The Wicked + The Divine: Okay

by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, and Clayton Cowles
collects WicDiv #40-45
volumes four | six | seven | eight | nine

The Wicked + the Divine, a five-year story by dream team and longtime collaborators Gillen, McKelvie, Wilson and Cowles, finally comes to a close.

Admittedly, I procrastinated reading the final volume for months. WicDiv was the first Image book, and I think the first non-superhero comic, that I really loved. I was spellbound from the first volume: a pantheon of teenage gods, blending mythology and a commentary on celebrity and social media obsession, and art like I had never seen before. (Spoiler: still haven’t.) For years, there was always another volume to look forward to. And now it’s over.

If you’ve made it to volume nine, congratulations. It’s worth it, but it was a long and often confusing journey. With months or years between volumes, many details – from minutiae to major reveals – got lost. There were still plenty of things I didn’t understand, but it was still a satisfying ending.

WicDiv will be best enjoyed by new readers now that the complete story is out, or rereading the series in full by older fans. In their interview with Polygon, Gillen and McKelvie discuss how plotting out a five year creator owned story allowed them to create to the fullest and also build in a whole lot of foreshadowing. It also limited them in interesting ways, especially as their primary work for half a decade. (I highly recommend the interview.) So even if the big reveals seem out of left field, rest assured that the creators always had the ending, and even the final dialogue, planned from the start. This is the strength of Image and other publishers that allow comics to be fully owned by their creators. It’s theirs from beginning to end.

As far as the story itself, Gillen holds nothing back: the final questions are answered, final deaths and rebirths may shock you, and a thrilling end to the war balancing action, dialogue, and both symbolic and literal closure. The secret that Ananke and Minerva are one quickly gets out, and our teens react very differently; the severed (but very much alive) heads allow for emotional reunions, and the surprising conclusion and second to last issue is as simple as it is brilliant. On a personal note, I was frustrated with Persephone/Laura for the last few volumes but she has a strong conclusion here – as do all the members of our surviving pantheon.

The final issue, an epilogue with a time jump, was the most emotional in the volume. I’d seen the final cover (kept secret until its release, for spoiler reasons), but this issue still has a few surprises and not too much explanation, which I was grateful for.

The celebrity and social media obsession commentary also returns in the finale. It was almost completely lacking in volume eight, a specials compilation*, and volume seven focused on pantheon mythology. Even though the commentary has a stronger presence, it doesn’t overstate its intentions in the story, yet its meanings to both our pantheon teenagers and the readers are absolutely clear.

*just a note that volume eight can be skipped, but there are a few small references to it in the conclusion!

McKelvie, Wilson and Cowles have long been experimenting with art, panels and colors in WicDiv (among my favorites, Dionysus’ epic rave and distilling millennia of history in repeating panels) and it was glorious to see their last hurrah in these final pages. Like Gillen, they hold nothing back in this issue, and their visually stunning (dare I say, divine) teamwork is firing on all cylinders. Cowles’ lettering actually becomes more important as a visual cue in ways that I won’t spoil, but for those who haven’t taken yet appreciated his fantastic work, please revel in its glory.

If the end of WicDiv wasn’t difficult enough, seeing the band break up is even harder. It’s hard to find creative teams as daring, playful and sharp as this one. The creators confirmed they won’t collaborate on a long project like this again, I hope we see these four names on a cover again, even if they have to take a break for a while and pursue other work.

This series means a lot to me; instead of saying goodbye, it has to be, until the next reread. Thank you, and:

Star Wars: Rebel Jail

by Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen, Mike Mayhew, Angel Unzueta, Leinil Francis Yu
collects Star Wars Annual #1, 15-19
volume one | two | three | four

The third volume of Jason Aaron’s Marvel Star Wars series is….just very, very meh. It starts off strong at least, with Star Wars Annual #1, written not by Aaron but Kieron Gillen. Rebel spy Eneb Ray’s one shot was dark and powerful, much stronger than the Obi Wan single-issue story last volume, even though he’s part of the main films. But apparently rebel spies still have a diversity issue: of all the spies on Coruscant, all but one were white dudes. Come on, white dude creators! This is…Star Wars…oh yeah.

also, on a spoiler note: putting the Star Wars Annual with Ray makes sense in context of the main story, but it also makes the “big villain reveal” painfully obvious.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story is so so and things go downhill from there. Aaron still has the voices down but it’s tough to create an engaging story without much room for creativity between episode IV and V.

