By Alex Batts — Slight return. With this issue, we embark on the fourth arc in The Wicked + The Divine! This arc is probably the most bombastic of the entire series and it is a wild, game-changing ride. The regular series team of Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson are back on art duties, and we pick up in the present day to continue our narrative of teens turned gods… let’s get into The Wicked + The Divine #18!

The Wicked + The Divine #18

Here’s the official solicitation text for The Wicked + The Divine #18 released back on April 6, 2015:

An ideal jumping-on point. Persephone, live. The question is, will it be for more than one night? Don’t call it a comeback, as JAMIE McKELVIE and MATT WILSON return to THE WICKED + THE DIVINE for the most rock-and-roll everything-explodes arc of the hit series.

I mostly agree with this solicit. I’m not too sure about the “ideal jumping-on point”, I’d even venture to say that might be sarcasm? Because there is certainly a lot of baggage (as we’ve seen) before this issue. However, this is without a doubt the most rock-and-roll everything-explodes arc of the series. Sh#t hits the fan and doesn’t stop spinning.

The Cover: With a new arc we get a new style of covers! Gone are the body-portrait covers of days past and in are the… uh… full body-portraits? Fashion-portraits? I’m going to go with fashion-portraits. These covers have a very clean aesthetic to them. The main image is surrounded by a crisp white border while the image in question features one of the lead characters, in this case, the returning Persephone, on display in all their glitz and glam.

Let’s get this out of the way: Persephone looks amazing. Her outfit is incredibly stylish, and the color palette, pinks, reds, and hints of blue tones fit her character perfectly. She’s evolved so much from the Laura Wilson that we met at the start of this series. This feels more her than Laura ever did. As usual McKelvie and Wilson fire on all cylinders here.

The First Page: For the first time in a while we’re greeted with a splash page! Aside from the tease at the end of the last issue we had though Laura/Persephone was a goner, but low and behold here she is! In her full godly glory! “Yeah, I’m ready.” She says while looking at herself in the mirror of her dressing room at what will be her first godly performance. As with the cover, she’s evolved so much visually as a character from being Laura and it’s completely apparent in every aspect of her. From her clothing choice to her hair and even facial expression. She’s fully confident in herself and knows who she is, why she is where she is, and exactly what she’s doing. It’s a strong character introduction as well as a big reveal that she obviously isn’t actually dead.

On-Page Action: This issue can be mostly split into two separate events. Persephone’s return/performance/diversion and Baphomet attempting to break The Morrigan out of Valhalla. We’ll start with Persephone’s performance. We get a few pages before she goes on the stage of the venue owner commenting that her management must not have done a good job getting the word out for people to come to see her show. There’s a brilliant fourth wall break that Persephone has where she looks directly at the camera (for her it’s the mirror) and says “Yeah, ‘management’. The management sucks.’” As we get intercut panels of Ananke’s attempted murder of her and then the successful murder of her entire family.

It’s a comedic but also sobering moment. Persephone’s gallows humor is incredibly appropriate for her character, she is Persephone after-all, and it fits in with who we’ve known her as pre-godly transformation. But the intercutting panels of her attempting murdered and families demise undercuts the moment with a sense of dramatic weight and serves as a reminder of what she’s been through already.

The next time we see her she’s on stage getting ready to perform. At this point, she’s all business. We get the familiar “1-2-3-4” and her eyes turn black and pupils turn to skulls, then the following page illustrates the effects of her performance. As we’ve seen with all the other gods, their performances have different visual flairs and leave a different impact on the audience. Persephone’s performance is a viscerally gripping blackness that almost swallows the page. “Persephone’s in hell” text contrasts the panels that we see as black tendrils spread across the images. Visually it’s an extremely compelling performance, which can only lead you to imagine what it was like for the audience.

After she stops for a moment everyone pulls out their phones to start taking pictures and posting about it. While this was happening we had a few pages of Minerva pretending to be asleep while her parents talk about all the plans they have for her 13th birthday the following day. From their dialogue, we see again how they’re using their daughters' fame to line their own pockets with cash. We also see the mechanical owl above Minerva’s bed, special attention is paid to that owl, which may or may not be important in the near future…

Minerva was naturally pretending to be asleep, as kids do, and sneaks off to see The Morrigan. The Morrigan says that she will tell Minerva the truth and this will determine just how wise Minerva truly is. Cut to a giant, ominous machine that Woden is putting together for Ananke. Ananke says it needs to be ready for Minerva’s birthday tomorrow and Woden asks if she’ll be the “fourth” (fourth god Ananke has murdered). Ananke shrugs it off saying that Minerva is too young, but can we genuinely trust her at this point? In the middle of their conversation, Woden is interrupted by a notification on his phone, the internet is ablaze with the return of Persephone and the appearance of a new god.

