The Wicked + The Divine #21

Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Image

The Wicked + The Divine continues with an action-packed issue after last month's character study. Persephone, Baphomet and The Morrigan siege Valhalla to rescue Mini, who's been kidnapped by Ananke. Of course, Baal and Sakhmet confront them, along with Woden's valkyries, and Dionysus shows up and literally throws a weaponised party (like neon people dancing) at them. It's great!

It's the big confrontation between the Pantheon that this series has been building up to for a while but most of the issue deals with Ananke and her plan. Kieron Gillen's dialogue is on point as per usual, he's always poking fun at his characters in a way that doesn't feel disdainful towards them. The past few issues had been a bit darker and you'd expect the Big Fight to be very serious and emotional but Gillen always manages to find levity even on really dark moments. And there's some really dark moments here with Ananke reaching the apex of her villainy.

The issue does deliver great visuals with all of the Pantheon's might being in display here. From The Morrigan's crows and Dyonisus' party-attack to Baal's lightning and Woden's Mecha-Valkyrie-Thing, their power manifests differently but it always looks amazing. Wilson is a great colorist and thanks to his work, this book feels like unlike any other. Some of that harks back to Hannah Donovan's designs and of course McKelvie sets the pace with his art but Dionysus' party and Woden's valkyries allow Wilson to fill each page with bright neon colors and the book looks amazing as result.

Truth be told, The Wicked + The Divine's greatest triumph is the cast of characters that it has built. I wouldn't want to try and predict where the story is going because I'd likely be wrong, but McKelvie puts a lot of emotion into Ananke's expression in the final panel. I think we might see some redemption for her in coming issues, as crazy as that is to say about someone who just built a large sacrifice machine. Going back to Dionysus, I thought what the creative team did with him here was great, he had previously been reluctant to fight and even though he is now willing to do that to save Mini, he stays true to character with a very superhero-like “No one dies” moment.

The WicDiv crew find a way to highlight the characters even during the climax of the showdown that has been built up for the past few months. But there's still more to look forward to, as the issue left me with a lot of questions about what would happen next.