Name: Abi Baker's review of The Wicked + The Divine #2 by Kieron Gillen
Item: The Wicked + The Divine #2
Rating: 5
Author: Abi Baker

Kieron Gillen

The Wicked + The Divine #2

Abi Baker

Every ninety years, twelve gods return as young people. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are all dead. It's happening now. It's happening again.

The Wicked + the Divine

Shaq H

Vicky  Nuñez 

Beautiful art. That's the first thing you notice when reading The Wicked + The Divine. 
Next is its great storyline that you have no idea where is going. 
Strange, wonderful and entertaining. 
What's not to love?

Zahra

This was just not my kind of story I guess. But I have to admit that the art was indeed amazing!

Nessa Luna

In 2015, I decided to start reading graphic novels. I'd been wanting to do it for ages, but I had no idea where to start. Eventually, I got myself a couple of Marvel ones and loved them to bits. Then, I went and looked for other cool ones. One that caught my eye immediately was The Wicked + The Divine, mostly because of some incredible artwork that I saw. When I saw the first volume on Bookdepository for relatively cheap (under 10 euros is cheap for a graphic novel), I decided to buy it.

The Wicked + The Divine is about a group of people who become Gods. They are destined to be loved and hated, and to be dead within two years. This happens every ninety years; the last time being in the 1920's. Laura unwillingly gets pulled into their world after Luci kills a couple of people. Together, Laura, Luci and Cassandra must find out the truth behind the last murder (the one that Luci admits was not her doing).

I didn't really know what to expect when I started this, because the only thing I knew about the story was the short description from Goodreads, and that was it. I'd leafed through it already and saw the amazing artwork. That was really the part that I loved so much about this novel. There is a great diverse cast in this novel; a black main character, a bisexual god, a transgender and much more. And no one makes a big deal out of this, which is - in my opinion - the way it's supposed to be.



I was very intrigued by the whole 'Gods among us' part of the story, because that is honestly just one of my favourite thing ever - it's why I love Rick Riordan's books so much, and shows such as The Almighty Johnsons. To see Gods from certain mythologies (in the case of TW+TD it was all kinds of mythologies, not just the 'popular' ones) walk around on earth pretending to be humans, yes give me all of these stories!

As for the storyline in this comic, well, honestly I didn't think that was the strongest part in this novel. I felt like I had missed something while I was reading, and that we were just thrown into the story right in the middle, instead of at the beginning. (view spoiler)[I mean who were those two guys that Luci killed, why were they there on that roof, and why did they shoot at the people in the room? I guess that maybe they're christians or catholics who think that there is only one God, but you know - we don't find out in this volume. (hide spoiler)] Maybe we'll get more background information in any of the upcoming novels, but I don't know I just didn't really connect to any of it with this one.

I did like the whole mystery of 'who killed that judge', but that was about it. The Gods fighting each other and Laura meeting all of them didn't do much to me. The only part that I really liked was the ending, even though it was quite sad, and cliffhanger-y.

So yeah, I did really like this graphic novel, but it was mostly due to the artwork and the characters. The story wasn't that great in my opinion, but I am planning on picking up the next two volumes very soon! If you're looking for a graphic novel with diverse characters, great artwork and a relatively good story (that hopefully will be even better in the next two volumes), you should definitely pick up The Wicked + The Divine.

My opinion on this book in one gif:

brianna

3.5 stars. it was really confusing at first but the ending was so !!! it got me hyped to pick up vol 2

this was a mess and im conflicted on how i feel. im okay w the different artworks for each issue i just expected more? i liked getting to know each of the gods more tho that's the only reason this got 3 stars

Jeff James

The Wicked + The Divine takes celebrity worship to an extreme and imagines a world where the gods reincarnate in human form once every ninety years, oftentimes as the biggest stars of their generation. They are always young, beautiful, famous (or infamous) and dead within two years. Our window into the lives of the “pantheon” is Laura, a seventeen-year-old Londoner with a fan-girl crush on nearly every member.

