And the war began. Is it good?
The Wicked + The Divine #21 (Image Comics)
Minerva is unconscious in Valhalla, as the gods on Ananke’s side try to prepare for what’s coming, while Ananke herself orders Woden to ready the machine which will sacrifice Minerva and give Ananke massive powers. Persephone’s party arrives, literally in Dionysus’ case, as he literally brings one of his parties fully weaponized.
I don’t see how that’s a party.
And the battle, and Ananke’s plan, begins.
Is It Good?
I think the issue’s title says it all:
The battle that’s been building since Lucifer’s death has finally erupted and there’s no knowing who will be left standing at the end. As creators, the WicDiv team have done a fantastic job of giving the book stakes–yes, characters will die, but there’s always a purpose behind a death. It’s not shock value or emotional manipulation, and that’s a very difficult trick to pull off. So knowing that no one is safe makes this exchange even more ironic:
Bless your heart.
Since things are moving so fast, we really don’t know how many people died in this issue and I suspect we won’t know for a while, because while the time frame of the issue is short, Gillen packs in a ton of information. While we already had an idea of how ruthless Ananke is, she really pulls out all the stops here, and Woden also reaches new levels of despicabilty when he continues to follow orders and doesn’t save Minerva, even as she’s prepared to be sacrificed in front of him.
The standout stars of this issue are McKelvie and Wilson; this issue lets them loose to everything from some of the most intricate battle sequences we’ve seen, intimate moments, and the insanity of that sacrifice machine. I could show you panel after panel that knocked me out, but I’d end up showing the entire issue. My favorites are Dionysus in the fight, so how about one with maximum emotional effect:
I especially love how McKelvie breaks the panel layouts with Dionysys’ light stick and Baal’s lightning.
At the end of the issue, we get a little bonus. The WicDiv team asked its users to fill about a survey, telling the team about themselves and they’ve included some sexy sexy graphs in the author’s note. I found it really interesting, though not really surprising from what I’ve seen of the readership online and at cons, but who doesn’t love some cool data analysis?
Maybe I’m just distracting myself from what’s going to come next month and how I’m going to survive the anticipation until it comes out.
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