Vol. 1: The Faust Act, The Wicked + The Divine

Laura is obsessed with these pop stars who happen to be Gods reincarnated. The Gods come back every 90 years but do not hang around for long because they tend to die young. Some people love the Gods others think they are a nuisance or fraud. There is a murder, Lucifer aka Luci is framed and sent to jail. Laura tries to help her by talking to the other Gods and asking for help.

I find many of image comics have beautiful art and this one is no different. Although I will say this the art reminds me a little of the original Jem And The Holograms cartoon which is a good thing to me because I loved it back in the day. The story has some holes and still needs a lot of explaining especially all background of the Gods.

Many people say the writing was hard to follow. There was only one part that was hard to follow for me which was in the beginning when Laura was talking to the reporter about Luci. I couldn’t tell if the reporter was interviewing Luci from jail or the answers were coming from a flashback from Laura’s conversation with Luci. So yes there is some confusion at times but did not stop me from really liking this graphic novel’s beginning.

I had never really heard about this series before hand it was the cover that caught me. Now that I have read it I can’t wait to look for the second volume next visit to the bookstore.

So.......I think I liked this. I'll elaborate. The art by Jamie McKelvie is amazing! Every panel was phenomenal and if there were no words, I still would read the book. Now, on to the story. Kieron Gillen writes a mystery, comedy, action tale that was quite possibly over my head. I was left scratching my head multiple times and had to reread pages to make sure I knew what was happening. That being said, I think I got it. That unknowing though was tough to handle. Overall, it left me asking questions, which isn't bad but I'm not sure I feel like I need to know the answer, which is bad.

Kieron Gillen, in this story, has decided to give God's an update to modern times. Rather than just entities people worship in shrines, the gods live every 90 years, and this year they come back as music idols. But of course, being God's there is always drama and innocent people get caught up in it.

The story follows Laura, a roughly 19 year old girl who is a massive fan of all the gods. She ends up meeting lucifer at a concert, and doing her a certain favor. From there, she gets dragged into some sort of conspiracy plot, the details of which I won't spoil.

Wicked & divine features highly detailed artwork, shipwreck smart dialogue, and a number of interesting characters in the gods. However, it still has some issues to work through. Main character Laura has no real development beyond being a massive fan-girl. Indeed, the humans in general, both the the believers and the skeptics, need to be given better explanations for what they believe. But I think Gillen is going to make this story work.

The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Volume 1

4 stars

Here’s one of those plots that I’m not a hundred percent sure how to explain so here goes: Basically this young girl gets involved with famous people who happen to be gods. There’s a lot of blood, great artwork, and high sarcasm levels from a character that was the best thing about this comic. The opening for this graphic novel is confusing, but don’t let that stop you from continuing on. The artwork is beautiful and once the story it gets going it gets good. There are a lot of moments where I was confused but it’s not hard to look past in times where it snags. In all honesty the best thing about the graphic novel was the storyline about Gods. It was pretty cool! Here’s some beautiful art:

Art Scale: 5

Character Scale: 4

Plotastic Scale: 3

Cover Thoughts: The reason I requested this graphic novel was because of the cover and the fact that I thought it would be one of the more entertaining graphic novels.

Thank you, Netgalley and Image Comics for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been trying to write this review for weeks now... I loved these novels, so I don't know why it would be hard. Since I don't think I'll write anything good, I'll just go on with few positive thoughts about these stories.

The first part feels like an introduction to the series - you meet most of the important characters, find out what's going on and have some hints to the main plot. It all gets unraveled in the next parts of the story, everything comes together, you're starting to see who the real villain is and where it's all heading.

I've started to like some of the characters right away, maybe not Laura - she's OK if you like a wannabe god fangirl and she has some good qualities, but somehow I didn't like her too much. I did like Luci :D. She's awesome! Morrigan is totally crazy and Ananke is... suspicious... I didn't like her either.

The whole idea of the reincarnated gods was fantastic! Be a rockstar god for a while might sound like a great deal, especially if you remember your past lives, but it also sounds scary - two years and you're dead!

And the artwork! It's fantastic, colorful, perfectly done! At least in volumes one and two. It changed a bit in volume three and I have to say I don't like this change too much. The style and the coloring were different and in some places it looked a bit messy. But the story saves it and since I've read an ARC maybe it wasn't finalized yet? But the first two volumes created this world and I loved them.

I've read all three volumes and I can't believe the cliffhangers! The ones after vol 1 and 2 were fine because I still had the next part waiting, but with volume 3 I'll have to wait about a year for the next part! Horrible, brutal, heartless!
Anyway, I really like how the story progresses and I can't wait to find out how will it all end.

PS: Since I apparently wrote few words on GR after I've finished reading vol2 and 3 It seemed appropriate to add them here :P

Vol 2:
WTF?!?! what's with THAT ending!
It's so good I've got the next volume waiting or I'd go and kill someone

Vol 3:
Oh. My. God! You've got to be kidding me with this cliffhanger. Again! I hate you guys... And I love this novel!

check my reviews at [...]

This graphic novel is about gods that appear every 90 years and live 2 years each time before they die. They’re also pop stars.
I didn’t know anything about this graphic novel when I started it. I was expecting something different, it surprised me in a good way.
The main character is Laura, a college girl that goes to almost all the gods’ shows. In my opinion, the personality trait that defines her is determination. Since the beginning, she’s determined to do something and she doesn’t give up. I think she’s really strong and I love her.
All the gods were interesting but the one that stood out the most was Lucifer. I loved her so much. She made me laugh and that’s probably why she’d my favorite character.
The plot was really good. It wasn’t too complex nor too simple. I truly enjoyed it and the ending was mind blowing.
I can’t wait to read the next volumes. I recommend this graphic novel.

