This week, the Marvel Rundown dives into the latest in Steve Orlando’s ongoing, unsung saga of the Scarlet Witch: Sorcerer Supreme #2. In the Rapid Rundown, the team looks at the Amazing Spider-Man Annual, Infernal Hulk, the end of the Cody Ziglar era of Miles Morales: Spider-Man, and the premiere issue of the latest volume of Iron Man from Joshua Williamson & Carmen Carnero.
Sorcerer Supreme #2
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Bernard Chang
Colorist: Ruth Redmond
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover Artist: Lesley “Leirix” LI
I’ve never cared about the Scarlet Witch. But Steve Orlando’s run (hard as it has been to follow thanks to constant relaunches and name changes) has done the impossible: made me genuinely care about Wanda Maximoff. And in this latest volume, Sorcerer Supreme, all the work Orlando and his collaborators have done to showcase Wanda at her most empathetic, selfless, and confident is paid off. The past volumes have seen Wanda create a new life for herself not defined by her many tragedies. She has faced her fair share of cosmic challenges but the stories focused on small, grounded character explorations. Now, with collaborator Bernard Chang on art duties, Orlando unleashes the newly self-actualized Wanda on the Marvel Universe in a role of cosmic proportion as the new Sorcerer Supreme.
Orlando and Chang’s Sorcerer Supreme smartly positions the forces of the Marvel universe against Wanda, a metatextual and existential war against the Scarlet Witch as she simply tries to do what she believes is right. Time and again throughout her history, she has been beset by tragedy, turned against her fellow heroes, villainized and rejected. The setup is this: Wanda rescued the tools of the Sorcerer Supreme from the brink of destruction following Dr. Doom’s sacrifice to save Valeria Richards in One World Under Doom. While the Scarlet Witch claims they reached out to her to be saved, the Vishanti, the overseers of the magical powers of the Marvel Universe who appoint the Sorcerer Supreme, did not approve of Wanda’s taking of the title. The Vishanti have named ancient witch Agatha Harkness, Wanda’s former mentor, as their Sorcerer Supreme and sent her against Wanda.
This issue is mostly a battle between the two, with a few interludes to pick up on threads left behind from previous volumes. The structure of these first two chapters of the series has been interesting, as the scripts throw us right into Sorcerer Supreme action before pausing to catch readers up on what was missed in the jump between volumes. Most of Wanda’s supporting cast and setting have been jettisoned as she takes on her new role and moves into a new abode at the Sanctum Sanctorum. It’s nice to give longtime readers an opportunity to see the connective tissue. Orlando’s script doesn’t dwell on any of that though, and this issue’s interlude features a bargain with the demon Chthon that once dwelled within Wanda’s soul. (She’s a complicated character).
One of Steve Orlando’s strengths as a writer is his ability to leverage continuity without being beholden to it or penalizing the reader for being unfamiliar. Instead, the way concepts and stories are woven into dialogue and action give his characters a sense of living history. It has given his Wanda a level of pathos that constant reinvention and reconfiguring has never afforded her. Though Wanda does not have her familiar cast with her here, I am enjoying seeing how she and Wong, Dr. Strange’s trusted aide, work through their tenuous alliance.
Bernard Chang’s mostly delivers on the big action and swirling magic spells, though there are occasions he gets lost in the detail and the effect or drama of a given moment doesn’t quite land. It’s more a product of his layouts trying to keep up with the big, operatic dialogue and overflow of high concept ideas called for in the script. There are some impressive images though, with Chthon’s dark island and the Vishanti appearing to Agatha standing out as particularly memorable. There is a strange mashup of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby influence at play, as the Kirby Scarlet Witch and Ditko Sorcerer Supreme design worlds collide. We see the lashing waves of magic and rigidly ordered chaos of Ditko’s psychedelic Strange stories collide with the bombastic fisticuffs and cosmic beings of Kirby’s Marvel. It’s a lot of fun. Ruth Redmond’s colors bolster Chang’s line work with vivid clarity and a warring palette of red and violet that visually echoes the battle between Wanda and Agatha. VC’s Joe Sabino is a hidden weapon, comfortably pulling the reader along through the wild threads of jagged paneling with nary a hiccup.
Sorcerer Supreme #2 sees Wanda forced to defend her worth against a woman who helped train her, and in so doing must remind herself what she is capable of, and quell her own (literal) inner-demons. While a departure from the much quieter and reflective Scarlet Witch titles Steve Orlando has delivered on so far, Sorcerer Supreme is shaping up to be another memorable chapter in his defining run on the character. Beset on all sides by doubters and haters, Wanda rises above the noise, assured of herself and her abilities.