When Laura faints at a concert performance given by a god named Amaterasu, Lucifer – incarnated here as a blonde girl with an androgynous Bowie look – takes her backstage and irrevocably tangles her life with the affairs of the gods. Laura’s time backstage ends quickly thanks to an assassination attempt on the gods, which Lucifer foils by snapping her fingers and exploding some heads. This results in Lucifer’s arrest and trial, and Laura decides that she has to do everything she can to help her idol, no matter the danger.

Before I get into the writing, I think I should state for the record that I absolutely love Jamie McKelvie’s art, which the best part of this book by far. The lines are bold and strong, and his style is so distinctive that I can identify it immediately when I come across his work. Combine McKelvie’s lines with Matt Wilson’s vibrant coloring and you’ve got a book that is absolutely gorgeous to behold. That said, The Wicked + The Divine isn’t just a pretty face; it’s also exceedingly British and peppered with Kieron Gillen’s wicked sense of humor throughout. The problem is that the story is a bit muddled and the plotting occasionally feels rushed.

Laura’s introduction to the world of the gods feels a bit arbitrary; Lucifer picks her out of a pile of fainted teenagers and then she’s neck-deep in weirdness and danger. I never quite bought into the idea that a seventeen year-old super-fan could do anything significant to help a group of supposedly all-powerful gods or that any one of them would ever rely on her for help. Lucifer reads more as a teenager play-acting the part of a butch bad girl and not the Lord of Darkness, but it still rings a bit false when Laura keeps insisting that The Devil Herself desperately needs her help.

Despite these hiccups, I did enjoy reading the first volume of The Wicked + The Divine, and I do think I’ll check out more volumes in the future. I just hope that the story gets a little tighter as the series continues and that Laura has a more active, crucial part in events as they unfold.

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from Net Galley.

"OKAY," Conclusion Thanks for reading. WeÕll miss you.

The Wicked + The Divine #45

I think an evil old lady put it best... I love you. I love you all. I'll miss you.


god i'm gonna miss wicdiv so damn much

Izza

4.5 stars | aaah! As usual, the art is stunning 😍 I can't get enough of it!

3.5 stars | I didn't really like the format (magazine articles) of the issue 23. I read about a page and went straight to #24

The artwork and colours get a solid 5 stars as usual <3

The Wicked + The Divine #33

Raphaëlle

END OF STORY ARC. "RISING ACTION," Conclusion A little extreme violence never hurt anyone.

The Wicked + The Divine #22

NOVEMBER 26 FOR ISSUE #23?????????????
That will simply not do!

The Wicked + The Divine #18

The Wicked + The Divine is BACK to its former glory. I loved everything about this issue: the action-packed plot, finally seeing Persephone in action - as expected, she's badass -, the tone it's setting for this arc, the developments it's foreshadowing, the pomegranates (!!!!!!), the gorgeous art we've come to miss during the Commercial suicide arc, this ending (talk about a cliffhanger), errrr'thang I'm telling you. 

I might be biased though because Persephone/Proserpina has always been my favorite divine figure, all myths considered. (view spoiler)[I can't wait to see which direction they will take with that Destroyer persona, and what exactly it entails. (hide spoiler)]

On a totally different note, Minerva's parents physically make me sick. 
(view spoiler)[Also, even if I enjoyed that plot "twist", I'm kinda mad that Baphomet cheated on Morri. I mean, he's already a murderous asshole, does he really need to cheat on the only great thing in his life to top it all off? 
Moreover, Ananke knowing about this one night stand strikes me as odd. Considering they can't reach the underworld Gods when they're underground, it's quaint & convoluted that she'd know of something that presumably happened underground. 
I'm very intrigued by that machine Ananke has Woden build, and what its purpose is.  (hide spoiler)]

My baby Ananke is as cryptic & dodgy as ever, I'm love it. (view spoiler)[ But as the plot moves further, there's almost a shift in paradigm and I'm wondering if Ananke's the evil character that she's been portrayed as in Commercial suicide. (hide spoiler)] I guess we'll have to wait & see. I'm so excited for what is to come next!