I've been wanting to read The Wicked + The Divine for awhile. The cover was what initially caught my attention because I'm a firm believer in judging a book by its cover. Horrible! I know. I honestly just adore the artwork in this comic. Everything is so brightly colored.

**Possible spoilers ahead**
Basically, a fan-girl of these pop star gods ends up passing out and gets to go backstage where she comes back to, meeting Luci. Only my favorite character I've met so far. So fierce, handsomely beautiful, and has sass down to a T. The mythology is a plus for me because it is such an intriguing subject, so I was most definitely instantly hooked. In doing so, she witnesses first-hand Luci being framed for murder.
There is a little bit that I am confused on with reading the first volume, but any first book of anything is going to be a little vague. The author can't let everything show within the first volume, because then there would be no reason to read on. I really can't wait to start the second volume! I'm so excited.

‘The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act’ is the first volume (issues 1-5) of the popular Image Comics series, written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Jamie McKelvie.

I am so late to this series – I’ve heard people raving about it from the moment Issue #1 came out in June 2014, but it was only the recent announcement of a television series adaptation that finally jolted me to read. So now that I’ve read this first volume, I’ve become one of those frustrating people who want to talk about how great a series is … oh, six months after everyone else has already had the conversation. Apologies!

But, seriously, this series is amazing.

At first it was hard to wrap my head around the storyline, which is based around pop-culture mythologising. The series is told from the perspective of teenage Laura, a young woman obsessed with The Pantheon – a group of twelve people who discover that they are reincarnated deities and consequently live like supernatural rock-stars and powerful celebrity wild-childs for the two years of life they are granted.

Laura – like so many – is a real groupie of The Pantheon, who choose to wield their powers in various ways. Sun Goddess Amaterasu, for instance, plays up a hippie/boho Stevie Nicks-esque pop queen persona. Sakhmet is a spitting image of Rihanna (and if she’s not invited to play her in the TV series, I think fans will revolt) and has fun with her literal sex-kitten celebrity. Baal is a playboy with a mega-ego to rival Kanye’s, and a few others of the Pantheon like Baphomet and The Morrigan are cashing in on the mystery of their Gods and deities by spreading not-so-far-fetched rumours about their power and ire.

But Laura befriends one in particular called Luci – and does so just as s*** hits the fan, and a murderer seems hell-bent on framing this Morning Star with the power of her own mind.

See why I struggled initially with the basics of this story? There’s so much going on and quite an eccentric cast of characters – and actually having the story told by Laura (who is a long time groupie of The Pantheon) is great, because she knows everything there is to know about them, and offers internal asides to the audience to keep us at once informed, and guessing.

You know what this series actually reminds me of? Those classic 90s (soooo 90s) TV shows – ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ and ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’. Oh my gosh – I was obsessed with those shows as a kid, and ‘The Wicked + The Divine’ has a little touch of their mythology fun, bringing famous Gods and Goddesses to hilarious life. Of course ‘The Wicked + The Divine’ does a lot more of mixing darkness with that flamboyance of god-like celebrity. I’m talking detailed illustrations of exploded-heads and deity smack-downs.

This series is also refreshingly diverse – with a multiracial cast, LGBTQ+ relationships teased and hinted at, and even a transgender character. Yet another reason to be excited about this series coming to our TV landscape! There’s one potential coupling in particular that I found myself really rooting for (because their chemistry is a little electric) but there’s a cliff-hanger at the end of this first Volume, and I’m just hoping that doesn’t mean my shipper dreams have been dashed!

This series is at once a delicious slice of jaded celebrity observation, with snarking Gods and witty back-and-forth banter, but it’s also got a lot of heart … when you think that these twelve young temporary deities only have two years of this immortal life – it’s no wonder they burn so brightly (even burning those around them) when they’re destined burn out so suddenly.

I can’t wait for Volume 2 to come out so I can start seriously catching up on this psychedelic series!

The Wicked + The Divine was everything I wanted in a graphic novel. The art is gorgeous, and the writing has just the right amount of snark for me. The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act combines the first five issues into one collection. The second arc will begin with issue 6 which will be published on December 17, 2014.

I don't want to use any more of those used, abused and clichéd words, but the art was just divine. :) I seriously hope that one day we can order prints of some of the artwork, because I would frame it and hang it on my walls. It's so bright and precise.

Now for the actual plot. It's the first arc of the story so there are a lot of loose ends, and a bit of cliffhanger, but I was expecting it. The general premise is that there are gods that come to earth every 90 years, but only get 2 years before they perish. So, they naturally create havoc and chaos while they are here. But the havoc is under some general rules, which haven't been explained yet, and they do have a sort of overseer to keep them in check to make sure there isn't too much havoc wreaked upon our poor human race.

Most of the gods are morally ambiguous which is my favorite type of character. If they aren't morally ambiguous then they are definitely deliciously amoral. I mean, one of my favorite of the gods is Lucifer aka Luci. If the anti-hero/heroine is something you like, you'll definitely like this line up of gods.

I wasn't really a fan of the main human girl. She was a little too rebellious, no-one-understands-me for my taste. But, her relationship with Lucifer is interesting.

The Wicked + The Divine contained some of the best comic writing. I was bookmarking something every few pages, and while the comic was 180 pages on my tablet, I read it in less than 2 hours. It's that good and that hard to put down. The writing is clever and sarcastic, and the storyline has a bit of a mystery to keep things interesting and not completely irreverent and frivolous.

