Pulp [#603]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first Pulp of 2015! I hope Christmas and New Year celebrations have been kind to you and that many a comic was read over the holiday break. Without any further ado, let’s dive in. First cab off the rank: Kieron Gillen (Young Avengers, Iron Man) and Jamie McKelvie’s (Young Avengers) new(ish) Image series, The Wicked + The Divine. I got onto this one thanks to a tip from a mate from Uni, and boy is it an interesting pick. Fresh off their highly popular Young Avengers run, this creative dream team has moved on to working on their own creator-owned series, and quite frankly kick ass at it.
The Wicked + The Divine is set in a world where the gods of old walk the Earth – but at a price. Every 90 years, 12 gods of the Pantheon (including deities such as Amaterasu, Minerva and Baal) are resurrected, possessing the bodies of otherwise normal people. These lucky few gain otherworldly powers – healing, the ability to make others orgasm on command (yes, really) and so on – but their powers come with a hefty price tag: from the moment their powers manifest, they only have two years to live.
Seventeen-year-old Sarah is a devotee of the gods; she routinely sneaks out to see them, and upon attending Amaterasu’s “concert” (cue the aforementioned orgasming on command), she, along with the rest of the concert’s patrons, passes out. When she wakes up she finds herself face to face with one of the most notorious members of the Pantheon: Lucifer. After making an unlikely connection with the brash god, Laura finds herself drawn into the decadent, dangerous world of the Pantheon, dragged along by her new best friend into a level of society that she can barely keep up with. When Lucifer ends up in court over the murder of some would-be assassins – and the judge’s head explodes – Laura strives to prove her friend’s innocence. She turns to the rest of the Pantheon for help – only to find that the rest of the gods aren’t as friendly as she would have hoped.
If you’re thinking that this whole shebang sounds a little complicated, you’re not wrong – I found it hard to keep up with all the different members of the Pantheon, and struggled a little to wrap my head around the story.
Despite a slightly muddled plot, The Wicked + The Divine is still an excellent read. McKelvie’s art is really the standout feature here – every panel is just excellent, with phenomenal use of colour. To top it off, character design is absolutely fantastic: Lucifer is essentially a blonde Ziggy Stardust with a penchant for cigarettes and an explosive temper; Morrigan’s multiple (and volatile) personalities differ as much in style as they do in character; and Woden looks like something out of Tron, only with otherworldly powers.
The Wicked + The Divine is as much an exploration of modern celebrity as it is about the gods themselves, and is one of the most original takes on mythology I’ve seen since Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Chronicles. It’s definitely worth picking up, so if you’re looking for a fantastic new ongoing title, this should be at the top of your list.
By Alastair McGibbon