Ananke quickly rallies the troops. “The Destroyer has returned” she says, as she gathers Baal, Sakhmet, and Amaterasu. Though she commands Baal and Amaterasu to stay behind at Valhalla. She then takes Woden and Sakhmet to go deal with Persephone. The remainder of the issue is mostly god vs god chaos and wanton destruction, and it’s glorious. Woden, Sakhmet, and Ananke attempt to detain Persephone meanwhile Baphomet shows up at Valhalla, beats the crap out of Baal, and attempts to rescue The Morrigan who has coincidentally already been freed by Minerva.

The Morrigan told Minerva of Ananke’s murderous ways and Minerva has now sided with The Morrigan. All of the banter between the entire Pantheon during their various battles is top tier. Gillen is so good at writing these characters and they each feel so wholly themselves on every panel of every page. So while the writing is stellar and extremely entertaining we also get a visual feast as McKelvie and Wilson render the gods battling one another in brutal and fantastic fashion.

Persephone’s powers on display are a new highlight. Though she’s from the underworld her powers are bright and lethal, like tendrils and vines of fruit sprouting from the depths. The colors are sublime and the god vs god action, whether it be Persephone vs Sakhmet, Baphomet vs Baal, or The Morrigan vs Baphomet, is always such a wonder to look at.

One of my favorite moments of the issue is a quiet one between Minerva and Baphomet. As their plan starts to unravel Minerva says “It’s okay to be scared, Baphomet. I know we’re gods, but we’re only human. It’s going to be okay.” The “It’s going to be okay” is an incredible callback to what Laura said to Lucifer so many issues ago and also showcases Minerva’s hope. As the issue unfolds we see that Persephone was used solely as a distraction so that Baphomet could free The Morrigan. When things go awry at Valhalla Persephone shows up to save the day and her, The Morrigan, Baphomet, and Minerva all escape to the Underground as The Morrigan says, “The days when we heeded your lies are over, Ananke. As are you.”

The final page of the issue leaves us with a fairly big bomb drop and substantial cliffhanger because of course it does. We get a “one month ago” panel and then see Persephone lighting a cigarette in the underground, naked except for the blanket covering her, and to her side is Baphomet, similarly clothed. “This was a mistake”, she says, and roll credits.

Deeper Meaning: There’s a couple of things I’d highlight in this issue. First and foremost, the thing the issue starts with, be careful who you trust. Persephone put all her trust and faith in Ananke and it almost got her killed. It also emphasizes the be careful what you wish for saying, as Laura wanted nothing more than to be a god, and that also almost got her killed.

We see Ananke’s machinations continue to unfold and unravel and it becomes apparent via her and a few other characters that you can never be certain who someone really is. The other major thing I take from this issue is Minerva’s “It’s going to be okay.” Line. This can be read several ways, either as innocence, ignorance, or pure optimism. I lean the most towards optimism. Minerva is the goddess of wisdom, so I don’t think she’s speaking out of ignorance. Given what she’s already seen at such a young age I also don’t think she’s speaking out of innocence. I think she’s truly being optimistic about the situation and believes that in the end, everything will be okay.

It’s such a strong line when you think about the full context. She knows she’ll be dead before she’s 14, she’s in the midst of an all-out godly battle but still, she takes the time to be reassuring and hopes for the best outcome.

The Art: I talked about it a bit already, but McKelvie and Wilson being back on art duties is just a dream come true. I love Gillen’s writing a tremendous amount and the guest artists were consistently fantastic but the full team of Gillen, McKelvie, and Wilson truly make The Wicked + The Divine what it is. Brilliant and engaging page layouts, superb character expressions, bombastic and powerful action, splendid and dazzling colors, it’s all here and it’s all outstanding. The new additions of seeing Persephone perform and also the look of her powers is such a huge draw (no pun intended) for this issue and McKelvie and Wilson nail it.

I’ve praised them endlessly every chance I get during this re-read and I will continue to do so, mark my words.

The Wicked + The Divine #18
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Image Comics
An ideal jumping-on point. Persephone, live. The question is, will it be for more than one night? Don't call it a comeback, as JAMIE McKELVIE and MATT WILSON return to THE WICKED + THE DIVINE for the most rock-androll everything-explodes arc of the hit series.
Released: April 6, 2015
Buy It Digitally: The Wicked + The Divine #18

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