Scarlet Witch, Vol. 1: The Last Door

Scarlet Witch #1

by Steve Orlando, Sara Pichelli (Artist), Carlos Nieto (Artist)

There is a door that appears only to those who need it most. On the other side is a witchcraft shop. If your hope is gone, there you will meet…the Scarlet Witch! Wanda Maximoff is familiar with hitting rock bottom - and now that she's finally found peace, she's pledged to help others who are languishing at their lowest. But when a woman falls through Wanda's door with a terrifying story of a town gone mad, the Scarlet Witch will have to muster all her wits and chaos magic to deal with an insidious threat! And when Viv Vision arrives, exhausted and terrified, Wanda must dive into Viv's dreams to find the cause of the android's suffering! Plus: Polaris stops by for a sisterly sojourn into Sub-Atomica! And Darcy Lewis needs defending from a deadly warrior! Plus: When a newly rejuvenated Agatha Harkness learns of the Scarlet Witch's recent absorption of Chthon, she decides to educate her former student on the dangers of such an endeavor. But Wanda is not the meek pupil she once was - and Agatha's intentions are not so straightforward. Collects Scarlet Witch (2023) #1-5, Scarlet Witch Annual (2023) #1.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

168 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2023

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully conceived and lusciously drawn, this, the latest Scarlet Witch season purportedly tries to put her past behind her, whilst the entire series is about Wanda making penance(!) for her past, helping the people in need that come through The Last Door. Overall the story and plotting is not that interesting, but the further evolving of Wanda is visually and aesthetically so pleasing. A 7 out of 12, Three Star read.

2025 read

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too shabby.



I haven't read much Marvel lately but this was a bonus borrow from Hoopla so I grabbed it.
It kind of reads like a continuation of the Scarlet Witch tv show but I don't know that for sure because...well, like I said, I haven't read much Marvel lately.



Anyway, Scarlet Witch is attoning for the crazy stuff she did in the past, and her way of doing that is by helping people who have reached the end of their rope. She is literally the LAST hope for some of them when they walk through her door.
And by the way, the door is magic so these folks are coming from everywhere.



She's got a sassy assistant with a past to help her. And in this volume, lots of cool cameos come waltzing into her little magic shop. From Pietro to Agatha Harkness.
Cool, cool, cool.
I'd read more but I'm also not invested.



Recommended for fans of Scarlet Witch.

[Zana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can I have at least one Scarlet Witch run that's not written by a dude? Thanks.

This was decent. I'm torn between wanting Wanda to have a (mostly) quaint life running a magic shop in a touristy town vs. the usual Scarlet Witch plotlines where she's super angsty and having to endlessly answer for her past actions.

I actually liked the Scarlet Witch Annual #1 better than the Last Door stuff, only because Agatha's there provoking Wanda. Also, Wanda absorbed the Darkhold and is holding Chthon prisoner?? When TF did that happen??? (Oh wait, that was in the Darkhold Series, which I fucking hated because it was cheesy af.)

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I'd expected. I like this WandaVision-inflected version of Wanda.


Yep, on the right that's Kat Dennings Darcy!

[Igel :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es war schön gezeichnet. Zur Story kann ich leider gar nichts sagen , weil ich überhaupt nichts verstanden habe. 🫤

Man kriegt gar keine Einführung . Einem wird gar nichts zu Scarlet und ihren Kräfte erklärt. Anscheinend muss man die Filme oder andere Comics kennen , um hier auch nur Ansatzweise was zu verstehen..... (worauf aber nirgendwo hingewiesen wird)

[Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me sadly. I was a big fan of the previous series Scarlet Witch by James Robinson: The Complete Collection, and I was waiting for Marvel to do a new Scarlet Witch solo series but this ain't it chief. The story has Wanda living a small town with a magic shop, as Darcy helps as her shop assistant. She has this magic door that lures in people that are in danger, so Wanda can help them. The writing by Steve Orlando is just very dull and boring at times, and I didn't care for most of the stories here. Wanda is just way too overpowered and every time you think she's in danger she's actually not and solves it almost immediately. This is in stark contrast to the James Robinson run where every time she used her magic, she aged more rapidly, so you felt a lot of tension as the reader. There's none of that here, which just leads to an uneventful series. This volume also collects an annual that has a cool fight between Wanda and Agatha, but its only there to setup an event which I'm never going to read, so yay I guess. The art is really good, but that's the only thing I really liked about it.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the events of The Trial of Magneto, which I have mostly forgotten, Scarlet Witch opens a witchcraft shop with a door in the back that teleports people to the shop in their time of need. Cue the wacky adventures! This absolutely feels like a Jed MacKay setup, though with Steve Orlando as the writer, the dialogue is far more verbose than necessary.

