Annotations 

Wicked Intervention: “The Wicked + The Divine” #9 [Annotations]

By | April 3rd, 2015
Posted in Annotations | 6 Comments

Welcome back to another edition of Wicked Intervention, Multiversity Comic’s monthly annotations for Image’s “The Wicked + The Divine”. This week, everything hits the fan. Spoilers ahead.

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself – The Cover Gallery

Our cover this month (in addition to the issue itself) shines a spotlight on Ananke: the mama cub of The Pantheon. Ananke’s not a good, not technically not anymore, but still has all the power of one and more. In Greek mythology, she’s more than a god: she’s the personification of fate itself. She’s in that weird tier of mythological characters who were just personifications of natural forces that were into incest. You see the world around you? Came from when the earth fucked her son, the sky. Don’t ask where the ocean came from.

Anyway, Ananke was so powerful in Greek mythology that she was on a level above the Olympians. She was also the mother of the Fates, those weird old ladies from Disney’s Hercules and God of War. She doesn’t have a lot of stories about her, but there’s been some analysis of her. According to Sigmund Frued (whose quote I am straight jacking from Ananke’s Wikipedia page):

We can only be satisfied, therefore, if we assert that the process of civilization is a modification which the vital process experiences under the influence of a task that is set it by Eros and instigated by Ananke — by the exigencies of reality; and that this task is one of uniting separate individuals into a community bound together by libidinal ties.

Humans can only be satisfied with the process of civilization when it’s jumpstarted by a task instigated by Ananke? You guys, Freud wrote WicDiv. Even the libidinal part’s accurate. Have you seen Inanna?

Ananke’s not just a god, she’s a primordial force tied into our civilization’s idea of fate and progress. And as for how fate itself works, especially in the context of WicDiv? Well, there’s a reason the Greeks wrote a lot of tragedies.

Page 1

Issue #9 finds us on June 28th 2014, a month after issue #8 and ten months ago in real time. By god, I feel old.

I’ve talked about this a little bit but if there’s a secret theme in “WicDiv”, it’s parenthood. It’s the sort of thing I’d normally ignore in a comic that’s ostensibly all about sex, mythology, and rock & roll if it weren’t for the fact that parents get brought up all the damn time. This issue opens with Laura’s parents being A+ players by keeping an eye on their daughter without becoming total helicopters about it. Their concerns are very real and also ground Laura to a world outside The Recurrence. Also, Mrs. Laura’s Mom’s quote explores WicDiv’s parenthood themes pretty succinctly.

“I look at them all and think ‘I hope someone’s looking out for them.'”

Page 2

And that someone is Ananke who is… well she’s certainly doing a job, right? Minerva, a twelve year old, is still torn up over hurting Brunhilde two issues back and Ananke’s clearly doing her best to console her which is nice. And then a few issues earlier Ananke put down Lucifer which was less nice, even if it was for the good of the Pantheon. I really enjoy how, though we’re still dealing with gods and rock stars, everyone is still fatally human. Ananke may be the personification of fate itself but she’s still just someone who ended up with this position, you know? Well, used to be someone.

Anyway, lots of parenthood themes this issue, and this page explicitly demonstrates Ananke’s role as mother to the Pantheon who are more or less parentless. Compared to Laura, whose parents usually show up once an issue, none of the Pantheon seem to have any family. And while that could be because Laura’s allegedly our point of view character and we should know more about her and all that, Lucifer’s parents did only show up to go “oops kid died lol” at a press conference. Even if they weren’t aggressively terrible like a Lohan, the Pantheon seem to have more distant relationships with their family. Especially Minerva who’s twelve and who either has a tragic orphan backstory or parents who told Ananke to keep her.

Continued below

Plus Ananke’s “It will always be okay.” is this comic’s funniest piece of dialogue yet.

Page 3

If you haven’t listened to “Rabbit Heart” by Florence + The Machine, it’s literally all of WicDiv in one song. A lot of songs are literally all of WicDiv. Kind of weird how universal that whole sacrificing yourself for fame trope is, huh? Thankfully, Gillen compiled most of those song in a playlist on Spotify you can play at parties to show off your good taste in music.

Page 4

Aww, baby Baphomet wants his mommy too.

As he should. Everyone here has been through this some awful stuff and should reach out for emotional support from your loved ones as needed.

Also, Baphomet apparently has no idea what’s going on with Morrigan giving Laura a fake alibi for the judge’s murder. Is there anyone in the Pantheon who’s not lying to one another? I keep comparing them to the Bluths, but I’mw worried with how accurate that comparison’s becoming.

Baphomet’s George Maharis by the way. Luci was Gob and Morrigan is Lucille Austero. Urdr is Michael.