I want to read Angela Asgard's Assassin, which was also co-written by Kieron Gillen. Of course, I do. It's about an assassin. And it's Thor's long-lost sister! Although Kieron Gillen says that it builds off a key point in Journey Into Mystery, so I might need to read that series first. No matter what, I'm picking up the newest issue of The Wicked + The Divine which comes out December 17, 2014.

If you like comics or are thinking about trying one out, you should definitely read The Wicked + The Divine. Especially if you like clever and sarcastic writing.

Review originally appeared on Bibliophilia, Please at: http://www.bibliophiliaplease.com/2014/12/review-wicked-divine-by-kieron-gillen.html

To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I each received a copy of the novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Wicked + The Divine is one that a lot of people are talking about and that I have been eyeing since the first issue came out…but finally I broke down and bought the first volume. The wait was totally worth it. This is definitely a favorite of mine already!

The Wicked + The Divine has an interesting concept. Every 90 years twelve gods incarnate as humans, and as humans they serve a rather interesting purpose and fulfill a different sort of role. They become entertainers who live for the adoration of their fans, it’s the perfect way to gain worshippers…however we don’t get the full story as to why they reincarnate twelve at a time or every 90 years…or why they need to. I’m really hoping that it’s touched on some more in the next volume. However despite this I loved the whole thing. I’m a huge mythology fan and this book is just full of different pantheons. We have Amaterseru, Lucifer, Ananake (not part of the 12, but still a god), Baal Hadad, The Morrigan (in all three forms), Baphomet, Sekhmet, Athena, Woden (Odin), and a mention of Tera. And then we have our main character Laura, who is a fan of the Gods and wants to have a part in their world and because of this finds herself in the middle of a bit of drama involving Lucifer and a couple of murders. I LOVED the characters in this. It’s obvious that the writers took the time to know who each god is and give them separate voices.

Plus the artwork…GUYS THE ARTWORK….it’s just so gorgeous. I finished this a couple of hours after I bought it but I’m still flipping through and checking out the panels. It’s one of those comics that are a true joy to look at.

This would be a perfect starting point for someone who is curious about reading comics but doesn’t want to wade into the incredibly deep waters of DC and Marvel. With a great storyline and phenomenal art this is not one to miss out on.

Some of the artwork is really nice. The Luci character alone is entertaining. The premise is really intriguing. But the basic story-telling just isn't there, so it ends up being an extremely frustrating and disappointing read. The protagonist's inner-monologue narration is mostly senseless and distracting, while the characters are one-dimensional and their dialogue is often disjointed. The protagonist is just a passive receptacle for info dumps and flashy, meaningless introductions to the "Pantheon" characters.

I guess if you identify personally with the lifestyle of the super-fan main character, who is swept up in the pop-star world of superficial appearances and edgy attitudes, then The Wicked + The Divine could excite you. But if you're interested in a compelling story that actually examines that world with well-developed themes and organic characters, this is not it. Maybe it's intended as a secretly self-aware embodiment of pop culture, and the story-telling is intentionally superficial, flashy, and incoherent in order to serve that abstract artistic vision. If so, it pulls that off brilliantly. But either way, the story-telling itself is just really bad.

Every 90 years 12 gods (The Pantheon) from various cultures are reincarnated as teenagers. These teenagers become pop "gods" and are worshiped and hated. Did I mention that they can do some damage by merely snapping their fingers. Sounds like a sweet deal right? Nope better read the fine print. These teenage gods only have 2 years to live. At a concert, Pantheon fan girl/worshipper, Laura is invited backstage by Luci/Lucifer. An attempt on Luci's life is made and she responds like any god by killing the assassins. During her court appearance, Luci antagonizes the presiding judge and is blamed for his death. Laura is the only one that believes in Luci's innocence, so she take it upon herself to help. I really really liked this book...except the ending. It left me wanting to know more NOW NOW NOW and not wait for the next issues. I was slightly confused in the beginning because I had no clue who some of these gods were, but thanks to Wikipedia no more confusion. This book also reminded me of a younger version of American Gods. (Another great book about gods reincarnating in modern times) I also liked the message of our culture "worshiping" celebrities and music stars. I'm not sure if it was on purpose but some of the gods reminded me of today's pop stars. Luci looked like David Bowie and Sakhmet was a dead-ringer for Rihanna. The artwork is amazing and vibrant. The colors seemed to just jump out of the page and I would catch myself just staring at the artwork. Can't wait for the next issue!

Once every ninety years The Recurrence takes place where twelve gods(The Pantheon) are reborn into humans with all the powers of true god. They are loved; they are feared; in two years they will be dead. In current times The Recurrence happens yet again and The Pantheon become modern day pop gods. The Wicked + The Divine follows Laura, a young college student, who obsesses over The Pantheon and wishes to become a goddess herself. She befriends Lucifer(Luci) and is drawn into the glamorous and dangerous life of what it means to be a god in the modern world.

Quite a bit of The Wicked + The Divine Volume 1 is used to setup the characters and story since it's the start of a new series. Once the story started unfolding I couldn't get enough and read through the book in one sitting. The story between Laura and the other gods and how the gods deal with living in a world no longer focused around them was very intriguing. The characters are compelling and made me want to learn more about each of them.

Not only is the story very well done so far but the artwork is stunning and the biggest highlight of the series. The artwork is very clean looking and realistic. The coloring is absolutely beautiful and very bright.

Overall I would highly recommend The Wicked + The Divine to current comic book fans or to people that are new to the medium. I look forward to reading the next volume when it's released.

