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Sunday 21 September 2014

The Wicked + The Divine #4 Review (Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie)


Ultimate fangirl Laura and her “journalist” friend Cassandra’s search for the killer of a judge leads them to Baal, a Kanye West clone, who swears he didn’t do it. Speaking for the group of gods, Ananke refuses to help Luci out of prison and that’s when Luci decides not to take this crap anymore - she’s gonna bust out with or without their approval. But don’t play with me ‘cos you’re playing with fire…

The issue as a whole is very fun but the best part was easily Kieron Gillen’s Baal, whom he clearly enjoyed writing as this super-arrogant rapper. It’s hard not to like that ridiculously high overconfidence and it’s easy to see why teenager Laura would crush hard on him. 

It’s good to catch up with the other gods who’ve been relatively quiet up til now, though I’m not sure why they were all sat in a Tron-themed room - I guess, just because? Baal has the cash and maybe he just liked Tron and thought, why not? Also, I don’t know why the other gods get to be young while Ananke remains perpetually an old woman. Maybe because she’s the boss god or the oldest god of them all? Maybe its her choice and she can’t do with sexy looks from others?

I love that Gillen picked out Play With Fire by The Rolling Stones as the song of the issue - haven’t listened to that since after I watched The Darjeeling Limited several years ago, and it’s still this uber-awesome, goosepimples-on-the-skin song. That it’s Luci’s breaking out of prison tune is perfect too, it’s so charged and menacing but lo-fi and not loud because it doesn’t need to be. 

This is another incredible looking issue with Jamie McKelvie’s art and Matthew Wilson’s colours seeming god-like on the page. That look on Luci’s face when she lights up her first smoke in ages and plugs in the Stones - that was quite something. Every panel looks wonderful and Wilson’s colours for the Tron room are unbelievably good. The Wicked + The Divine is seriously one of the best looking comics on the market right now. 

Things look like they’re headed to a pleasingly destructive finale in the next and last issue of this arc thanks to the way Gillen swirls together the threads so elegantly in this issue. The Wicked + The Divine #4 is a terrific comic with solid work from everyone involved - definitely the best comic of the week!

The Wicked + The Divine #4

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