Final Verdict: BUY
Rapid Rundown!
- The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2026
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2026 Annual written by Saladin Ahmed and with art by Federico Vicentini, is a simple Spider-Man issue. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing intensely new, but it’s got a lot of heart as it continues the story of Rapid, who’s become Spider-Man’s sidekick. The pair take on Screwball, who would usually be annoying with her online speak, but the creatives behind this annual find a nice way to tie her into the issue’s central theme. Rapid is a cool character, even if his hero costume could use an improvement, and his dynamic with Spider-Man is entertaining to read. The issue makes the most of its length to present some great moments of Spider-Man and Rapid being heroes and saving lives, and Federico Vicenti’s art is really well done. A lot is happening in some panels, but Vicenti manages to keep everything neat and in its place, while also doing some great panel-breaking with Spidey’s swinging to emulate the motion. The comic is a nice break from those who aren’t enjoying Spider-Man’s time in space. – LM
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- The Infernal Hulk #3
- After last issue’s confrontation between the Infernal Hulk and Namor, The Infernal Hulk #3 focuses almost solely on Bruce Banner and Betty Ross’s current life and touches upon what happened between The Eldest and Banner at the end of writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Nic Klein’s Incredible Hulk volume. Johnson does a case study on trauma and the struggle adjusting to a normal life. Bruce is obviously overjoyed to be “normal” but Betty is struggling with the trauma of possession and loss of her powers. Johnson explores Betty’s despair and frankly it gets graphic at times, to the point where the issue begins with a suicide content warning. Bruce’s refusal to heed the call to action is impactful and in doing so, we see the cost the world bears. It is interesting to see how the Infernal Hulk is impacting the world but through the eyes of the normal person. It lends to the otherworldly and monstrous feeling that this Hulk is projecting. The art is credited to Kev Walker and Nic Klein, but Walker does the lion’s share of the art duties and knocks it out of the park. The emotional pain on Bruce and Betty’s faces speaks volumes and captures the suburbia nightmare that the issue is setting out to do. This issue further cements my feeling that this is Marvel’s best comic every month. –JJ
- Iron Man #1
- After making himself into a superstar over at DC, writer Joshua Williamson returns to Marvel with this splashy debut issue. Tony Stark throws a bash giving out an award for future thinking individuals. He flirts with a waitress. Pepper Potts comes back into his life. And wouldn’t you know it, a new A.I.M. faction led by Madame Masque shows up and kidnaps the award winner. All of this gets rendered in dynamic action scenes by Carman Carnero, who of course has not one but two new designs for the Golden Avenger. For all intents and purposes, Williamson and Carnero put out a pretty breathless first issue that ends with an intriguing hook. Tony Stark went through a lot of trauma in the last decade, so a slightly lighter take is appreciated. Williamson clearly knows what should be expected in an Iron Man book. It’s not entirely back to basics but it definitely feels like return to the core concept of billionaire adventurer. Yet after the forward thinking previous run by Spencer Ackerman and Julius Ohta where confrontations in both the boardroom and the battlefield took place for Tony Stark, one can’t help but think how regressive this reads. This seems like the best Iron Man book for 15 years ago when Iron Man 2 and Avengers were coming out. This isn’t a bad read by any measure but it’s not a very surprising one. – DM
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Miles Morales: Spider-Man #42
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Cody Ziglar’s run on Miles Morales: Spider-Man comes to its unnecessary end. Ziglar has been putting Miles through it, an essential aspect of being a Spider-Man, with a twist. For the close of this chapter, Miles faces off against Rabble and the Assessor, the evil AI that tortured him for weeks, but in a turn of luck, Miles gets some help from his hero namesake, Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. Newly returned to Earth with his techno-organic suit, Peter helps Miles with his corrupted Vibranium suit, fighting off the Assessor’s attempt to control Miles’s suit. To help close out this issue, artist Marco Renna and color artist Bryan Valenza join in on the high-energy finish. Renna and Valenza are going all out with this issue, the storytelling and pacing are frenetic and fun, giving both heroes a chance to showboat their skills and level-ups in that dynamic way I expect from a Spider book. Ziglar’s run will definitely be marked by its expansion of what it is to be a young Afro-Latino with the proportionate strength of a spider, the need for introspection, self-healing, and personal growth. Miles’s supporting cast and rogue’s gallery are on par with young Peter’s set of friends and villains, especially with that Marvel “real world” approach. Characters like Miles are that bridge between the old guard of heroes and the next generation of heroes, and Ziglar’s run spectacularly showcased this. – GC3
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