The Wicked + The Divine #5 – Review

When Luci decided to do as T.I. says and live her life, mortal imprisonment and divine admonishments be damned, it was pretty clear there’d be consequences. It may be her nature to rebel, but it’s also her fate to pay for it. Maybe this is the difference Ananke was referring to in #4. The other gods exist at the top of their respective mythologies; Lucifer is the doomed thorn in a greater God’s side. She exists more to draw glory away from others than to take it for herself.

[Major spoiler alert!] So perhaps it’s not terribly surprising that she meets her end by Ananke’s hands—well, fingers—this issue. In fact, it’s not surprising at all, given her determination never to go back to custody and the Pantheon’s equal determination to ensure she does for their own survival. Between two convictions of equal weight, the one with the greater power wins, and Luci is fighting on her own here. The only surprise is how quickly the end comes; Luci’s freedom lasts only long enough for her to get a coffee and have a few smokes. It’s the very definition of a bad bargain.

But the death of Luci doesn’t mean the end of her story, as Laura discovers that Luci left her a parting gift after all. At this point, it’s unclear how much power Laura actually got from Luci, but it’s a likely bet that Laura plans to use it to avenge Luci’s death/find the true murderer/both. Should we also consider it significant that Laura can use her power even after Luci dies? Laura is not a god and theoretically, once the Pantheon passes again, she can keep her power indefinitely. Already, that seems to throw a wrench into the usual order of the Recurrence.

More than ever, it seems keeping the Recurrence working as it usually does is all anyone in the Pantheon cares about. Amaterasu pleads with Luci to go back to prison even though Luci says, “I’d rather die[.]” Even Baal, who admits he’d never go back himself, gives his all to ensure Luci does. As for Ananke, she seems genuinely devastated by having to kill the Great Rebel, but it’s important to note that immediately after, she’s on full PR damage control mode, giving a statement to the press and promising to reassure the world’s leaders that this is merely an isolated incident.

All in all, there’s not much going on in this issue, at least nothing that you can work with now. Despite the god-on-god interaction, you don’t gain any new insights into their characters. Luci remains kind of compelling thanks to her rapid mood swings, shifting from “Fuck you” to “Oh God. I’ve fucked this up so badly” after a few pages. Laura is still problematic as a protagonist because her life and personality are so defined by her Pantheon worship that she has no innate value herself. She’s the necessary narrative guide, especially after Luci dies, but the story doesn’t particularly need her.

At least the brief tussle between Sakhmet, Baal, and Luci offers McKelvie an opportunity to stretch his action legs for a bit, a nice break from the endless talking heads of this series. It’s probably the scarcity of action that makes the battle that much more impressive, with all three players holding none of their godly might back. However, honors should go to Wilson for the blinding blazes of colors that reveal how much power is at work in these scenes. McKelvie’s art would just be too static otherwise.

– Minhquan Nguyen