Gillen's Faust Act of his new The Wicked + The Divine series gets by entirely on concept and Jamie McKelvie's utterly gorgeous artwork. The premise is near perfect: every ninety years a group of gods is reincarnated, then burn brightly before all humanity for two years before dying. In their modern iteration, the gods are (what else?) pop stars, a couple of which strikingly resemble actual pop stars. (Hey, Baal, Kanye called; he wants his image back.) That set-up leaves a lot of potential for social commentary and deep thought, as well as funny asides and pop culture references that may or may not age well, but most of this first volume is just introducing the pantheon and the fangirl who gets sucked into the new gods' world.

It's not at all clear where The Wicked + The Divine is going, or (at this early stage) if the author has fully imagined his world and what the rules are here, or how solid the religious and mythological research behind the series will be, but there's so much pretty and potential awesome here I'm completely on board for whatever comes next. Plus, I never could resist a graphic novel that comes with its own apocrypha.

This was an interesting read; apparently every 90 years gods take possession of a mortal vessel. They can live in this world for two years and then die (well that's getting the short end of the stick) to begin the cycle all over again. While here they all become music sensations with a trope of followers all over.

The story follows Laura, a college student (who never shows up for class) as she follows these god music sensations all over her city. While at a concert she meets Lucifer, who also goes by Luci and she eventually sets out to prove Luci didn't kill a Judge. After that things just get crazy and that ending; you will definitely want to be checking into the next volume.

Oh and in case I completely forgot to mention this, the "gods" are from an array of myths and you obviously noticed the "Lucifer" thing; some of these "gods" have the names of fallen angels. You know, fallen angels, the ones cast from heaven into a fiery abyss. You'll definitely have some fun with this creative story.

When Image released the first floppy, I picked it up, got really confused by the amount of plot they tried to cover in one issue, and never thought about it again, until I'd slowly see tons of posts on Facebook about how good the series was getting. So I picked up the first trade, which, thank goodness, Image puts out at extraordinarily low prices.

I'm really glad I gave it a second chance. It's a fun series for older teens and adults, and I'm all for more female protagonists. The story is engaging and as soon as I finished volume 1, I got on the store to find out when volume 2 would be released. By the time you're reading this review, volume 2 will already be out, and you'll be in for a real treat there!

Stop looking at the reviews and buy this book! It's fantastic and fun.

The premise is an intriguing one, gods reincarnated as pop stars with a life span of 2 years. We are taken into this world by Laura a teenage fan of all the pop gods. She is the ultimate Fan Girl. All she wants to do is be in these gods, presences. Go to their concerts, watch them, have them talk to her. Yes, there is more than one god in this story, but for all the talk about these gods being pop stars etc, we actually only see one concert or form of song/performance in the book. So that's a little odd. But not unexpected when the the main story is about how someone is out to frame one of the gods, Lucifer for murder. Lucifer proves to be a god that will bowl anyone over with her charisma and Laura being the biggest fan girl in the world, sets out to prove Lucifer is innocent. This all sounds very busy and fascinating, but I have to say at the end of Volume 1, whilst I loved the writing of the characters and had several laughs, I was left wondering, what it was all about. Other than a teenager who flip flops between extreme teenage emotions, and people called gods, who only have two displayed abilities in the book to prove them superior and god like. I can see obviously that there is more to come and I do look forward to volume 2. I still find it odd to have read, like the book and then been left wondering what just happened. But then again, maybe that's what the gods do to you after you read this comic.

This is the first comic book series since The Sandman original run where I buy the new books as soon as they're out in trade format, and re-read them, and obsess about the characters. I think a large part about that is that it's literary - they're taking big chances with the delivery and the story, and it pays off, because audience attention is rewarded handsomely. The cast is decidedly larger than life, but very immediate. Art is wonderful, all the time trying out new things to mix things up, as does the writing. Every volume of this story is different from the others. I can't wait to see how it all ends up, and when, but I do hope they take their time getting there.

I've been trying to get into reading graphic novels/comics and this one looks really interesting, plus I snagged it from NetGalley (had to read it on my computer but it was worth it).

The story is so unique, that Gods are reborn but only life for two years as pop stars and I wasn't bored with it at all. Plus I really like the main character, Laura, her personality and her awesome hair, lol. Plus all of the Gods/pop stars are great characters and I cannot wait to meet everyone of them.

It is hard to say how much I love this series! But the art is so amazing! I might have to go out and buy all of the volumes and that rarely happens.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Every ninety years, 12 gods are reincarnated, living on earth for two years before dying and beginning the cycle again. They are brought back as beautiful pop/rock stars and enjoy the adoration of the masses, however along with those that love them there are plenty of people who hate and fear them and wish to destroy what they are. After a failed assassination attempt that sees Luci (AKA Lucifer) kill two gunmen, she is framed when someone kills the judge presiding over her case. It is up to fangirl and wannabe goddess, Laura, to help Luci and try to solve who set her up.

When I started this read I wasn't overly sold on the story, I got a bit confused with the gods and mythology but as the book continued it really drew me in. The premise is interesting and even 5 issues in, the mythology is only lightly touched upon leaving plenty of back story that could be explored in future volumes.

The artwork is amazing, clean and using beautiful bold colouring in the panels, some of which remind me a little of Lichtenstein's work. The book itself is about 180 pages but the story finishes at 144, the rest of it is more stunning artwork, a perfect end to the volume. I'm hoping that Volume 2 will be just as good.
Recommended.

Every 90 years the gods are resurrected as young people. They live for 2 years and then they disappear. This time around they’ve come back as rock gods, pop and rap stars. Except somebody wants them dead. After a thwarted assassination attempt, Lucifer is taken to the dock for the deaths of the would-be killers - and seemingly makes the judge’s head go SPLAT! Did she do it - or is Luci being framed? It’s up to mega-fangirl Laura to find out!

