What We’re Reading: The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 3

The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matthew Wilson (Image Comics, February 2016)

If you’ve been sleeping on The Wicked + The Divine, I’m going to have to ask you to take a quick break to hop on Amazon and order the first three volumes stat, because y’all. Y’all. This series.

Do you ever pause in the middle of reading and have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re awake, because there’s no way something could possibly be that good? That’s how I felt reading The Wicked + The Divine.

At this point, I’m assuming you’ve returned from the Amazon homepage and your book-laden package is on its way, so I’ll digress from the smothering love and attempt to continue this review as objectively as possible.

The basic premise of The Wicked + The Divine series is this: every ninety years, twelve gods (taken from mythologies all around the world, with character designs based on modern pop-stars) are reincarnated as teenagers. They live a life of glamor and celebrity for two short years, and then they vanish. In modern-day Britain, the gods are back, but this cycle, it’s different: someone is killing them off one by one and pitting the survivors against each other. When Lucifer (the one and only) is accused of murders she claims to have not committed, seventeen-year-old Laura (a human), is the only one who believes her. Laura’s determination to prove Luci’s innocence sweeps her up into the turmoil of magic and betrayal.

Laura and Inanna (a god. yes, he’s loosely based off of Prince, in case you were wondering.)

The first thing that, for me, sets this comic apart is the cast of characters. Particularly in recent years, comics have been pushing more and more against the defaults of cis/straight/white/male, and The Wicked + The Divine is no exception. About 85% of the characters are people of color, including Laura, our protagonist, and most of the gods. I can’t think of a single character who is straight. Oh, and did I mention that there’s a trans woman of color who gets her own compelling and well-developed storyline which is not related to her being trans?! Y’ALL.

The characters are edgy. They’re real. Laura smokes and does drugs and lies to her parents. And, bonus, none of the female characters are ever objectified in their designs. Sure, they’re allowed to be sexual, but their agency is made clear: they’re there to be characters, not poorly-designed porn.

The Morrigan, a terrifying creature. But damn, that character design.

The story is told in rotating perspectives, but it never feels choppy. The authors manage to balance the intricate backstories of each of the gods with fast-paced plot progression. The designs of all of the characters are cohesive while still maintaining their own flair (and, for the gods, a unique color palette that appears whenever we’re visiting their domain). While there are over a dozen characters who you could call the “main” characters, it never feels overwhelming, or like I need to create an Excel document just to keep everyone’s names straight (I’m looking at you, George R. R. Martin). I fell in love with each of them  over and over again.

Until, of course, they died. This book does not hold punches. It’s unafraid to kill off protagonists, antagonists, main characters, and fan-favorites. By the time you reach volume three, you’ve been led to love a handful of gods… who then are killed without warning or preamble. We’ve all read a book that felt a little too boring, a little too safe, because you knew the author would never kill off anyone you were supposed to like. The Wicked + The Divine is not that book. I found myself racing through volume after volume, completely unable to predict what would come next or who would be left standing on the final page. Suspense, it turns out, comes at a cost, and that cost is everyone you love.

In this third volume, Laura (who has been our guide since the adventure began) is absent, and the reader is left alone to grapple with this world of gods and monsters, truths and lies. Taking away the “relatable human” trope is a gamble, but it’s a risk that I think earned a high reward. None of the gods are reliable narrators, and without Laura’s instincts to guide us, it becomes a much more intimate reading experience. Who do you choose to trust? Who do you choose to love?

What books have you read lately that break the mold?