The Wicked + The Divine #12
Kieron Gillen/ Kate Brown/ Jamie McKelvie/ Matthew Wilson
Image $3.50
If you recall my past reviews for Wic + Div, I referred to Kieron Gillen as a “Bad bad devil man” or some such. I took this claim to Twitter, when Kieron was “kind” enough to confirm that statement via a fave, which in 2015, is just as good as a 1000 word confessional in my opinion.
And while he’s a devil, he’s a also a clever and talented one. The proof of that claim lies in The Wicked & The Divine #11, which once again sees a mortal investigate the murder of a god. The twist is that instead of our lead Laura, we’re now following Beth, the former intern of series regular Cassandra. It’s a cool twist, as we’re now following a character who was almost a god, versus a girl who wants to become a god. It freshens up the narrative a bit without changing to book too much, and I really can’t much else without spoiling several events from the 2nd volume of bad times. ALSO: I kept this review light on images as this issue is full of spoilers and naughty words.
The change in lead isn’t the only difference. With co-creator Jamie McKelvie off working on the 3rd volume of Phonograms, the book is now drawn and colored by artist Kate Brown. Accordingly to Gillen in the letter pages of this issue, volume 3 will be showing several different artists, letting other creators that the team is a fan of play with their toys. I think it’s quite cool that Gillen and McKelvie are using their book as a showcase for budding creators, and I’m eager to see how this all plays out. It’s also not the first time she’s worked with Kieron, as they’ve also collaborated on the 6th issues of the 3rd volume of Young Avengers over at Marvel.
With Kate Brown having to lead off, she’s stuck with the unfortunate task of having to be the first artist to follow McKelvie on this title. I’m not implying that Brown is a bad artist, she’s not, she’s just a newer talent than Jamie, with a style that’s completely different than his. Her art is way more animated, and her talking head pages aren’t as strong as the ones we’ve gotten from McKelvie. Not to mention some of her faces look a little lumpy. That being said, when it comes to the action pieces for this issue, her skills shine. It’s like a Dragon Ball Z page set in London, and you can see there’s some real weight behind the punches thrown. The reason why she’s drawing this book is made abundantly clear as the book progresses. In addition to drawing some great action sequences, Brown’s colors are fantastic. Having to follow up to Matt Wilson in addition to McKelvie is an Herculean task, but Brown delivers, with a softer palette that really works for the “recorded scenes”. Brown does some really neat things with color for backgrounds and “special effects”, much like Wilson before her, but in a completely different manner. Wick + Div continues to be a book where color is constantly played/experimented with, which is another reason why this book stand outs from a lot of the other books on the shelf.
“Commercial Suicide” (What the 3rd volume of The Wicked and the Divine is being called) is off to a great start, despite the absence of two of it’s original creators. The team was wise to start off with Kate Brown, who’s unique style helps kick this arc off with a proper bang. If Brown contributions are any indication what we’re getting with this next storyline, the book is in fine artistic hands until McKelvie and Wilson’s proper return.