But finally, the volume does manage something few Star Wars movies have accomplished: pass the Biechdel test. Dr Aphra, rogue archaeologist and employee of Darth Vader (who has her own series) is caught and arrested by Leia and Sana who take her to a maximum security prison, where the A plot spends its time. There are still some unnecessary, gratuitous shots, but it was nice to at least see women leading the more important plot, and Leia up to something other than bantering with Solo – with perhaps some actual development about how ruthless she’s willing to be to win the war. At least, until a forced “don’t tell us girls what to do” moment basically ruins it.

Luke and Han are barely given anything to do, even though they get the cover (and it’s once again a terrible, awkward looking one for Luke). This boring and truly awful B plot leans solely on Leia’s nerf herder line from Episode V. It is positively cringe worthy and doesn’t make the original line any funnier. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the series.

So the book is, ironically, strongest when focused on original characters, rather than just the trinity of Luke, Leia and Han. The artist changes every few issues have a clear effect on the quality, especially because if the photo realistic style.

Finally, I mentioned the Obi-Wan one shot and he gets another one here. It’s also terribly boring, about helping Luke out on Tattooine as a child. Even though the art is stunning, Obi-Wan isn’t really given much to do (though we do get a rare sighting of Uncle Owen) and it doesn’t seem like these one shots are building to anything important that might tie into the main story. There’s a lot of room for interesting storytelling, and it would have been nice to give  Obi’s new TV series some good material to work from – no such thing here.

Worth volume four? Not sure. I can’t tell you exactly what I’m looking for from these comics – it’s impossible to recapture the original films’ magic, no matter what medium new stories are being told on – but I also think the stories could be stronger. I think there is room for character development and Aaron isn’t taking it quite far enough. There are enough other books on my list, but if I get lazy, Star Wars is right there on Comixology Unlimited waiting for me. Sigh.

Die: Fantasy Heartbreaker

by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Clayton Cowles
collects Die #1-5
volume reviews one | two

Fans of fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons will eat up Die,a compelling, innovating story with its own companion role playing game.

When a group of six teens begin a fantasy RPG (role playing game), they’re sucked into the fantasy world Jumanji style. The teens return two years later, but one of them is missing. After another massive time jump, the group reunites…twenty five years later. They’ve been called by Sol, the sixth teen who spent the last two and a half decades in the game. He’s now the Game-master, and the five adults reluctantly return to the fantasy land Die to fetch their friend.

Gillen’s writing highlights the best things about roleplaying games: the escape into another world (here, it’s literal); choosing a character that fits or clashes with your own identity; and the thrill of one’s choices playing out in real time. He mixes well known fantasy genre characters (such as elves and trolls) with RPG classes (such as rogues and clerics) to create an original RPG world. For example, Isabelle is a fun take on the cleric – instead, she’s an atheist who barters with gods for favors.

This is Stephanie Hans’ first ongoing series, but her art feels like veteran work: there is nothing hesitant about her bold, broad strokes of largely red and black that confidently sets a strong tone for Die’s violent and unpredictable world. She handles wordless action scenes beautifully, and the characters’ costume designs were realistic and not too overdone.

Gillen chooses an unexpected theme for the epic fantasy genre: a midlife crisis story. The five adults are forced to confront their past selves, each other, and Sol, now distorted by the game. Unfortunately, Gillen spends so much time world building, he sacrifices character and relationship building, and the story suffers for it.

Gillen can easily handle a large cast of characters (WicDiv, Young Avengers) but in Die we’re introduced to all six, who have an adventure we don’t see, and then come back in 25 years, only in the space of a few pages. It’s a lot to unpack without pages of exposition – who they were, who they are now, and how the character they’re playing represents a union or tension between those two. (For example, Chuck is still perfectly happy as the foolish tank; Angela is in a custody battle for her children; Dominic chose a female character, but it’s unclear if there will be any queer themes in the book.) Plus, elements of the world are reminiscent of their lives as teens: an elven queen is modeled after Dominic’s middle school crush, enemies are  bullies, and Isabelle’s cult uses her diaries as religious texts.

These were all important moments, but too short beats in between battles and lots of world building jargon. The story misses an anchor of the group’s relationships with each other, aside from siblings Ash and Angela.

Clayton Cowles, one of Gillen’s longtime creative partners, kills it with the lettering. Ash’s costume is reflected in her lettering, and the combination changes when she uses her powers. Cowles also composes different lettering and text boxes for the letter of a dying man, fables, flashbacks, and Isabelle’s gods – it adds a more visceral layer to the fantasy experience and seamlessly bridges Gillen’s writing with Hans’ art.

