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Topic: Qs for JB - Maximoffs Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Harri Jokinen
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Joined: 11 May 2014
Location: Finland
Posts: 49
Posted: 07 January 2021 at 7:41am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

First things first, a special shout out for issue 181, the first Avengers comic I ever read. I didn't know who half the characters in that meeting were, but was instantly hooked, and the Avengers have been my favorite Marvel series since.

In recent years, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch have risen up the ranks to become some of my favorite characters. I vastly prefer them as a family unit, though, when they get to work off of each other or Magneto. So the family reunion at the end of WCA #56 probably ranks as one of my favorite Marvel moments ever. To me, that series pretty much fixed the twins after years of misuse.

What I wanted to ask was did you have any long term plans for the characters? Was Quicksilver just a guest star, or was he meant to stick around? Was the reformed Brotherhood only supposed to be there for the duration of that story? Also, did you have any special fondness for Quicksilver? It seems to me, throughout the 70s and 80s, stories where you were involved were the only ones where the character was treated with any sort of respect.

Lastly, I'd like to ask who came up with the name Maximoff? It seems like the inspiration for the name was French writer Mateo Maximoff?

I'd also like to hear opinions from board members on how they felt the characters were handled at the time.

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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 07 January 2021 at 7:58am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Wish I could offer some profound insights, here, but in those days I was strictly Art Robot, and my contributions to character and plot development were virtually nonexistent.

As to the origin of the name "Maximoff", I simply do not know!

Sorry!

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Eric Sofer
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Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
Posted: 07 January 2021 at 10:21am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Maximoff does sound rather "royal" to me, as well as being superior. Perhaps that's the source of the name? Marvel had a bit of a tendency to do that, a la Eric Killmonger too.
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Peter Martin
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Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 15729
Posted: 07 January 2021 at 1:30pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

The Scarlet Witch's powers are always problematic for me. Great name, great costume, interesting personality dynamics around the character... And powers that Marvel could never get straight.
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Andrew Bitner
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 01 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7467
Posted: 08 January 2021 at 12:34pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

JB did heroic work making sense of Wanda's powers in the pages of AVENGERS WEST COAST, but it seems later writers either never read or misunderstood that story.
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Doug Centers
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Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5438
Posted: 08 January 2021 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Yes Andrew, JB cleared the fog tremendously. If I recall he would use a caption explaining the odds before using her powers then the odds become one to one.
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17659
Posted: 08 January 2021 at 5:20pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply


 QUOTE:
The Scarlet Witch's powers are always problematic for me. Great name, great costume, interesting personality dynamics around the character... And powers that Marvel could never get straight.


Given how much The Scarlet Witch's powers had changed by the time JB was writing her, I think he handled them well. There's something about simply causing her foes bad luck that I liked though.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 08 January 2021 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

“Witch” seemed to confuse some people. The Black Panther did not have to be a real jungle cat. The Chameleon did not have to be a lizard. Heck, Spider-Man didn’t have to be a spider. Metaphor!

But if Wanda was called a “witch” surely she must be one!

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Trevor Smith
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Joined: 21 September 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 3514
Posted: 09 January 2021 at 5:35am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Burn her!
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John Byrne

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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 09 January 2021 at 8:09am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 09 January 2021 at 8:14am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

I don't recall who it was who first suggested Wanda's power was to "alter probabilities", but it made sense in terms of causing "bad luck" without actually having a physical effect on the subject.

Thus, when she pointed at a bad guy and his gun jammed, she had not affected the gun, per se, but rather had created a series of blips all along the weapon's timeline, which added up to a jam at just that moment.

This was the core of the story I started in AWC, where Immortus kidnapped her to make deliberate use of her unconscious ability to reach back thru time.

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Harri Jokinen
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 11 May 2014
Location: Finland
Posts: 49
Posted: 24 January 2021 at 7:33am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Follow-up question for everybody: Should Quicksilver and Magneto be immune to Wanda's powers? If the mutant rule is that they have to be immune to their own powers, and it extends to family members? Or is the sibling immunity just a Summers brother thing?
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