It's nice to see Darcy again in the witchy world, though her big mysterious reason for wanting to work at the shop is unnecessarily convoluted. That's kind of the case with most of The Last Door. Although most of the cases coming through the door are wrapped up in one issue, they're not exactly crisp whodunnits. And why is Scarlet Witch so cheerful and helpful? I recall her with more an evil tinge in previous series.

Despite my complaints, The Last Door is mostly fun and looks good. I'll keep reading, though I hope Jed MacKay takes over as writer since the concept here seems so suited to his style.

[Mattthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Wanda. She is one of my favorite characters. This was really good. The art was fantastic, and the story was great. Seems very promising. Looking forward to the next volume.
Highly Recommend

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Wanda so much. She’s always been such a fascinating character to me. Imagine making a special event costume so damn good that they decide to keep her in for her own solo series. Her Hellfire Gala outfit from last year is just amazing and I’m so scared they’ll take it from her. This series is off to a great start and I love that she sits up one of this summer’s events. Contest of Chaos has a good start to it. Excited to see where it goes.

[bri 🧸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

i let out the most violent gasp on the last page

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was pretty decent. Wanda set up this little gift shop where Darcy from the MCU works for her. There, Wanda has also set up The Last Door. Anyone out there who becomes desperate and is in dire need of help with nowhere else to turn will come thru that door and Wanda will assist them. Pretty cool little set up. We see Wanda go on a couple of adventures helping a couple of people who came through the door. But then we get the arrival of Scythia. Apparently, Darcy has broken some rules against her sect and now she has come to kill her for it. A nice battle between Wanda and Scythia goes down. Then the annual sets up some interesting things with the idea that the Darkhold and Cthulhu was absorbed by Wanda. ( when the hell did that happen? ) all in all, pretty solid. Art was good too. Especially issue 5 done by Dauterman.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I think that at this point the biggest problem with Scarlet Witch is that she doesn't have enough problems. Her power level just keeps rising, without any apparent cost to herself. In this book, she solves every problem presented to her almost effortlessly. And she doesn't seem to really feel any of the guilt and anger and regret she very well ought to feel considering her past. It doesn't help that just about everyone she meets loves her or is at least impressed by her. This felt most false when she has a cheery little outing with Storm. There's a lot of history between these characters, and it feels weird that this interaction doesn't feel any more loaded than an average girls' night out. It all just makes her feel like a much less interesting character than she should be.

[Melia Glubka · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 try not to say mother challenge impossible level

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "Scarlet Witch: The Last Door" Wanda Maximoff has stepped back from the Avengers and more kinetic activities, - mostly. Aided by Darcy Lewis, Wanda is now running a mystical apothecary and her primary responsibility seems to be quaffing as much herbal tea as possible. Yet, Wanda being Wanda, nothing is ever quite simple and the Last Door, - sort of a magical fire escape for the truly desperate continues to drop lost souls in need of saving at Wanda's feet at the rate of about one per chapter.

For the most part this book feels like a superhero book written by Becky Chambers. It’s moderately paced, slightly introspective, overwhelmingly hopeful and awash in tea. Did I mention the tea? This mostly works and its nice to see Wanda moving at a less frenetic pace while doing her best to protect her community. That is not to say that there is no excitement, just that it is punctuated by longer moments in which readers can really examine and appreciate Wanda’s deeper motives and have a cup of tea themselves..

Expect lots of “rescue of the week” scenarios, Darcy snark, a mysterious and perhaps deadly necklace, a visit from Polaris in all her magnetic green-haired glory, an avenging Amazon who seems to have missed the left at Themyscira and a tacked on annual issue with a newly rejuvenated but just as lethal Agatha.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. The only thing about this book it it felt a bit rushed. There was too much to cover in each chapter/issue, and they had fit it in.

Wanda Maximoff is back she intends to make amends for her past one life at a time. When someone is at their lowest and has no hope left, why not turn to someone who can literally re-write reality, but how do they find her?

I like the different teams working on different chapters and adding their own styles and storytelling. I like the guest stars, but I would have liked more development between the characters than just going on a mission together and then coming back for tea?

The book finishes a varient cover gallery. One full page varient of each issue, and a page divided into four varient versions on it. The book also sets up a number of things to come.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting start of this 10 chapter storyline (1-5 are in this volume).
Even a prelude to a new comic series is in the back of the book. So Really exciting stuff.
Reading a comic is very different from a novel and it takes a lot of energy for your eyes (looking at all the details etc).

But woa this one was really well drawn and love the Wanda design and this story featuring some good fitting characters that I am sure will make a return in 6-10

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

W sumie. Nic nie wnosi do Marvela. Ale jest całkiem przyjemne, a ilustracje to już w ogóle najwyższych lotów, z przyjemnością się to czyta dzięki temu

[Lenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of this worked for me, there's good potential. The Last Door is a familiar concept and I like it, even though it's mostly a mechanism for disjointed single-issue adventures. Wanda and Pietro finally have the right skin tone, and Sarah Picelli's art is nice, especially Wanda's design (though I don't like her pouty faces), but not the sole reason to read the book.