My last minor concern was the RPG dice themselves. In the first issue, each player describes their character and receives one ‘die’ instead of a full set that players usually use in RPGs. A roll of the dice determines whether your plan succeeds, fails or somewhere in between; often the kind of roll dictates which dice used. So it’s significant that each player only gets one die. The choices seem to reflect their characters (straightforward tank Chuck gets the basic D6, while dungeon master Sol gets the D20) not to mention – the name of the book is Die!

So it’s a mystery how the dice themselves work in-game, when the characters seem to just act regardless of their die. Maybe it’s symbolic of the escape one experiences during an RPG, but it’s still a lot of intentional setup for no payoff…unless it’s simply introducing a mechanic for the Die RPG, currently in open beta. However, it would be disappointing if the die conceit is pure marketing for the RPG, as though the story is a companion piece, rather than the other way around. 

The ending was confusing, like a cliffhanger tacked on for its own sake, but I’m intrigued by this visceral and grown up fantasy world, not to mention the unique idea of adults returning to teenage personas. Looking forward to the next chapter.

The Wicked + The Divine: Old Is The New New

by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, Clayton Cowles, and too many special guest artists to list
collects all 6 WicDiv Specials + Christmas Annual + The Funnies
volumes four | six | seven | eight | nine

Volume seven of WicDiv was nothing short of phenomenal. Years worth of questions were answered in epic payoffs; fantastic art with meticulously researched details literally spanning all of time, and of course, a massive cliffhanger.

But don’t get too excited opening up number eight – you’re not going to get any resolution just yet. This volume collects the WicDiv specials, all of which were released at different times during WicDiv’s run. That means anyone reading the issues has already seen these – but for a trade reader like me, it was my first time. McKelvie and Gillen acknowledge this in their forward and include original release dates for each special, if you’d prefer to read in chronological release order.

Each special – aside from the funnies – focuses on a particular pantheon and therefore period of history. They cover a lot of ground including ancient Rome, the black plague, the Romantic writers, and the 1920’s, along with lots of different guest artists, particularly the last two specials. Each period was chosen with intention, relating to WicDiv’s ongoing themes of power and betrayal, hero worship and art – which comes out in each issue with varying degrees of subtlety. (All good though.)

The specials focus a lot on Ananke and Lucifer, and while nothing big was given away, there were some nice things teased or even revealed (such as Lucifer and Amaterasu’s past relationship before godhood). It was neat to see which gods remained more consistent, who changed genders (conclusion: most of the queer characters, is that a bad thing?), and how their personalities both fit the time and also remained consistent.

But I personally didn’t find most of the stories particularly affecting or interesting. There was some extreme gore and disturbing stuff in the first issue that set me off for the rest of the book. I didn’t find my investment in characters I already love, or don’t care for, changing all that much. I was surprised that Persephone took a backseat. And it was a disappointment that the most visually interesting special, set in the 1920’s (and a lovely homage to Agatha Christie), was largely written in prose.

Disclaimer, though: I have been reading this series off and on for years. It’s entirely possible that, not unlike volume 7 (which had me pulling practically every volume off the shelves to reference and cross-check like some goddamn graduate school essay), I missed a lot, and some small details or reveals went completely over my head. This could also be because I’m technically reading them out of order too. Someday, I’ll go back and reread everything, and maybe I’ll update with a more glowing or understanding review.

The Christmas Annual was basically fluff where everyone gets it on. I mean just, just lots. Like, definitely don’t read in a public place, lots. Guest artist (and one of my faves) Kris Anka just has no censor to worry about, and just…well, there it is, and wow. In my opinion he should have done the whole damn issue. That guy knows how to draw a sexy time. That’s all I’ll say.

And the funnies were actually a pretty cute and amusing collection of vignettes not meant to be taken literally or really exist in the WicDiv universe. The creators make fun of themselves and their work in a way that only people who have been working on the same story for many years could. The humor – even when it misses – is still refreshing from the metaphor-laden and often gory material.

Finally, shout out to letterer Clayton Cowles. Aside from Gillen he is I believe the one member of the creative team consistent across all the issues, and the way he letters the different eras is just brilliant. Everything was super easy to read, including script fonts (this is a problem in comics so often, I can’t even), and some of the typefaces he chose really gave the characters, especially Lucifer, a real texture to their dialogue. Cowles – in this series – is the reason why I became aware of the crucial (and unsung) role letterers play in comics, and it really shines in this volume.

