Scarlet Witch #6 cover It’s a Mother and Child (and Child’s Spouse) Reunion in Scarlet Witch #6, but the circumstances around their bonding sesh aren’t exactly ideal.

As illuminated by the cover art, Scarlet Witch #6 features the title’s long-awaited arrival of her son, Billy “Wiccan” Kaplan, now serving as the prince consort (and court wizard!) of husband Teddy “Hulkling” Altman’s united Kree-Skrull Empire. But Wanda doesn’t exactly come to the twosome bearing gifts. Instead, the Witch arrives with Ganymede, a space paladin seeking vengeance for the genocide of her people perpetuated by none other than her son-in-law’s empire before his reign began. Time for Wanda to think of some solutions to this problem before it becomes everybody’s problem.

As with the preceding issues of Scarlet Witch, writer Steve Orlando does a great job here of balancing serialized elements with standalone storytelling, allowing each individual issue to feel like a complete narrative while also nudging things along in a way that lends the series a sense of overall cohesiveness. Some aspects of prior issues are mentioned and invoked (i.e. Darcy’s ongoing saga with Scythia), but not at the expense of making the issue inaccessible to those who may be checking on because they saw their favorite M/M ship on the cover. It sounds like a minor compliment, but it’s refreshing in the wider context of superhero comics, which can often feel plagued by decompressed plotting for the sake of writing for a trade paperback rather than a singular experience. It’s also just exciting to see Orlando get an opportunity to write Billy and Teddy in one comic, considering his excellent prior work with Midnighter & Apollo —their closest counterpart across the aisle in terms of notability— for DC. But above all else, Orlando gives Wanda a warmth and empathy that she’s often not afforded in the wake of her vindication from Krakoan prejudice, and you believe that vulnerable people would trust her with their problems.

Ongoing artist Sara Pichelli returns from a brief hiatus last issue (joined this time by Lorenzo Tammetta) and they deliver inventive visuals made even better by Frank Williams’ vibrant, deep colors. The art team of Scarlet Witch hasn’t been totally consistent since it began in terms of personnel, but it always looks good regardless, and that’s always the best scenario for rotating artists. I suspect Tammetta did more of the heavy lifting here based on the aesthetic quality of the pages, but it’s not an unwelcome addition. It’s a testament to Orlando, his various artists, and editor Alanna Smith that Scarlet Witch is probably one of Marvel’s best ongoing series at the moment — and Marvel themselves seem to agree with me on that, since last month’s Annual was the prelude to their upcoming, Agatha Harkness-centric Contest of Chaos crossover event. This is as good a place as any to start if you haven’t been following along, but starting from the beginning would also be a great suggestion.