By Alex Batts — We’re back to our regularly scheduled programming! I took a skip week last week (no, it definitely wasn’t because Matt Reeves dropped our first look at the new Batsuit last Thursday and I spent the rest of my night losing my mind…I have no idea what you’re talking about), but I’m going to do my best to keep those skip weeks to a minimum. Promise. With that said let’s go ahead and jump into this week’s issue!

The Wicked + The Divine #4

Here’s the official solicitation text for the fourth issue from September 17th, 2014:

The mystery is solved. But does pop-god Lucifer like the answer? The answer is a word that rhymes with "Go", "Blow" and "Pro". If you think the answer rhymes with "Cow" I applaud you for your unconventional nature. It's good to experiment. We're experimenting with being Awesome for four issues in a row. JOIN US.

I continue to love the solicits talking directly at the reader and keeping up their humor. This solicit isn’t entirely truthful though! The mystery isn’t exactly solved so much as… temporarily dealt with. However! They were, in fact, awesome for four issues in a row. So, that’s a point in their favor.

The Cover: Another issue, another portrait. This time Baal takes center stage, which is fitting given his surprise cliffhanger appearance at the end of the last issue. This cover again conveys a lot about the subject. Baal looks serious as ever, he means business, he also looks like he could destroy you and feel no remorse. The other big standout for this cover is the lighting and lightning. This is a big hint at who Baal is and what his powers entail.

The First Page: Here’s an almost splash page that actually uses the same narrative tool we saw last issue. The cover is a portrait of Baal and the first page features an almost full-page splash of, well, Baal. Unlike last week with The Morrigan where her expression from cover to the first page was vastly different, the expression on Baal’s face is nearly identical. The contrast comes in the art style used to depict him with the interior art clearly being a painting. This leads into the bottom panel of this page, Laura and Cassandra looking at said painting and commenting on the not-so-humble qualities it exemplifies. Cassandra even directly comments on this, but Baal shrugs it off and from this page to the next argues that this gigantic mural (the full mural is revealed in a splash on page 2) is him being humble. This again does a lot to establish who Baal is as a person.

On-Page Action: Laura meets the Pantheon. That’s essentially the elevator pitch for this issue. Our title card, “The Immoral of the Tale” tells us that the following scene takes place on January 10th, 2014, the same date as the end of the last issue. Baal walks Cassandra and Laura through the halls of Valhalla while the pair (mainly Cassandra) ask questions and Baal gives snide answers. We get a bit more information here about what role the gods play in this world. Baal explains that aside from the miracles, they can’t change much. They change people with their performances, and those people get to choose what to do with it.

We also get an almost immediate answer to one of the questions from last issue, which “Baal” this Baal is. He corrects Cassandra’s assumption by saying he’s Baal Hadad. He’s also a sky god, but one who didn’t have a history of child murder. Baal Hadad does lightning and power, not fire. The interactions on the way through Valhalla also give us more character development for Laura as she is completely and wholeheartedly fan-girling about Baal.

Then there’s Laura meeting the Pantheon. We see their throne room, which by the way McKelvie and Wilson have immaculately brought to life a Tron-like palace that I’ll talk more about later, and we get a slight glimpse at how each of them is dealing with Lucifer’s imprisonment. We see Sakhmet, Woden with one of his Valkyries, Ananke, Baal, and Amaterasu all gathered around the room.

The conversation that follows doesn’t exactly go well. Laura is at first bewildered, but as Ananke explains the Pantheon’s stance on the situation, that a lack of action is the correct course of action, Laura is enraged. It’s made apparent that any of the gods could have killed the judge (See, we’re not even a little closer to knowing who did it! Well, I know, but that’s for later) and the use of such power on mortals and the maelstrom it’s caused are exactly why the gods don’t use their powers on mortals.