The Wicked + The Divine #14

Hmmmmm, this arc is slow burner BUT the plot thickens. Overall, we got a whole lot of insight about the two previous arcs in this issue. Which is great. But which also raises so many more questions.
Character wise, (view spoiler)[Ananke is definitely on a premeditated bat shit crazy murderous roll (hide spoiler)], which now officially makes her my new favorite character. Tied with Morry - for a lot of different reasons though -, whom we unfortunately haven't seen in a while... Woden I despise so much. He's the creepiest character by far, and I won't dwell on it too much because that dude makes me hella uncomfortable. 
I still miss Laura, Luci & Inanna though ;'( I still love this story but Laura's absence is strongly felt, IMO we need a new center protagonist real soon to "ground" the story. Even better, just bring Laura back. We never saw her corpse and in a supernatural story, every single time you don't see a body, it usually means said character will be back in some capacity. I just hope this is the case with Laura. (view spoiler)[My theory is that she's the girl in the Valkyrie helmet at the end of the issue. (hide spoiler)]

It's time for a private audience with Anake, she who has protected and judged the Pantheon for thousands of years. Yes, it's time for an interview... with an umpire. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Also: Baphomet being all goth and having a nice little mope.

The Wicked + The Divine #9

The end of Fandemonium. The end of Ragnarock. The end of the arc. The start of something else. Everything's going to be okay.

The Wicked + The Divine #11

WTF JUST HAPPENED? WTF HAVE I JUST READ?????????????? 
I did not sign up for this. 
They said it'll be fun they said.

The mystery is solved. But does pop-god Lucifer like the answer? The answer is a word that rhymes with "Go", "Blow" and "Pro". If you think the answer rhymes with "Cow" I applaud you for your unconventional nature. It's good to experiment. We're experimenting with being Awesome for four issues in a row. JOIN US.

The Wicked + The Divine #4

We're all in agreement that Baal is basically Ye' right?

Emelie

Besides from the constant cursing, it wasnt that bad!

sophia n

luci if you read this im free on thursday night and would like to hang out. please respond to this and then hang out with me on thursday night when im free

realistically 2 stars bc really not much happened in this and it was weirdly disjointed/felt like a barrage of filler eps, but it gets a whole extra star bc i’m in love with morrigan, thanks

rips open shirt to reveal undershirt that says “i would die for persephone”

did ... anything even happen in this volume, i just finished it and i've already forgotten

I have the Nicola Scott variant of this issue and my god it is absolutely gorgeous.

Baal saying all I do is win has just got me thinking of DJ Khaled and just internet culture in general and I love how this comic repeatedly makes pop culture references. It just totally adds to the realistic setting of two years ago. Also Baal is a total badass. 

The skulls on the table to signify Lucifer, Tara, and Inanna genuinely made me a little bit sad, and even though some of them have been gone for multiple arcs now, I love that wicdiv regularly makes references to them. Gone but not forgotten.

But holy moly, the one page where Persephone takes up most of it and you see how Baal, Cassandra and Sakhmet react to what she says. A single word and she can change the entire game. The way her hair covers part of them, how she's the strongest out of all of them, and could easily consume and cover them if she wanted to. Honestly the illustrations are just so bloody gorgeous. Jamie McKelvie regularly goes above and beyond for WicDiv.

I just love these characters, I love them so so much. Urdr being revealed as a submissive polyamorous lesbian and Dio coming out as asexual and that being no big deal is just one of the reasons why I love this comic. The representation is incredible. There is no other mainstream comic with this level of LGBTQIA and POC representation. None at all. And the story and how three-dimensional all of the characters are just adds to everything.

This is genuinely my favourite arc since Fandemonium and this comic just seems to go from strength to strength.

Abi Baker &
The Wicked + The Divine #2 by Kieron Gillen

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Abi Baker &The Wicked + The Divine #2 by Kieron Gillen

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Abi Baker &
The Wicked + The Divine #2 by Kieron Gillen