Page 5

Hey, more rules about how the Pantheon work. Performing makes the gods vulnerable, which can lead to them getting killed during one of their concerts. I don’t need to write about how that’s a metaphor for the performing arts in general, right?

Page 6

Well, shit.

On one hand, this revelation crushes any hopes of anyone, Laura especially, stealing a spot on the cycle. But there’s still a spot on the wheel after this issue, right?

Also, death gods can apparently extend their life by choking out one of their own. Ananke immediately hits Baphomet with the “I can help you for the time you already have” as if she didn’t give him the ultimate loophole. I’m sure Baphomet will be sensible about this. I mean the cover for the next issue is him smirking and covered in blood but who knows. Could be cherryade.

Page 7

Pretty interesting parallel between Baphomet’s ungrateful teenage son to Ananke’s mother who has made sacrifices for this family. Did I mention this issue was about parenthood?

Page 8

As always, Cassandra continues to be the best part of every issue she’s in.

Here, she lays some encyclopedic smackdown on Baphomet. Namely how, historically there’s never been much reason for Baphomet to be considered a real god. Yeah, he was associated with the Knights Templar but he didn’t become considered part of a religion until Aleister Crowley developed Thelema in the early 20th century. In that regard, he’s a more modern god than anyone else. There’d be no real reason for him to be considered a deity around the time of the 1920’s Recurrence. At least not enough to warrant him being part of the Recurrence then or beforehand.

Also, I was worried that Baphomet was going to kill Cass but I think he was just blowing up her camera. The death threats come later, folks.

Page 9

Never change, Cassandra. No seriously, please don’t change.

Page 10

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a book you’ve heard of. Artists put the “Fear and Loathing in” with other words to create titles. This is the hard hitting analysis you read Wicked Intervention for.

Page 11

Hey, so Woden’s weird whispering to Cassandra last issue was just an interview. At least it wasn’t a Valkyrie related thing like I assumed. There’s no scenario in which Cass, or anyone, would fist pump for that.

Page 12

WORLDBUILDING! The gods are primordial as hell and somewhat responsible for civilization. At least the advancement of civilization. Not so much a creation myth as an inspiration myth. It’s the difference between gods creating humans and gods enabling humans to go forth and cure polio or invent puppet theater or what have you. It’s like that Freud quote above.

The process of civilization is a modification which the vital process experiences under the influence of a task that is set it by Eros and instigated by Ananke — by the exigencies of reality; and that this task is one of uniting separate individuals into a community bound together by libidinal ties.

Continued below

The Gods of The Recurrence may not be responsible for humanity or the trees and sky but it is responsible for architecture, cuisine, theatre –all those wonderful things that keep humanity from remaining stagnant. Make us human.

I’m also reminded of the solar cycle theory that readers of Grant Morrison may be familiar with. Long story short – the theory posits that culture is affected by solar cycles that go off every 11 years or so by solar flares that affect our cultural consciousness. It’s the shift in tone between the free love era of the mid 60’s and early 70’s and the conservatism that came in the late 70’s and 80’s. Even if the science doesn’t necessarily work out in real life, the theory’s still a good example of external forces changing up our zeitgeist.

And though the Pantheon works on a different cycle (every 90 years instead of roughly every eleven) they seem to serve the same function. Of the specific Recurrences we’ve seen, both have come at times of great cultural shifts, from Lucifer and Morrigan as Byron and Mary Shelley in the heart of the Romantic movement to the group in the first issue from the Jazz Age. The Pantheon arrives and serves as a spark that dictates the course of culture for the next 90 years. After all, pretty much every music genre from the last 90 years can eventually be traced back to jazz somehow.

Page 13

And here’s Ananke origin, of sorts. She was one of the Pantheon eons ago until it was determined that she would stay behind and guide the Recurrences to come so they wouldn’t lose. As interesting as that is, I’m more interested in how Ananke says “We could have had men on mars thousands of years before the rise of Rome but for The Great Dark.” The idea of there being a conflict between the Recurrence and another first hasn’t really been hinted towards before and opens a ton of questions. There’s a couple interpretations available, if you want to look at The Great Dark as an abstract for human failure – a representation of humanity falling back into the stones and dirt like the pre-Renaissance Dark Ages in Europe if you will. But as civilization became more structured, the conflict moved away from affecting things like war (even if it still exists) and towards defining humanity through culture.

Or there is a literal being called The Great Dark that The Pantheon are going to team up and fight in the final issue and I will be a damned fool. Still, Ananke’s insistence that the gods must burn bright may take on a new meaning if the gods have to disappear so as to not attract the otherworldly attention of The Great Dark. It’s a solid reason to have the two year plan.

Speaking of which, Ananke’s statement that “There is no one in this story who has not got a raw deal.” Is the second most meta panel of this issue.

