Rating: ★★★★★
Author: Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (Illustrations), Matt Wilson (Colorist), Clayton Cowles
Title: The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 1
ISBN: 1632150190
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Image Comics, 2014
Page Count: 176 pages
Synopsis: Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critical tongue-attractors like Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM reunite to create a world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.
Here's another past review for a graphic novel series that I have since continued, but it's been a while since I've picked it up. Because this is a graphic novel, I'm going to focus on the style, characters, then story.
Graphic Illustration
The artistic style of this particular graphic novel is what I typically gravitate towards: sharp but not too-bold lines; engaging use of palette to emphasize action, shadowing and emotion; and characters with an awesome sense of style. Because of the pop star nature of these mythological deities, the colors are vibrant, with lighting glares and sun flares—from stage lights to sunset. Each character has a unique palette that glows around them, but there is a unifying set of cool colors that cover the pages.
Characters
I don't think there is a character in this I don't love. Even if I'm mildly indifferent to them, I don't find myself wishing they weren't in the scene. My two favorites, after finishing "The Faust Act", are Luci and Sakhmet. I do believe this to be for selfish reasons, as I'm very heavily drawn to Luci in particular. She is the focus of the story's momentum, whereas Sakhmet I'm still understanding. But they both have such presence in each panel, it's hard to ignore them.
Next to them, I do actually quite love and enjoy Laura. She's an impulsive young adult (and a little reckless) who takes fandom and activism to a completely new level. But she was written in a way that didn't make her a token or trope in the story. She wasn't a brainless worshiper of the gods, she did what she did because she herself seemed to truly believe in what she was trying to accomplish. And she did it with or without support from others. I also found her quite funny; at no point did the writer overdo the "fandom" humor she had about meeting all of the gods for the first time.
I felt warmth from some characters, and intrigue from the stoicism of others. It makes me hope that in future volumes I'll see more of their motivations outside of Luci.
Allusions, Parallels and Plot
I appreciated this bastardization of traditional gods in lieu of divine celebrity. It would make sense that with a lens to our world, gods and goddesses would appear to us in a way that resonates with us onstage and in front of bright lights. It also makes for the experience of being a "believer" more about falling for the experience of their stage presence, and less so completely falling for their miracles.
The world was very much split, experiencing the gods' performances on different levels I've seen in real-world church experiences:
There are the "charismatic" church experiences that focus on high-impact, high-energy praise and worship—sweating, speaking in tongues, fainting, dancing like no one's watching, and otherwise being filled by the Holy Spirit. The just-as-devout-but-more-introverted spectators of the onstage experience of worship—awestruck at the performers, participating in song, experiencing a quiet religion of their own. The fans crawling for the lights and experience but still fumbling with the religion—not quite "believers" but fans of the empowerment of the experience. And the skeptics—not here for the worship, hardly interested in the fanaticism or fantastical claims of those preaching and singing onstage, scoffing and either quietly or loudly bitter about the entire thing.
Laura fell into what I would consider the introverted worshiper. Based on her narrative alone in the beginning, she could tell there was something that was being tapped into by Amaterasu's performance, but it seemed that hers was a slow burning religion that she felt as the music played and heightened because Amaterasu was there.
The Faustian theme of this volume had an appreciated double-meaning. It did embody Laura's deal with Luci. But "The Faust Act" was just as much a blunt mark on each gods' lives. Each one would live in divinity and success, but with the knowledge that death crept around the corner. The "Mephistopheles" in this story is less Luci(fer) to Laura than it is Ananke to everyone else.
The Wicked + the Divine did exactly as I hoped it would: It gave me satire, beautiful artistry, and a modern spin on mythology. I truly believe every graphic novel fan should stop whatever they're doing and read this series.
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