The Wicked + The Divine #22

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

It's the end of “Rising Action”! This arc was a doozy. In-universe it all took place in 2 days (barring issue #20, which was mostly told as a flashback) so every chapter picks up where the last one left off and you can feel that momentum bulding issue-to-issue. The big, shiny, neon fight that took place in the last 2 issues had been built up towards for a while and The Wicked + The Divine team deliver on every count.

The Wicked + The Divine has been one of the best illustrated comics out for a while now but I swear McKelvie and Wilson get better with every issue. The versatility that they've shown in this arc is remarkable. There's that spread with the mechas that's unlike anything we'd seen on WicDiv previously and also that disturbingly gory page later on. The WicDiv team came up with all sorts of things for their action sequences in the past 2 issues and the way they are portrayed is pitch perfect. There's a bit of a deconstruction of that moment from issue #11 when Ananke tried to kill Laura (but actually killed Inanna) as Persephone and Ananke fight against each other here. It's very emotionally powerful stuff and every panel of that scene feels iconic.

McKelvie is one of my favorite artists, especially as far as his layouts go. He gets pretty inventive with how he arranges a page and how and when to use negative space but his layouts aren't so bizarre that they make the book a difficult read. And of course his actual interior art is also fantastic, the range of emotions that he gives Ananke is astonishing.

Fans of WicDiv have always had their favorite and least favorite character and that's obviously shaped by Gillen's writing and the vantage points he chooses but I do feel that Gillen always writes all of his characters with some degree of compassion. The big redeeming moment that I thought Ananke (most hated character) would get isn't here but we do get to experience some of the issue through Woden's (second most hated character) narration, and despite not coming across as likeable that type of thing changes how readers think about characters. I think nothing exemplifies this better as far as WicDiv goes than the fact that the 2 most hated characters are the ones we know the less about.

The gods feel more fallible than ever before. There's a dopey supervillain speech, a sucker punch and lots of rash decisions. There's a moment that Laura has (it's related to her family, no spoilers or whatever) that came out of nowhere and felt somewhat unfounded to me but these have always been erratic characters and that's really brought to the foreground by seeing how much they fuck up and how emotional an impulse-driven they are.

The Wicked + The Divine still feels as exhilarating as it did at first, the art by McKelvie and the coloring are arguably even better now than back then, it's all excellent. The series will take a break until November (nooo!) but there's a mysterious one-shot coming out next month. Either way, you should read this.