Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Basically just divine


Okay. So the premise of this comic is that once every ninety years a pantheon of gods are resurrected into the bodies of contemporary people. The gods live as themselves for two years and then they die, not to be seen again for almost another century. But what you really need to know about The Wicked + The Divine is that Lucifer is basically a female David Bowie who is just SUPER compelling and that's essentially what makes this comic so worthwhile to read.

This book was Issue One. It does a lot of establishing stuff and not much else - there are some major conflicts that happen, sure, but most of what we're doing here is meeting and getting to know the characters. It's a successful strategy because I want to know everything else about this universe right now. It's so cool - how do people cope with this, how do the gods feel about these things, what's the real extent of their powers, how did they decide to show themselves to the world as pop artists instead of religious leaders and what's the in-universe commentary on that? I want to know it all. There are so many cool ways that this story could play out and I can't wait to go along for the rest of the ride.

The art, by the way, is fucking fantastic. It's all clean lines and bright colors and good choices in every single panel. There's a lovely continuity from image to image that guides you through the story at a breakneck pace, flowing cinematically and balancing the visuals with the dialogue in a remarkable show of creative control.

Delightful, just delightful all around. I can't wait to read more.

Gillen, Kieron. Jamie McKelvie, Artist. Matthew Wilson, Colourist. Clayton Cowles, Letterer.
     Hannah Donovan, Designer. Chrissy Williams, Editor. Dee Cunniffe, Flatter.
     The Wicked + The Divine. Image Comics. Berkley: California. 2015.

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