Another big step in this issue is the first hints at a longer game at play in the narrative. We know the gods reincarnating is part of an “Occurrence” and that they only have two years to live, but Ananke mentions that if things don’t go properly this could be the last cycle. So now we’ve got a ticking clock and paranoia on top of an already ticking clock filled with paranoia. The hints at a much larger picture, the gods playing a pivotal role in mankind, and their willingness to do what is necessary for the majority are all major factors that come into play throughout the series.

Laura then proceeds to tell off all the gods, at least all that are present. They could do something about Lucifer’s situation and the fact that they won’t is absurd to Laura, who has come to be Lucifer’s only friend. The next title card precedes a location and date change, “It’s Going to Be Okay” takes place the following day on January 11th. We see Laura in Lucifer’s cell, after just telling her the entirety of what we ourselves just read. This page does something brilliant with its layout, which I’ll get to in the art section.

Lucifer naturally isn’t happy about the Pantheon’s decision. Before she acts she has a great few lines of dialogue with Laura about the inevitable death coming for the entire Pantheon. She says she understands it more than they do, that at first there’s a defiance, a thought that it’s going to be okay. Laura reassures her and says it is going to be okay. Lucifer shakes her head, “No it’s not, Laura. It was never going to be okay.”

This exchange and the acceptance on Lucifer’s face during it hits like a ton of bricks. But then Lucifer being Lucifer cranks the intensity up to fifteen on the following page, filled with anger and wit she decides she’s going to break out. The breakout and dialogue during the escape are some of the best illustrated and written pages in the comic. Lucifer is full of bravado, drama, and herself.

Deeper Meaning: This one’s a bit of a doozy. The biggest theme I get from this issue is the impact art can have on people. Baal’s speech about them not changing anything, but rather their performances being what has the possibility to change people is essentially what comics, books, movies, and music do for us every day. The comic itself won’t change the world just sitting on a shelf, but the impact that comic has on someone, and what they do because of it can change the world.

The issue also broaches a bit of a philosophical conundrum about what the correct course of action regarding Lucifer’s situation should be. Should the Pantheon do nothing to ensure they may continue to live forever in their next lives? Or morally, should they act to save one of their own in this life? Is the condemnation of one life worth the salvation of others? It’s an interesting query, and while it’s not explored to the fullest degree here it’s still worth pondering.

The Art: Finally, I get to gush about the art in this issue. I mentioned earlier the Tron-like palace that McKelvie and Wilson bring to life in this issue, but I don’t think I can overstate just how cool it is. It’s clean, futuristic to a degree, and manages to feel like a godly place. The interior itself emanates a sense of power and the amount of time it takes Laura, Cassandra, and Baal to reach the throne room creates a sense of scale for the building. It feels like a labyrinthian maze ripped from mythology and updated for the modern world. Wilson’s cool blue colors give unique lighting to the scene and characters in it, and McKelvie’s panel layouts, character expressions, and designs are as on point as ever.

The final scene between Lucifer and Laura is another standout. The establishing shot uses the page brilliantly by having a horizontal panel on the top and bottom, fully enclosing the middle square which is the entirety of Lucifer’s cell. Lucifer is enclosed in her half of the room, which is enclosed by the bordering panels, which is all enclosed by the page itself. It’s brilliant.

Then there’s the breakout sequence, which just obliterates any sense of order the page layouts up to this point had. I always find it impressive that the team is able to make each page layout feel unique and dynamic when most of the panels are squares and rectangles, and that ability for consistency makes it all the more powerful when a sequence breaks that pattern. Lucifer’s violent outburst is askew and uneven, and the rigid normalcy only returns when she begins talking to Laura again. The lighting throughout is also nothing short of phenomenal, with red and blue hues contrasting gloriously as the Devil escapes her hell.

Click here to read past installments of the Wic + Div Re-Read.

Alex Batts is from Texas. A lifelong comic book enthusiast and movie lover, if he’s not talking about comics, he’s probably not talking. You can find him on Twitter by following @BatmanFiles