The Wicked + The Divine #5 Review

Written by: Kieron Gillen

Art by: Jamie McKelvie

Publisher: Image

The Wicked + The Divine #5 is a very difficult book to review without entering into spoiler territory, but I will do my best. At the end of last month’s issue, Luci had broken out of prison and was beginning a rampage. A rampage not of revenge or anger necessarily, but perhaps just because she could? While Laura doesn’t believe Luci killed the judge, Luci and others remind the reader repeatedly that we really don’t know for certain. This is an example of not only an unreliable narrator at work, but also a narrator who is known was the “Prince(ss) of Lies,” so everything she says must be taken with what amounts to a mountain-sized chunk of salt. Not only can we not trust Luci and anything she says, but we’re also meant to have sympathy for her (or at least for Laura, who is trying her best to help her). While I am all for antiheroes and complicated characters, my main concern right now with this comic is apathy. Apathy on my part for anything that happens to these so-called gods or their followers. These gods, we’re told, will all be dead within two years and they will come back again in 90 years, as long as nothing vague and menacing changes that during this “recurrence.” So the stakes aren’t terribly high, are they?

I hope that in future issues we’ll start to learn more about past recurrences and of the character’s motivations. Or personality traits. Or fears. Or ambitions. Again, we’re told that the gods are here to “inspire” humans, but we haven’t been exposed to how exactly they do this (aside from concerts where everyone faints) or what happens in their absence. Gillen and McKelvie have said that they want to explore the history of the pantheon in future issues, so hopefully we’ll learn more at that time.

Despite the mystery surrounding Luci’s crime, incarceration, and consequent breakout, we do get some great action scenes this issue. While McKelvie may not be known for superheroics or adventure comics, some of these panels truly show speed and violence in interesting ways. Imagine if Andy Warhol made band posters to hang up in smoky bars, but with tons more color:

When Gods collide

The Wicked + The Divine is a good book that I want to be better. At times it’s a little too “clever” or tongue-in-cheek for my taste, but that’s something that other readers might enjoy more. Luci at one point says, “Glad we’re all on the same murderous page.” In the next panel an actual murder of crows screeches across the page. If that’s the sort of wordplay you go for, you’ll find a lot to like in this issue, but it can be heavy-handed at times. As mentioned above, I liked the fight scenes and the interplay amongst the gods (more than we’ve seen since issue 1) but I want to know more about these characters and their relationships. When others showed up to the fight, I had to look back at past issues just to try to remember who they are.

The one character that readers do know, however, is Laura—the superfan. Laura is our connection to the real world and she is whose eyes we see the story through. In a great ending to the issue, her role is changed and enhanced in a way that I didn’t really see coming, or I didn’t believe would occur. These gods don’t seem to do much besides play concerts, hang out with groupies, and do interviews—but with Laura’s new role, I think we’ll understand more of what makes them tick, so to speak. I’m hopeful that as this ongoing continues we’ll learn more about their impact on art and inspiration, instead of just being told about it through heavy exposition and the wide-eyed naïveté of Laura. I enjoy this comic, I really do, but I also want to care more about it and the characters living within its pages. Unless the whole point is to feel somewhat jaded or disillusioned when you’re done reading it, because if that’s the case, this issue was unfortunately successful.