The Young Avengers creative team of Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson (Mike Norton joined another band) reunite for The Wicked + The Divine, an epic fantasy/music murder mystery with a cast of gods! Like Young Avengers, Wicked is a very current comic for 2014 audiences, referencing a lot of what’s happening now and incorporating it into its structure. It’s also rather good!

This first volume introduces us to the colourful cast via Laura, our main character and audience stand-in, as she meets Baal, a Kanye West type, and Amaratsu, a Florence Welch type, as well as numerous others - Luci herself seems very David Bowie. The murder mystery is a framework for the book but doesn’t seem to be the point of it. It’s not resolved by the end and a number of questions remain - but then this is the first in a series so that’s fine.

Instead Wicked feels very moody in comparison to the joie de vivre of Young Avengers. The “dead in 2 years” rule hangs morbidly over the story as the gods pack in as much living as they can in the short time they have before they die, the exploration of mortality being perhaps the point of the story.

It is however, extremely stylish in all areas, from Gillen’s snappy script to McKelvie’s stunning -STUNNING! – artwork with Wilson’s insanely beautiful colours. From the cast’s character designs to pages like Luci’s transformation into Lucifer, to the underground battle with the Morrigan, all of the visuals are remarkable. If you’ve seen McKelvie’s art before, you’ll know how clean, precise, and breathtaking it is. Add in Wilson’s vivid, eye-catching colours and you’ve got something special. Every page, bar none, is a masterclass in comics art. McKelvie even incorporates blank spaces to remarkable effect, and that’s just black emptiness!

You’re going to love Luci - she is easily the coolest comics character of 2014. Did you ever see an anime called Giant Robo? In it, there’s a character called the Fabulous Fitzgerald who clicks his fingers and whatever he clicks them at, they get cut in half. Luci has something similar with her finger clicks, except whatever she clicks at ‘splodes! And her character design - the white suit - is amazing.

I read these in single issues and, at the end of #5, Gillen mentions that this will be like an ongoing Vertigo series. That’s great news because I definitely want to read more, but notice he said “like a Vertigo series”, and that this is published by Image. Ten years ago - hell, five! - this would’ve been a Vertigo title but since then DC have totally wrecked that label so that it’s all but done with these days.

The Wicked + The Divine Volume 1 is a brilliant start to a fresh and original series by one of the best creative teams working in comics today. It’s definitely one of the highlights of the year and well worth checking out.

'The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act' shows that being a god may not be all it's cracked up to be, especially when someone is out to kill you. It's a good looking book and I liked the story well enough.

Every 90 years, twelve gods incarnate into humans. Two years later, the humans are dead. If you are chosen, you get all the godlike powers, but you also get the limited lifespan. This time around they are appearing as pop stars. A young girl named Laura wants in on it, and she is our guide as she tries to make a deal. Before that can happen, one of the gods is set up for murder. Laura decides to try to find out what happened which leads her further into the dysfunctional worlds of the all powerful.

When you consider that this is the same team that has worked on Young Avengers, you realize how different this book is. The story is strange and dark. Ultimate power seems sad with an imposed 2 year expiration date. The art is really good with crisp clean lines and lots of effective space. It was strange, but I liked it and I want to know what happens next.

I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this interesting graphic novel.

**A digital reading copy was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead.

With a premise like that, who WOULDN'T be trying to get their hands on this book? It's such a fascinating idea and one that I had never heard of before. Having gods walk on earth isn't anything new, but only for two years? Every ninety years? WHY?!

The overall story of The Wicked + The Divine was quite interesting, but it didn't blow me away. It's told from the perspective of Laura, a college-age girl who is not part of the pantheon of gods. These gods are essentially pop icons and Laura is fascinated with them. She finds herself in their midst when she develops a connection with Luci (aka Lucifer). This is where I started seeing a few problems. First of all, I don't know where this strong connection even came from. It started with a regular conversation and a few panels later, Laura was risking life and limb for Luci. In my eye, it wasn't a major flaw (though this would have killed it for me if it were a regular YA novel). I just felt confused, like I was missing something.

The second problem I had with the story was with the pantheon itself. It took me a very long time to remember the gods individually, and it was pretty much impossible for me to keep them straight. And because I could barely remember who was who, I couldn't keep track of what their personalities were supposed to be like. All the flipping around I had to do (going back and forth) definitely cut into my enjoyment of the book. Hopefully, this will resolve itself once I read the next few volumes and the characters (aka gods) become more entrenched in my mind.

My last, and quite minor, problem is that they never really address WHY things are the way they are. There is no explanation for why they are only on the earth for two years, or why they only incarnate every 90 years. Or even what their purpose is on Earth. I think their world is so interesting, I just wish I knew more of what was going on.

The art, however, was awesome. No complaints there. Now, I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about art. All I can say is whether I liked it or not. But this was just gorgeous. The cover that they went for with this volume does not do it justice. I really wish that they had picked something else even though this volume cover does represent the overall story pretty well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment especially because the first volume ended on a very important and exciting moment. Can't wait to see what happens!

This graphic novel had a great art style and a really fascinating story however there were times I was having trouble following the panels. Because of this I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.  I am looking forward to reading the rest when I can.

Genuinely, this is one of my favorite comic books. The narrative is addictive, the art is gorgeous, the characters are lovable even when they're awful. I recommend doing some research while you read about the history of each god as they come up because it adds to the experience of the narrative, but it's not required. I originally read this for class and I'm on the fourth volume now.

