WicDiv

Kieron Gillen drew on influences of contemporary pop music, various mythological deities and his father's diagnosis of terminal cancer, created teenager Laura Wilson and the Pantheon who are 12 reincarnated deities (humans before their Transformation), and wrote 'The Wicked + The Divine'.

The ongoing series now stands at 18 issues and three Volumes. WicDiv is slated to run for any number between 30 to 60. ARRRRGGGH. You know what this means. Digital copies it will have to be. Even if I buy WicDiv in Volumes, it might hit 20 physical books. I don't have any more space to acquire new collections of comics. This is the one big reason why I'm reluctant to start on any new fantasy series. :(

No matter how powerful the re-born gods are, they are slated to die within two years, as part of the great ninety-year cycle known as the Recurrence. The members of the Pantheon are then worshipped in the world as...pop idols, holding regular signings, meet-and-greet sessions. Kieron Gillen was born in 1975 and is our generation, and we would totally understand his references...and snark. Pop star archetypes abound. Lucifer is obviously David Bowie. The Morrígan is one and is also three beings. It holds so many women, but apparently she is both PJ Harvey and Patti Smith. See if you can recognize who's who. :P Know your mythology and pop culture. You could google, but it's less painful if you don't need to type stuff every few pages.

We begin with Volume 1 'The Faust Act'. Besides Lara, we're introduced to transgender reporter Cassandra (who later becomes Urðr) who's convinced that The Pantheon is a giant fat lie; the spirits of deities now infused with humans- Lucifer, Sakhmet, Amaterasu, Ananke, Baphomet, Baal, Minerva, The Morrígan (or sometimes appearing as Badb), Dionysus, Inanna, The Valkyries who are all tall and gorgeous Asian women and who are always in the entourage of Wōden (or more commonly known as Odin). Hahah. Stereotypes much? Naturally, the Pantheon's retreat is named Valhalla. I howled with laughter. Laura is eventually revealed to be the possible thirteenth member, Persephone, a new occurrence in all of Pantheon history.

Then the politics, intrigues, conspiracies and murders follow- Volume 2 'Fandemonium', Volume 3 'Commercial Suicide'. Read them all once, and read them a second time. I'm definitely in with the world of WicDiv. There're many illustrators and artists working on the series. I'm really fond of the artwork by Jamie McKelvie who mainly drew for the first Volumes, along with Matthew Wilson. But the current third Volume holds too many guest artists. The artwork's messy and inconsistent. Apparently the next Volume 4 will be back to feature mainly Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson. Yay. Waiting for you this October, Volume 4 'Rising Action'!