Darcy is a strange addition, and she doesn't do much. (An MCU reminder in a Wanda book isn't great.) Viv should have replaced Darcy - helping Wanda while keeping her motive and nightmares a secret, with her healing as the high point of the book. Wanda could've been her mentor, familiar with the grief she is steeped in. And it might have reflected Wanda's own healing journey. That would be far better than Darcy's one-note sarcasm (which could have been more complex but Orlando chose not to.)

The one-shot adventures are pretty bland, and the villains/guest stars pass through without actually making much of an impact. Wanda's past is acknowledged but it feels like she had a mask on the whole time. Viv and Polaris might have pulled more out of her, but Polaris' single issue cameo is wasted, essentially a fantasy book summary not even about her.

A big strength of Thompson's Black Widow is Natasha and Yelena's sister relationship through trauma. Like Natasha, I think Wanda does best with a foil, someone to ground her and bring out those more reserved sides of her - preferably Polaris, maybe Viv - but Darcy is the wrong choice.

Ha! Maybe I didn't like this as much as I thought I did. I'll hold out hope that volume two gets better (assuming there is one), but clearly I do not like Darcy, and I will have to brace myself before diving back in.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quando comecei a acompanhar o trabalho de Steve Orlando na DC Comics, vi coisas legais e coisas medianas, mas depois que ele foi para a Marvel e principalmente para os X-Men, ficou difícil defender o trabalho dele. Em Feiticeira Escarlate ele atinge sua redenção com os fãs da Marvel. Orlando acaba desenvolvendo um bom cenário para Wanda recomeçar, uma loja de magia, ao lado de Darcy, da série Wandavision, dando até mesmo uma origem para ela. Ele também cria o mote narrativo da "última porta", como uma porta dos desesperados, último recurso de uma pessoa que vai dar na loja de magia de Wanda. Pietro Maximoff, o Mercúrio, irmão de Wanda, também dá as caras no quadrinho e a desenhista Sara Picheli desenha o Mercúrio mais sexy dos quadrinhos até agora. Os desenhos de Sara estão melhores de que nunca e seus trabalho combinou com o de Orlando. E ainda somos brindados com a arte de Russell Dauterman em uma das edições deste encadernado. E Orlando conseguiu mais um feito, que seu último trabalho não conquistou: me deixar curioso para o próximo encadernado.

[Alex Sarll]

I was on the point of giving up on Steve Orlando, but unlike the local pizza place we decided to give one last chance (don't ask), he's really won me back around here. Wanda is running a small-town magic shop, with the comics debut of Darcy as her assistant. Partly this is about grounding herself, but there's also a door in the wall which can open for anyone, anywhere, whose need is great and hope is gone. Enabling a magical A-Team (except with an unlimited budget) set-up where Wanda and a rotating line-up of guest stars can sort out trouble in Texas, Italy or the Microverse from one issue to the next. It would have been tricky without artists of Pichelli and Dauterman's calibre, plus Matthew Wilson's colours to sell the mood, but as it stands it's glorious; at one point an epic fantasy that could have dragged is instead told as a fable-cum-montage in a dozen pages. Meanwhile, mysteries on a longer timescale tick away in the background. Normally I'm wary of superheroes who come up with high-minded rationales for not killing opponents blatantly deserving of it, but here it works, Wanda drawing on her own chequered past both to make the punishment fit the crime and, where possible, to try for something more productive than punishment. Which in turn helps keep a handle on a character whose vast, vague powers have often presented as much of a storytelling problem as an in-world one. All this, plus a Desperate Journalist namecheck!

[Cat Alina]

This is my first Marvel comic EVER, so I’m actually not going to rate this because I have nothing to compare it to! I’ve always really liked Scarlet Witch in the MCU so I wanted to know more of her story. There are some things that I am definitely not caught up on, but I found everything fairly easy to follow despite the gaps in my knowledge. I’m hoping this marks the start of my Marvel comics journey!!

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise here, whilst not wholly unique, works well and is fun. Wanda comes off as a little pompous but having Darcy in the mix adds some much needed levity. I do not mind the ‘villain of the week’ storytelling but I do hope we can something to really get involved with.

3/5

[Nacho Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me he quedado Moñeca con el final… que bonito el estilo del cómic, que cameos tan icónicos, que ganas de leerme la segunda parte.

[Toulouser¡¡¡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art but the story is all over the place 😔

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polaris tomando café🫵

[nella ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

all of my wives appeared (4.5 ⭐)

[ash ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the friendship between wanda and darcy sm

[Mattia Fionda · Rating 3 out of 5]

‼️2.5/5🌟

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[eeva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this and this is my favorite look for Wanda! Need to read the rest of this line ASAP