REVIEW: The Wicked + The Divine, #3

[CBR News]

Laura finds herself caught in a clash between two angry pop gods in Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's "The Wicked and the Divine" #3.


Full article here.

[InformationGeek]

So anyone read this issue? Anyone at all? I thought it was rather lackluster (5 out of 10).

An inane and nonsensical opening, unlikeable or underdeveloped characters, cringe inducing dialogue at points, and often at times a waste of good artwork with a possible shimmer of half-way decent writing. Am I alone with thinking this with this particular issue? What did you guys think of it?

[Cryptid]

So anyone read this issue? Anyone at all? I thought it was rather lackluster (5 out of 10).

An inane and nonsensical opening, unlikeable or underdeveloped characters, cringe inducing dialogue at points, and often at times a waste of good artwork with a possible shimmer of half-way decent writing. Am I alone with thinking this with this particular issue? What did you guys think of it?

I mostly liked this issue. Most of the characters are frivolous or obnoxious in one way or another, but that seems like part of the point. The series is built around the comparison between bickering gods and music scenesters, so what they have in common is cliquishness, exhibitionism, and oversized emotions that seem to sweep them along without second thoughts. And the comparison cuts both ways; it makes the gods look like unchecked adolescents (and that's the side we see in the opening sequence this month) but it also makes the musicians and club kids seem like they're tapped into a heightened world. And both those things are subjectively true depending on the mood and the moment.

Compared with Phonogram or Young Avengers, this book seems much more adept at moving between the ironic perspective of outsiders and the enthusiastic perspective of believers. Gillen is gesturing toward the vulnerability of his characters and his premise, the way that they demand a kind of belief or indulgence, and then insisting that these frivolous hipster gods deserve our attention anyway, that it's not just posturing. That's a more promising and risky stance than simple defensive irony, where the author writes a silly scene and then invites us to feel above it all.

[catbatfan]

I don't know what to think of this issue (or this series, really). I picked it up because I loved Young Avengers, and McKelvie is possibly my favourite comics artist right now. Obviously this series is quite different, and I can't make up my mind about it. Do I love it? No. Do I like it? Sort of. Will I be invested in this series over the long run? I'm not sure. The concept of gods doesn't really appeal to me in general (sorry Thor, Wonder Woman, etc.), but after seeing them in action, they do make for interesting characters. Just not sure that I relate to Laura's interest in these gods or the hero-worship involved. We all have our favourite rock stars or popstars or actors but I have never felt cultishly devoted to any of mine like Laura does.

[Jasper Avenue]

This is the issue that has probably pushed me into dropping it. It's a decent comic but it's just not for me.

[eye of all]

I'm glad I kept most of my defense of this book in my head. This issue was pretty rough. Hoping something will click when I reread it.

[FriendRoss]

I read issue 1 and realized this wasn't for me.... Sometimes it seems like the point of the story is to simple rattle off as many obscure "gods" names as possible.


Skipped issue 2


Light week this week, so a I grabbed issue 3 and it all really fell on its face. I like mr Gillen's work, mcelvie could make illustrations of a phone book unique and interesting..... But sometimes it all just gets to trendy/cute/pretentious with itself



Sadly I feel the best part of the book has been the covers and paper stock quality



Mostly I think "ironic" has lost all meaning and in a very meta sense things that are ironic intentionally come off as just being a parody of themselves. All these "gods" & apocalypse books...... I need something new really.

[catbatfan]

Sadly I feel the best part of the book has been the covers and paper stock quality

Really? I find Image's paper stock quality just as cruddy as Marvel's.

[robreedwrites]

Really? I find Image's paper stock quality just as cruddy as Marvel's.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the creators of each title at image can choose their own paper stock.

In regards to the title, I enjoyed the first issue, but the second and third didn't entertain me as much.

[Park Slope Pixie]

Miss Dip Dye is wholly irritating. An unholy amalgam of surly teen, babe in the woods, and polly purebread. Despite her, i dig the worldbuilding here.

However, Lucifer isn't nearly as cool as she thinks she is. She's just the old broad still hanging out at the club with kids half her age.

[Cryptid]

Mostly I think "ironic" has lost all meaning and in a very meta sense things that are ironic intentionally come off as just being a parody of themselves. All these "gods" & apocalypse books...... I need something new really.

"Satire" has lost all meaning, but "irony" still has some descriptive value if you acknowledge that there are many kinds. In the case of The Wicked + The Divine there are many moments when the reader is invited to take a more distant perspective than the focal characters. We have figures like the interviewer in issue #1 and the parents in issue #3 who voice the position that the gods are less than they claim to be. And the behavior of the gods goes back and forth between miraculous and absurd. The writing seems designed to pull us closer during some scenes and push us farther back in others, and those distancing devices are the signs of an ironic perspective. What's meaningless is saying "it's ironic" as shorthand for "it's good, and you're dumb," always a favorite sentiment around here.