Page 14

And here’s number one.

The White Goddess is a long as heck essay written by Robert Graves that serves as his attempt to argue that many pagan gods, especially Western European and ancient gods from the Middle East, were all one goddess under different names. There’s also mention of how Judeo-Christianity destroyed the memory of the White Goddess which is pretty interesting inc context to WicDiv, considering the noticeable clash between modern religions and the Recurrence. And considering that Lucifer’s the version of Satan featured in the King James Bible and the rest of the Pantheon is primarily Gods from Western Europe and the Middle East (save Amaterasu and Tara, Fuckin’ Tara) then you have a pretty stellar case for all members of the Recurrence being facets of one White Goddess. I doubt that goddess is Ananke herself, she used to be a facet too, but it would give some explanation as to where the Pantheon came from. Plus,in terms of antithesis, it makes sense for The Great Dark to face A White Goddess. Subliminally racist, sure, but sensible.

Continued below

Also, Ananke’s dressing down of Cassandra seems pretty accurate. Cassanra’s my favorite non-Baphomet character but she’s still as flawed as everyone else. Think about all the times you’ve seen her be happy. It was because she proved someone wrong or thoroughly pissed them off? Cass seems to be an aggressive scholar, one who’s looking less to explore ideas and more to win. It all ties back to what Ananke asked her earlier: “Do you want to be smart or do you want to know things?” There’s a vital difference between the two.

Page 15

Nothing much on this page besides more of Ananke exploring the Recurrence process. Ugh, don’t you hate it whenever Gillen does one of his “sit down and explain everything” issues? It’s like nothing even happens. Whatever. At least there’s a cool bit about Cassandra’s skepticism in the Pantheon causing Ananke to take forever to find and convert her into Urdr.

Wait what.

Pages 16-17

Page 18

As Cassandra explains herself (clever girl), she’s now Urdr – one of the three Norse Norns. And before we continue, say Norse Norns three times really fast.

Urdr’s the Norn representing fate while her sisters represent the present (Verdandi) and the future (Skuld). Also, unless Ananke has some weird gardening in her pad we never noticed, FREAKIN’ YGGDRASIL THE WORLD TREE popped out along with Urdr.

Page 19

AND NOW SAID WORLD TREE IS ON FIRE.

Page 20

Okay, nameless camera crew #1 and #2 don’t seem like your typical thralls, the way Woden’s Valkyries are for instance. Urdr’s a collective, like Morrigan but with Cassandra firmly in the lead. Does this then mean that Morrigan’s also three women bound to a single god/facets of a deity?

Also, how likely is it that Cassandra/Urdr’s our main antagonist now? She wants to prove “there are no messiahs” which is kind of what the Pantheon is founded on. And frankly, I can’t see her performing “music” anytime soon. She says “She feels an essay coming on” and I would not be surprised if her “power” is to write supernaturally compelling essays on why everyone in this comic is bullshit. Frankly, I’m just upset that it took me from to realize that Cassandra’s justthis character from The Chris Gethard Show.

Sidenote: fairly certain that dust is pollen from Yggdrasil.

Page 21

Wonderful contrast between Ananke’s “I’m so happy this family is back together!” and Baphomet’s “I’m literally going to kill this person.” They should never be more than five pages apart.

Pages 22-23

Props to this issue about parenthood being bookended by Laura’s folks. Don’t you just love it when comics have individual themes per issue?

Don’t you also love it when they end with the protagonist crying their eyes out?

Seems Laura just found out about Alderaan.

No but really, this thing she’s wanted for god knows how long has been taken by the one person in the world who wants it the least but would still be willing to use that power to mess stuff up big time. Even though she’s had the false hopes, the struggles, the adventure with Lucifer and investigations with Inanna. Hell, she snapped her fingers to make the fire and everything.

I doubt Laura’s placement in the Pantheon ends here. One theory that’s been floating around for a while is that Laura may take Ananke’s place and that seems fairly likely. Like I said before, the fact that Laura’s one of the few people in this comic to receive visible support from their parents is wildly important and may contribute to her giving that support to future generations to come.

Page 25

Real talk: I spent forever trying to write around how Laura could still find her way amongst the Pantheon itself and it’s just not likely. Like this title not-so-subtly says: Laura’s dreams are dead. As are the dreams of anyone else who wanted to see her Godsona.

So, uh. Sorry, Laura. Better luck next time, huh?

Oh. Right.

Have any thoughts or theories on this issue? Let us know in the comments! In the meantime, we’ll see you next month for an issue with a blood-soaked Baphomet on the corner. What a fun time to be had.


//TAGS | Wicked Intervention

James Johnston

James Johnston is a grizzled post-millenial. Follow him on Twitter to challenge him to a fight.

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