Introduction
I admit, I picked this book because it was the next book for Emerald City Comics’ comic book meeting. But I was really excited to read it because it was written by Kieron Gillen and also the first thing that grabbed my attention was the coloring and the amazing art. It looked very stunning and flashy. It really popped out at me and I think it has a nice choice of color that describes the feel of the book. Anyways, I think Kieron Gillen is a great writer and is definitely one of my favorites. He’s written many great titles like Journey Into the Mystery: Loki, Darth Vader, Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, Uncanny X-Men, A+X: Consequences, 1602: Witch Angela and Doctor Aphra. There’s only a few titles I didn’t very much like which were Wolverine: Origin II, Iron Man, and Young Avengers. Yes, you read that right. I didn’t like his Young Avengers because it focused way too much into the gay culture that was very stereotypical and in your face all the time. I didn’t like the millennial social media aspect with all the selfies and text messaging either. I even felt at times that the characters were very out of character in that series. But I digress, I think every writer has something I won’t like and it’s only a few titles. So, overall I think Kieron Gillen is a great writer and he’s definitely a writer you should look into because he made some really great characters that stand out just because of his writing like Loki. He really change his character for the better in my opinion and he did a great way of manipulating to care for Loki even though at the very end he tricks you into thinking he was ever a good person and I love that and another acclaimed series of his is Darth Vader. He totally understands the feel of that character and he really does separate Darth Vader from being another lackey sith of Palpatine. He shows how menacing he can be and he doesn’t always need to do his bidding to achieve his greatness. Gillen really know Darth Vader very well and he also brings his own unique taste of great characters into the book as well. But, I think The Wicked and The Divine is another great book of Gillen that definitely deserve to be in the top list. It’s a great series that defines great characters and intense plot lines that really grabs at you. It’s one of the greatest titles Gillen has ever written that you should definitely pick up.
Story
This is a story of Gods who are reincarnated every ninety years. They are widely famous, loved and hated. But, one night a goddess name Luci gets accused of killing a group of men that tried to kill her, ends up in court (don’t ask me how does that happen), then is accused of killing the judge which makes all hell breaks loose and a dearing fan is there to watch it all burn.
The Good
The Wicked and The Divine has a very well detailed story that gets to the point and it gives you a suspense as to what’s happening. There’s a great plot twist to the end of the volume you wouldn’t expect to happen and it will definitely make you want to pick up the next volume of the series. This volume also plays very much into detail in knowing each character. Right off the bat, you get to know how much Luci gets herself into trouble and it often makes herself look like an accuser. Even though she might not be the accuser, she gives off hard evidence due to her actions. She even gives a foul mouth at times. Laura is a very nice caring girl, but she often makes herself look bad because she’s getting into trouble as well and tries really hard to defend to Luci. Ananke comes off as very caring too. But when a job needs to be done, she gets it done with no hesitation. We also get to know Baal, who is full of himself and cocky most of the time. He also has a very sexy flare that everyone grabs into his attention. There’s more characters in this volume but these are the most that give off their personalities and we don’t get to know much about the others. But still, the fact we get to know at least five characters in one volume is pretty impressive.
The art and colors are another impressive feature in this series. The colors are very flashy and gives a nice glaring look too. It really stands out the characters’ personalities as well.There’s great use of light colors like red, pink, blue, yellow and green. It gives a real feel to it and it comes alive with a very popping image. It even sets the theme of what the series or universe is about. I love the fire animation especially with the cigarettes when using the guided view in the comixology app. The art is also streamlined and very detailed in the body anatomy and face expressions. There isn’t much action but there’s enough to give you a good dose to get you excited. And there’s a nice demonstration of the characters’ powers too.
The Bad
I honestly couldn’t find anything bad in this volume. It could maybe be seeing Luci’s case as self-defense which makes claims she’s shouldn’t be sent to court. But we have no idea how the judicial system plays in this fictional world. The plot doesn’t end either which is okay for me because it’s a complex plot that can’t end on here.
Theme
The theme of this volume is being accused of something never goes well when being famous. Gillen does a good job of capturing this because Laura seems to know more than what’s being led on. But us, as the viewers and the people of this series are seeing Luci doing very convincing actions like Luci doing a certain movement and the person gets killed. It looks like we are being manipulated by the said evidence which tends to happen a lot and it tenfolds when the person is famous. The greatest example of this is the Bill Cosby case because one woman accuses Bill Cosby for sexual acts. But it gets multiplied with more women are appearing to accuse Bill Cosby for the same actions which, gets tenfold by the media. But eventually people find out that the women were manipulating actions to get money. It tends to happen when there’s a lot going on and we only go by what we are seeing.
Conclusion
I give this volume a 10 out of 10. The characters are very well developed. You get to know much about almost each character and it doesn’t overweight the narrative either. The plot is intense and manipulating. It even revolves a mystery that does not reveal itself in this volume and we’re hoping to watch it out fold eventually. The action is also very engaging and adds more to the plot to feel very alive to us. I even fell in love with the art because it’s very well detailed and it rarely looks muddled. Plus, the colors stands out to its own flare and adds to the art beautifully. So, Gillen does a superb job to make this series fit very well neatly together. There are minor things that can be set as negatives but doesn’t because we don’t know much about the universe as of yet. This is why I decided to give it such a perfect score and you should definitely pick up this series for those of you who like a complex narrative.
Video Review