I am a huge fan of the creators' previous work, Phonogram: The Singles Club. It's one of my favorite comics of all time. Whenever I see an issue of it in a bargain bin I'll buy it, even though I have all the issues already. I haven't read any of their Marvel work, though, so I don't know how their corporate work compares to their personal. But anyway, I was looking forward to The Wicked and the Divine. I was quite disappointed.

CONS:
Most of the art is "talking heads" looking straight at the camera with digitally repeated backgrounds. I realize that the first trade paperback is the introduction, so its job is to introduce the characters and the world in which they live, but I found the story so dull and shallow that I never found myself caring about any of the characters. When you don't care about "whodunit" in a "whodunit" you're in trouble. Another thing I didn't like about it was that each chapter/issue can be read in about 7 seven minutes. If the art were detailed enough to invite lingering on each panel, that would be one thing, but like I said, the backgrounds mainly consist of digitally repeated panels. Since I disliked the art so much I decided to compare it to Phonogram: The Singles Club, and I do see that McKelvie has always repeated the backgrounds like this. I guess the story engaged me enough in Phonogram that I wasn't distracted by multi-purposing. Also, I will say that McKelvie's art has improved since The Singles Club in that he now draws the odd full-body shot of a character; The Singles Club mainly showed characters from the waist up... which kind of makes me like Phonogram less, now that I've noticed. Bummer.

PROS:
The main thing about the book I DID like, though, is the price. If you were to buy the single issues at cover price it would cost you $17.50, whereas the trade price is a mere $9.95. I salute Gillen and McKelvie for issuing the first trade at such a low price.

TAKEAWAY:
Maybe the story gets better in the second volume, and if my library gets a copy I'll likely read it out of curiosity. But I'm going to find a friend on which to pawn off this book so I don't pay rent on it taking up space on my shelf.

I super duper liked this one. Very fast paced and easy to keep reading "chapter" after "chapter". I love the art! there is a lot of focus on character and less on setting, which I personally don't read very often so I found it refreshing.

there were a few things that it seems the authors assume you already understand and I would like a bit more explanation in places. hopefully more in future issues!

The Wicked and The Divine is a graphic novel with a very interesting concept, every 90 years the gods get reincarnated in human form and get to live for two years. What do they do? Godly stuff mixed with what a person would do as a big shot celebrity now.

There wasn't a particularly engaging plot, it was rather cheesy and predictable a lot of the time.

The first volume did not go into the details; why every 90 years, why only two years and etc.. Not much was explained and occasionally you get lost in the plot. The book requires a reread so you understand the plot, but it doesn't matter since the art is just amazing.

Every single review I read on goodreads mentioned how amazing the art is, and guess what, its so AMAZING. I had to show my friends, who don't read graphic novels, but they wanted to read The Wicked + The Divine because of the art. I really loved the variant art by Stephanie Hans.

I really enjoyed reading about the characters and the mythology with them. The characters were diverse as gods, but the gods were also very diverse themselves. Most of the gods were female. Our MC (Main Character) Laura was one you could easily connect with. She was a fangirl, human and wishes to aspire to be like the ones she fan girls about. Luci (Lucifer) was a particularly engaging character, she was the one that kept the plot going. She was also funny. The Morrigan was the most confusing of characters, each time she changed i thought she was a different character and person altogether. It wasn't really explained.

Has anyone noticed about the connection between the second quote at the beginning of this volume and the rest of the volume. I found the quote funny at first. It was a Vengaboys quote "BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!", and there was four head BOOMS in the volume. Was it on purpose of coincidental?

Its mind blowing really, literally and figuratively.

I'm surprised to be so hugely in the minority here, but I mostly didn't care for this book. I read reviews and descriptions of the premise and it sounded very interesting. When I read it, though, I was turned off in a number of ways.

The protagonist fell very flat for me. I found her hard to care about, being a mostly passive observer and hanger-on, wandering from one god to another without having much impact on anything that's happening. I found Lucifer to be the most interesting character by far, but the story isn't about her. Yes, her-- I thought that was a nice touch.

I found the plot hard to follow at times. The story jumps between countless characters in countless little subplots delivering countless long monologues. So many that I was often confused about who was doing what, and what their motivations were. Sometimes I had trouble telling some of the gods apart, since a couple of their designs are similar, which only added to the confusion.

I also found much of the book a little obnoxious. Too much teen angst. Too much "clever" dialogue. Too many references to smartphones and the internet and stuff. Too much substitution of style for substance.

Not terrible, but not my thing.

Let's start with the easy part: the art is really clean and beautiful. Nice colors, cool design especially the character design (they are hot!). I give it 5/5 stars for that.
The difficult part: I don't think I really liked the story, it definitely has something promising for the future with all the mistery going on in the end. The only character I liked as a personality was Lucifer. Other than that they where all boring and just played a small part to the mistery. I give it 3/5 stars.

I love the art; it's vibrant and beautiful. The writing is funny. Issue three was confusing though. I had no clue what was they were talking about. I feel like I need to Wikipedia the gods to understand some of this stuff. It's like when you don't get a pop culture reference so you don't get the point someone is trying to make. Overall, I enjoyed the book and will read at least the next volume.

The premise behind this comic collection is that gods can appear on Earth for a two years with powers which they use usually for their own ends before they die.

There is a fair amount of gore and it is engaging, well-written and the artwork is pretty good, reminiscent in places of Steve Dillon.

In the digital version, as viewed on Adobe Digital Editions, the small print is difficult to read.

A good read, well worth it!

Fans of comics, mythology buffs, and David Bowie aficionados - here is your new obsession. A mystery with the added mystique - and difficulty - of gods incarnate, basking in the mortal realm as celebrities. Compelling story with perfectly complimentary art, and engaging characters.

