Avengers #185 opens where #184 left off…
It also continues the thread of Hawkeye moping about being kicked out of the team to make way for a black man.
He formally walks off in a huff.
There are then some more (really fun) character moments, like Tony being a bit of a cad…
And this one with Vision and Jocasta…
Vision refers to Wanda and Pietro being on “a journey,” and the scene shifts to Wundagore Mountain, where Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are looking for answers about their own past.
Through flashbacks, we see scenes from their childhoods–for the first time.
As for their origin: This was Marvel’s way of breaking them free of being the children of Whizzer and Miss America. Bova the cow-woman tells them that she, and the two of them, were products of High Evolutionary, being given to him as youngsters by a woman named Magda. In later issues we learn that Magda was the wife of Magneto–but we don’t know that from this issue, and we also know now that that origin, too, has been debunked.
And then, at night, Wanda gets a visitor.
Modred shows up and takes Wanda up the mountain to the machines built by High Evolutionary, and reveals that she is to be placed on an altar…
Wanda resists but…
Quicksilver goes looking for her but bumps his head.
A lot.
His foster mother Bova finds him. She tends to his wounds and refreshes his search for his sister.
And in the process, comes upon Django Maximoff, who adopted Pietro and Wanda when they were babies.
The stage is set for the Avengers to arrive. Henry Peter Gyrich tries to red-tape them against going, but fails.
The team arrives and fights Modred.
But by this time, Wanda is dominated by the demon Chthon, who debuted way back in Marvel Chillers #1–a comic book that nobody even read.
Except Mark Gruenwald, of course.
This was the first time Scarlet Witch got really evil. I mean, Magneto manipulated her and all that, but here we could see the beginning of the woman who would eventually cause the House of M event.
Eventually, Wasp saves the day.
This is an excellent comic–it’s the third best Gruenwald comic ever. Even though it was great–a classic in Avengers history–it was so confusing that they had to make a full-page explanation, instead of a letters page, in issue #192.
Sometimes it’s the minor points in comics that arrest my attention- two notes, here, concerning the Maximoff Twins’ garmentry: 1) Quicksilver thanks Bova the Cow-Lady for repairing his utterly-destroyed Spandex running suit. Now, I know that bovine midwives are some seriously talented people, ( ? ) but I’d still like to know just how exactly Bova can replace destroyed fabric from thin air! Nice trick! Quicksilver’s outfit looks BETTER than new! A Transian miracle!! 2) Isn’t it nice to know that the Scarlet Witch sleeps in the nude??? Just knowing that just somehow makes my life seem more worthwhile! I haven’t read “The Yesterday Quest” in forty-three years, ( an oversight I mean to correct once I pick up the TPB from my favorite funnybook emporium ) so I had TOTALLY forgotten that scene where Tony accidentally ( ?? ) bumps into Ms. Marvel, and she responds by stating, quite out-of-character, how much she enjoyed it, instead of threatening to rip things off Tony’s body! Of course, Tony IS obscenely wealthy and uncommonly handsome, and, even in funnybook-world, money TALKS, and bullshit WALKS! Straight up!