Wicked and Divine 45 Feature Reviews 

Pick of the Week: “The Wicked and The Divine” #45

By | September 5th, 2019
Posted in Pick of the Week, Reviews | % Comments

The WicDiv team stick the landing with this incredibly sincere goodbye to one of our favorite creator-owned series in recent years. Warning: spoilers ahead.

Cover by Jamie McKelvie
Written by Kieron Gillen
Illustrated by Jamie McKelvie
Colored by Matt Wilson
Lettered by Clayton Cowles

“OKAY,” Conclusion Thanks for reading. We’ll miss you.

In the final page of “The Wicked and The Divine” #45, Laura Wilson addresses the reader directly with the final lines of the series, “Look past the words. Remember they were written. Remember they’re a writer’s design. Not yours. Every story tries to bury what the future really is beneath all that ink. But it’s up to you. It’s always been up to you. Because the future? The future is a–” And with a small snap, the rest of the book is filled with blank pages. Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, and Clayton Cowles end the series by placing the power of the future in our hands. This team delivers an expertly crafted epilogue in the year 2055 that grants long life to the kids who were told that the wouldn’t live more than two in the series’s beginning. The WicDiv team give us history within the future and craft one final outing with these characters that we’ve spent so much time that gives us time to say goodbye one last time in an incredibly satisfying conclusion to a series five years in the making.

“The Wicked and the Divine” #45 brings things to a conclusion with Cassandra’s, arguably the series moral core, funeral. Cassandra had lived until the age of 65 and is survived by her widow, Laura Wilson. Laura is immediately met by Elanor Rigby, formerly Lucifer, and they discuss a romantic history they had together in the time between the previous issue. One of the aspects that I am struck with is how much history not just between these two but the whole world of the Wicked and The Divine is shown in this issue. Laura and Lucifer had a history, Aruna (formerly Tara) campaigned for the remaining Pantheon’s freedom, and Zahid uses they/them pronouns. Gillen gives us so much to chart the paths of these characters over the decades and what growth they’ve gone through while still remaining at their core the characters we have grown to love over the series.

The core of the characters from all of those decades between the previous issue remains intact and so does their pain. Laura meets Zahid in the garden of Valhalla and discusses Cassandra’s passing but the focus turns to Valentine, formerly Baal. While for Zahid, Baal’s death was decades ago, for us it was just last issue and it was sudden. We never got to see them grieve or come to terms with learning what Valentine did but “Wicked and the Divine” #45 gives us that room to grieve with Zahid and look at Valentine’s impact on the series. A small moment with Umar, formerly Dionysius, gives a brief memory of Cam, Baphomet, and his goth-chic wit. While this is Cassandra’s funeral and there’s no doubt about it, a title page refers to this issue as “In Memoriam,”. While this group made it out of the chaos we’ve been following, not everyone did and this In Memoriam, doesn’t just give us space to grieve Cassandra, but many others who were lost and made an impact on this cast.

The sincerity in “Wicked and the Divine” #45 is overwhelming thanks to the expert pacing between McKelvie and Gillen and the room given to silence in the issue. “The Wicked and The Divine” has always had a tangible rhythm and the rhythm hit especially hard during Cassandra’s eulogy, which she, of course, delivered herself. There are about 14 panels across three pages that are split between a character sitting amongst the mourners as Cassandra addresses them and the next panel is the emotionally resonant and quotable sentence that feels like an excellently poignant send off for each character from Laura to the other Norns. Gillen and Wilson’s facial expressions push this sentimentality and earnestness in each aspect of Cassandra’s speech and push it over the mark. Wilson also does an incredible job in creating the visual dissonance between the sleek Valhalla and the earthiness of the tree that Cassandra is buried under that gives further weight into her final treatise on not being matches but acorns growing into oaks.

Continued below

Not burning out but having something better grow out of you ties into the deeper theme of the series which is carried home in these final pages. The wake breaks down into one-panel shots juxtaposed by Laura’s prosaic final statement on the series and the concept of miracles. Miracles, for me, has come to mean the creative process and has resonated extremely well. Laura hits that to create these miracles should be impossibly but in the end, to achieve them makes all the work worth it. The way of “godhood” is a false shortcut that eliminates the “work” and that what matters is to try. Gillen puts the theme of the book right on the line here and makes it clear and finally the Wicked and Divine team, turn the power of creativity onto us in Laura’s final page. While telling us that the past is a written path by an author and that the future is in our hands, she’s counting. 1.2.3.4 and a snap. “The future is a–” a blank page. Our turn to create miracles.

“The Wicked and the Divine” #45 is a series that has been with me since high school and now as I prepare to graduate college, so it was always going to hit me hard. As a whole Gillen, McKelvie, Wilson, and Cowles, masterfully create a final issue dripping in sentimentality and sincerity for these characters and the journey they have been through. The ability to create such a heartfelt goodbye to these characters while also giving a thoughtful reflection on creation is such a masterful act that we have to just applaud the accomplishment. To “The Wicked and the Divine,” Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, Clayton Cowles, and all of the creators who made this series such an important part of its reader’s lives: “I love you. I love you all. I’ll miss you.”

Final Verdict: 9.0 – An incredibly well crafted, thoughtful, and poignant ending to a beloved series.


//TAGS | Pick of the Week

Kenneth Laster

Kenneth is a cartoonist, critic, and cryptid somewhere in the crumbling empire of the United States. Hit him up on twitter @disasterlaster to see dumb jokes and artwork.

EMAIL | ARTICLES


  • Transformers Vs The Terminator Featured Reviews
    Pick of the Week: “Transformers vs. Terminator” #1

    By | Mar 26, 2020 | Pick of the Week, Reviews

    What happens when you merge two different robot-based science fiction franchises debuting in the 1980s, then throw them back in time to that very decade? Check out the result in the new crossover between Transformers and Terminator!Written by David Mariotte and John BarberIllustrated by Alex MilneColored by David Garcia CruzLettered by Jake M. WoodIt’s Skynet […]

    MORE »
    Reviews
    Pick of the Week: “Stealth” #1

    By | Mar 12, 2020 | Pick of the Week, Reviews

    Detroit is a city that has financially collapsed and while there are those out there trying to save it through rebuilding its infrastructure; one man is prowling through the night to take down criminals to help save the soul of the city. Mild Spoilers AheadWritten by Mike CostaIllustrated by Nate BellegardeColored by Tamra BonvillainLettered by […]

    MORE »

    -->