Holds up beautifully even for readers very well-versed in world mythology; any expertise in that area doesn't act as plot spoilers, just enhances the wild ride.

I was so floored by this compilation of comics that I think it actually took my breath away.

The story follows a girl, a fan girl, of all of these gods that have popped up and essentially become pop stars. She gets the ultimate dream come true by getting involved, in-depth, with the lives of these immortals but it opens a door to a world that she’ll have a hard time grasping. She’s going through her own teenage/young adult stuff at home and escaping into this god-music helps her cope with it. Except she ends up getting sucked into their world and she doesn’t know if she’s ready to deal with it.

And then you have the rest of the immortals, dangled in front of you in each section of the book, giving you just enough information to rope you into their charisma but not enough and it leaves you wanting more, more, more. Lucifer was by far my favorite. A tragic jerk but rather fitting of the Lucifer we all know and love. And just drop dead gorgeous. There’s only been one other instance where my heart’s fluttered for a fictional character. With Lucifer, she made my heart stop. Yeah, she. Gorgeously androgynous in a David Bowie sort of way and so incredibly beautiful I couldn’t take my eyes off of her when she was in a panel. Plus her story was probably the best out of all of them.

And the art? Absolutely stunning. It blew my mind. The detail and the coloring just made it all pop. This wasn’t just a comic; it was a work of art and I want to dress my walls in it.

Really, there’s nothing that isn’t phenomenal about THE WICKED + THE DIVINE. I waffled when it came to requesting it from NetGalley and I’m so glad I ended up doing it. I want to collect all of them, the individual comics and the compilations just so I can have all of the art and all of the story on hand to stare at and read at my leisure. It’s all well and good on my iPad mini but I want to FEEL it. I think it’s time I made a trip to my local comic book shop.

5

5 freaking stars for the artwork! Why? Because I can!

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As you can read from the blurb, these gods come back every 90 years to be on Earth for 2 years and then I guess they die or whatever. I don't understand all of those reasons or why they come back every 90 years but who cares. The story is so different and the artwork is amazeballs.

This time they come back as pop stars. Bwhahahhaha, sorry, I just think that is hilarious!

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We have Laura who is a fangirl and wants to be with them and she befriends Lucifer (Luci) for short.

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I thought the character of Luci being a woman Lucifer was cool too! And she seemed to like Laura, but who ever really knows.

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I didn't really like that ending. I was like . . what the! But, who knows what's going to happen in the next one. It might get better. Once again, amazing artwork to make up for anything else.

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Looking forward to the rest of the novels!

I'm very picky when it comes to comics. When I read a comic I want it to look beautiful, have and amazing story that challenges me to think further outside the box, and last but not least leaves me foaming at the mouth craving the next installment. This book exceeds all of these requirements. I originally picked it up because 1.) It was cheap and 2.) I loved the cover, but this book got its hooks in me and now I am bouncing up and down debating whether I want to wait for the next volume or buy every issue I can find. Ultimately what you need to know is this is an awesome book full of fresh ideas and you need to buy it... don't keep reading this, what are you doing?!? Buy it!!!

The premise of The Wicked and The Divine seems simple. Every 90 years, gods are incarnated through twelve chosen young people. These are small “g” gods from various pantheons: Baal, Sekhmet, Morrigan, Minerva, etc. These gods are worshiped by some humans, hated by others. And at the end of two years, all of them will be dead.

The thing I liked best about this graphic novel was the artwork. I liked the style of the art, and the coloring was gorgeous. However, the story itself left me a bit cold.

The Wicked and the Divine is meant to be an exploration of art and celebrity. The incarnated gods put on shows for their fans, who experience ecstatic devotion as they listen to the gods’ speak. It’s hinted in the story that the gods are somehow necessary to human creativity, and that if they failed to incarnate, humans would lose their creative spark. However, the gods don’t seem to be doing anything that really should inspire devotion or creativity. They speak, and the listeners seem to experience some sort of frenzy that mostly seems sexual in nature. That’s it. There’s not much sign that the gods have any effect on their worshipers beyond the sexual, so it was hard for me to understand the supposed fascination they had for their worshipers, like the point-of-view character of the story. She seems to mostly be obsessed with them because they are famous and attractive and she would like to be like them. I guess that would sum up the attraction of celebrities for a lot of people, but I found the gods as written largely uninteresting.

The gods do have other powers; a snap of the fingers, and they can kill humans. However, a mysterious goddess, Ananke, who is apparently some sort of ancient nanny to the young gods, orders them not to use those abilities. She tells them that humans can somehow kill them in a way that keeps them from being incarnated again if they come to fear rather than worship them. But if they can’t use their powers, their divinity seems pretty circumscribed and, again, less than interesting. And what kind of gods are they, if they are that easy to kill, anyway?

Just on a side note—why is Lucifer one of the gods? A fallen angel is not a god, not like the other deities mentioned in the story. It kind of bugged me that Lucifer got thrown into the mix.

So, this volume of the series left me less than satisfied. I’m curious enough about where the comic’s creators are going with the story that I’ll probably check out the next volume, in hopes that the gods and their worshipers become more interesting to me.

An ARC of this graphic novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to be honest, I've been reading this series since day one and I've been obsessed with it. The only problem is half a little over half way through the story after a major plot twist the story focuses on giving the gods backstory. It takes till issue 18 till things get AMAZEBALLS! Buy this and if you like it get the omnibus and a subscription at the nearest comic book store.

This is a pretty good comic. The story is a little scattered, and the english/grammar can be a little confusing and frustrating at times, but other than that its a great comic. The story is very unique, and well thought out. It follows a teen that gets tied in with gods that are placed in human body's every year. It is very cool to see what their idea of gods living in this time would be like. The art is fantastic, and the coloring is great to. I would definitely recommend picking this one up. Looking forward to reading the next one.

