The Wicked + The Divine by Gillen, McKelvie, Wilson, & Cowles

I am such a pushover for mythology. Just mention it in relation to a book and you immediately have my interest. So when I read about the comic series The Wicked + the Divine, I was instantly curious. Luckily my local library had the first four volumes. 

The premise of this comic is that the gods return to earth every 90 years as teens. They are the pop stars of the era in which they are incarnate, but within two years of their revealing, they are dead. I'm not entirely sure why they incarnate in this cyclical fashion; I think it's explained in there somewhere, but I've slept since then, so I can't remember. It's hardly the point of the story. In the beginning, we meet Lucifer, Amaterasu, Inanna, and Sekhmet. There's also Laura Wilson, a teen obsessed with the gods, and Cassandra, a reporter who's out to prove the gods are fakes, that they've always simply been a marketing ploy. While doing an interview, the group are attacked by some snipers and Lucifer (Luci) just snaps her fingers and their heads explode. It's s lot of power for a young person to have control of. 

The teens are found and transformed by Ananke, a centuries-old woman who has served as a guide for multiple incarnations. Through the series we also meet Baal, Tara, Minerva, Dionysus, The Morrigan, Baphomet, Woden, Persephone, and the Norns. The gods have passing reference to the actual gods they are meant to represent. Minerva is constantly called wise, Dionysus presides over a 24/7 rave, and Persephone is occasionally pictured with a pomegranate. Other than that I'm not sure how they relate (although I'm not as familiar with The Morrigan and the Norns to say definitively). 

I feel that the mythology is rather secondary to the plot. It's a really unique plot twist to the superhero story. These are all-powerful beings that are pretty constantly fighting amongst themselves, causing a hell of a lot of damage. While this is more to the point of the plot, the real commentary is on the cult of celebrity that has pervaded our society. It has probably been around forever, but now, in the digital age, it's worse and more immediate. There's a spread representing the trolling that one of the gods gets, and, although you wish it were just fiction, you know it unfortunately is probably not even s tenth of what some celebrities get. 

The artwork is really amazing. It's also incredibly diverse in its characters. But it's a bit confusing. I'm unsure why the major twist in the fourth volume is needed. Perhaps it will be revealed later. I'm assuming this will go on until all the gods are dead. The fifth volume was just released a few months ago, so I will eventually get to see how this will play out because, despite any misgivings I may have, it is still intriguing enough to me to carry on.