embodied through three forms of the Scarlet Witch forming a trinity of the past, present, and future selves of Wanda into a triple goddess state. But the present and future forms of Wanda are fighting in a magical realm called the Eldritch Orchard, which is a cool name but it’s never explained what it is, how they ended up there, etc.
However, this is where the comic is at its ugliest. See, the young Wanda gets her memories back and is having a terrible mental breakdown around her sons. But instead of trying to calm her down, Leah Williams has both of them scream at her to stop, with Speed saying, “This is why everyone is afraid to be around you!” While Wiccan screams, “I have lived my whole life defending you, Mom!” Which is false, but we’ll get to that. He yells that she refuses to take accountability for her actions, and she needs to take responsibility for what she’s done or her magic will kill everyone.
There’s so much wrong about this. First, Wiccan didn’t go through his life defending his mom nor did she really teach him any magic, at least on panel. The same with Speed, Wanda never met her sons until the series Young Avengers: Children’s Crusade back in 2010 or 2012, which was trying to absolve Wanda of “No More Mutants” by pinning it on Dr. Doom for some reason. And Marvel comic writers barely had them interact with each other at all or be in the same room since then. Second, Leah Williams writes these characters terribly and doesn’t understand how people help de-escalate mental breakdowns if she thinks screaming at someone is the answer.
Afterward, Wanda just miraculously makes peace with herself, accepting her actions, and things fall too smoothly into place after that. Of course, the general mutant populace is furious with Wanda, as they should be. But the comic ends on a cliffhanger with the only valuable piece of information in this whole story: Wanda knows who killed her.
This issue continues to show why it shouldn’t be called “The Trial of Magneto” when the man doesn’t even show up for more than 80% of the comic. He’s nowhere to be seen except for one panel helping the others fight one of the giant monsters. And you need to squint to see him. What’s worse is that Marvel is retreading familiar ground here with trying to get Wanda to move past what she did in House of M. But this is the worst attempt I’ve read in years.
Final Thoughts:
In X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #4, Magneto’s almost nowhere to be seen. The real focus is on the Scarlet Witch as she struggles to get herself together in the middle of all this chaos. However, the comic raises more questions than it answers, and the process of how Wanda resolves it, especially with her sons, is poorly executed. The only interesting thing left in this series is finding out who the killer is.