Love this graphic novel! I bought it as a present for my brother and he absolutely loved it. The quality is great and the illustrations are beautiful. The delivery for this product was on time and well packaged.

Don't dive too deep into a review that gives this anything less than four stars.

Kieron Gillen in a very unique way is a sort of genius when it comes to writing up the story lines for comics he's fronting. He doesn't just focus on the action that his comics can provide, but he has a very interesting way of developing characters into individuals that could carry a comic on their own. On top of the character development, you can definitely expect their to be a wide range of personality diversity, which is why this volume thrives, and why the story will continue to thrive.

In TW+TD you have a pantheon of gods who essentially bless humankind with their existence every once in a blue moon. It's odd because they're only supposed to be around for 2 years, and then the bodies they are inhabiting die. Whether it be out of fear, greed, or a strong urge to be popular in our oh so lovely Taylor Swift kind of world, the gods have embraced their powers and talents in order to become social pop magnets for all humans to enjoy.

The consequence of this, is that not all folks are going to appreciate them nor are they going to believe them. Some are even going to fear and act against them. This story arc focuses on the plight of our anti-hero Luci, and if you can't guess who that is, read the volume and find out.

The art is good, each focus character has distinct feature designs that set them apart while their personalities do all the emotional movement. There is no shying away from gore. There's certainly no shying away from putting social issues that plague the world (particularly developed nations) on blast.

Pick it up, thumb through the pages, decide you want to read it and do it. It's better than a super hero book. It's a skewed looking glass into often times what is the reality around us, but with gods thrown into it. I'd love to give some spoilers, but in their own way, spoilers are their own bombshells, something you need to experience for yourself. Give it a chance;it won't disappoint.

1. The Illustration. This comic employs the cartoonish style of illustration, rather than the comicky--the inking is flat, simplistic, and banal, and the features of both characters and settings are generally indistinguishable without using neon coloration to help you remember, "Oh, that's that one chick," or "Oh, that's that one hardcore underground dance club." The coloring has all the bad qualities of cheap CG, but none of the good qualities of detail-oriented CG. This level of illustration belongs in a product safety manual, rather than a professional comic. Even the violence is poorly drawn--baby dolls offer more anatomically precise takes on the human figure.

2. The Dialogue. Despite the simplistic drawing style, the dialogue includes a lot of obscenities and sexual content. So if you thought the bad art meant it was for children, think again.

3. The Characters. Every character in this comic resembles a lean, foul-mouthed, constipated lesbian. Only two characters in the entire story arc have long hair. Everyone else, including males and females, has either a shaved head, or this kind of "butch twink" haircut designed by the same hair stylist. You can only tell them apart because (thank God) they color their hair different glowing neon colors, or wear different glowing neon outfits.

Making identification more difficult, every character wears either a pantsuit or baggy jeans. Even when one of the characters is put in prison, she is still allowed to wear her trim, businesslike pantsuit, and style her hair and makeup the same way as she did on the outside.

4. The Plot. The plot is about how cool it is to have magical powers. It's another one of those "secret world underneath London" stories that every British publisher feels compelled to produce at least twenty of per year. You can feel the authors trying to be as witty as Neil Gaiman (which some might consider a low standard to meet), but they don't come nearly close. Instead, they use "f*ck" a lot to make up the difference.

...what's that? Oh, no--that's the entire plot. It's about how cool it is to have super powers. Sometimes "super powers" includes "giving concerts that are, like, totally cool," but an equal amount of the time, it means, "Getting in indecipherable zero-gravity fights where everyone is too powerful to be *actually* harmed so there is never anything on the line."

Read this thing all the way through, and you'll be able to actually visualize the room full of marketing managers who gave Gillen the go-ahead to "write" this "comic."

I absolutely love The Wicked + The Divine it is a very fun book and the ending of the first volume is heartbreaking. I have bought several copies and have been giving them out to friends for christmas even the ones who aren't necessarily comic book fans and they all told me they loved it.

I honestly didn't care for this series at first, I've heard great things about it but it just never seemed interesting to me. Last night I was bored and thought why not, I was so wrong about this series and I read through the first 6 issues non-stop. This series is so original and unique, the writing is great but the artwork is what sold me. I'm really glad I finally gave this series a chance because it's amazing and I can't wait to read issue #7 next month now.

A very enjoyable series. Wonderful concept of gods and goddesses living amongst mortals, to be reincarnated in different bodies, over the centuries. One girl's journey into the glamor and darkness of getting close to these deities and, eventually, making a literal deal with the devil HERself.

That's my review, not pulled from some other garbage source.

Beautiful art style but the story is very confusing. At the end of it I had almost no idea what anybodies motivation was other than they hate each other and why they hate each other is never really explained. The story is missing someone for the audience to connect to. The books main focus, the gods, aren't relatable and don't do anything other than fight each other and act like annoying celebrities.

I recieved this as an E-ARC from Netgalley in return of an honest review

Stunning pictures. Really. Nothing to hit hard on there. They were beautiful and definitly not the reason I did not want to finish reading the comic book. The story line was at fault. The summary sounds great, doesn't it? Yeah, it's not too good. Tome there was just way too much going on. To many weirdo character, who besides being weirdo the whole bunch, they were totally unreletable - total flaw! A reader needs to connect with at least one important character on some kind of level otherwise it just won't work. And this didn't work. So now. Sorry author, writer and all of you guys out there, who worked hard on this book. Just set out with a great idea and you flatlined. Try again next year.