WicDiv’s eighth and penultimate volume might be an interlude but it’s still worth reading for invested fans. While not my favorite of the series it’s still a worthwhile installment as lots of small pieces come together. This creative team is nothing short of brilliant – nothing can change my mind about that – and I sincerely hope this isn’t the last story we see from them. (But with previous collaborations of Phonogram, Young Avengers and WicDiv, I’m not worrying all that much.)

The Wicked + The Divine: Mothering Invention

by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, Clayton Cowles
collects WicDiv #34 – 39
volumes four | six | seven | eight | nine

It isn’t often that you find a panel in a comic book that expresses EXACTLY how you feel about said comic book. But that happened in WicDiv, and I am not shocked at all. Well, here it is:

Thank you, Woden. I said this lovely word several times during this arc. All deserved.

Because, motherfucker, the reveals in this arc are HUGE questions we’ve had for the last four years, and the story gets more deep and complicated than you ever would have imagined in issue one.

Because, motherfucker, issue 36 of WicDiv is probably one of the best issues of a comic I have ever seen in my life.

Because, motherfucker, as if last volume’s cliffhanger wasn’t enough, Gillen and McKelvie hit us with another huge one at the end of this one – as we head into the series finale.

Because motherfucker, this series is a masterpiece. It is a piece of goddamn art that you read. (boom title of my blog drop the mic) And motherfucker, I will be devastated when it ends.

This absolutely epic volume takes us all the way back to the beginning of time, when two old women–whom we met at the end of volume six–establish the rules for the Gods’ resurrections. One of them is clearly Ananke, who is the central figure of this arc even though she died several volumes back. The other, you can probably guess, is Persephone. Gillan’s use of voice and pacing is absolutely brilliant as we return to these women (Maiden-Crone and Mother), while still staying with Laura and the other present-day gods, and more is revealed in each issue. There are still a few questions lingering (for me, regarding the ritual and how Minerva just “appears”) – but it took me a reread to realize that if Ananke is maiden and crone, then she resurrects herself as a god, as well as Ananke, each cycle. That’s when everything fell into place. Motherfucker.

A reread is worth it, though – this issue is rich with explanations going all the way back to volume one – the story shines even without many of the characters we lost last arc – but the art here is absolutely magnificent. Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson, you have outdone yourselves.

Issue 36, as I mentioned before, is absolutely unprecedented. The moment when Ananke brings back Persephone – and immediately tries to kill her – is nothing new. We learn that part of the cycle has been repeated each time the gods return. And the creators show us each and every one of them – every ninety years since about 4000 BC.

I just want to take some time to explain this because it’s just incredible – and you can just look at it without realizing the immense work that goes into the process. Most of the issue is a series of panels, of a different place in the world, ninety years apart, that shows the moment Ananke tries to kill Persephone. The research involved in this alone is staggering – deciding on a location, choosing background, clothing styles and colors that match each character. And we see that it isn’t a consistent pattern – much of the time Ananke wins, but other times there is an embrace, a battle or she is defeated. If you look in the back, the creators show a little bit of the research that went into every single panel.

And the rest of issue 36 spends some time with Baal, when we find out exactly which incarnation of Baal he is – and the panels here, fiery and some completely red, are devastating and beautiful in their own right. (If Baal’s your favorite character…get ready.) There were some other gorgeous moments in the book, such as Baphomet and Morrigan’s fight, but this was a real highlight.

I mentioned last time that Persephone felt like the least engaging character, not unlike Orange is the New Black. While she still isn’t my favorite (that honor still belongs to Cassandra), there were some great character development moments, particularly since we see her entire “history” throughout time, and as she contemplates giving up being Persephone and going back to Laura. It was weird to me that, for the first time, Laura broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the reader. In a book like Sex Criminals it happens often enough (and since issue one), and with a character like Deadpool it’s part of his humor; here it seemed very jarring. It seemed set up to let the reader know she’s going to make a choice that some readers won’t like – but I personally disagreed with giving the audience permission to not like it. Because it was her choice, and also because I’m not sure if the story changes if Laura is aware she has an audience.

If you aren’t reading WicDiv, or if you petered out somewhere along the way, you are missing out. It has been four incredible years of a visual storytelling masterpiece – I hope the team wins an Eisner for this one, they absolutely deserve it. I usually only get trades, but buying the last few issues of the series (sob) might be worth it – I don’t think I can wait.