💭 Thought Bubble - The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act [Review]

The first page introduction greets you with two quotes. One is from the 16th century English playwright Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus; an adaptation of the famous Faust legend whereby a somewhat cocksure scholar who feels he's mastered every subject he's ever studied, makes a pact with the devil to give up his soul in exchange for magic powers. The second is from the 1999 euro pop outfit The Vengaboy's hit, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom. Already, I was all in.

The Setup

We join the story in December 1923 where a group of four individuals sit around a large table in an almost seance-like fashion, lead by an elderly masked character. After a brief conversation, the attendees say their goodbyes and countdown to what results in an explosion and a proclamation by the masked character, "once again, we return."

We then skip forward to New Years Day 2014 where we meet an adoring, verging on the obsessive, 17 year-old girl from South London called Laura who is on her way to a gig to see a celestial-like performer, Amaterasu. Dressed as her idol, she stares on longingly as the whole crowd, herself included, fall victim to Amaterasu’s divine prowess and fall to the floor in orgasmic adoration.

Cut to back stage where Laura awakes in the company of a confident yet somewhat creepy woman claiming to have many names but Luci is the preferred one for now. Luci offers to show Laura around backstage and even meet Amaterasu, who is currently being interviewed by a bolshy music journalist. From the line of interview questions it seems that these musicians all sitting around backstage are claiming to be gods where they were once human. Cynically, the journalist is pulling apart their claims while Luci is getting more and more irritated. It's during a heated back and forth between Luci and the journalist that a spatter of red laser dots start to appear across the room which ends in the guests being peppered in gunfire by two gunman across the way. It's then that Luci steps up to deal with the problem at hand and reveals her full name; Lucifer.

The Rundown

Without going into too much detail, the story revolves around a courtroom incident that places Luci in the firing line of the authorities. Laura, believing in Luci's innocent and being hell-bent on proving it, takes it upon herself to try and figure out what happened. Although I found the story interesting, I never really felt that Laura had any just reason to compel herself to help Lucifer find justice. As a loner, it may have had something to do with her quest for acceptance combined with having her moment in the spotlight and rubbing shoulders with the popular elite, but there was something missing for me. One thing I will say is Luci's persona reeked of an egotistical narcissist that was so brash, you couldn't help but like her for it. Even by her second page she said something so inappropriate that I must admit I winced a bit. Ultimately this is Laura’s story. It’s the story of an outcast who has no friends and lies to her parents about where she goes in the evening, and yet she finds herself in the company of modern-day deities, even acting as the saviour for one of them. It’s a coming-of-age story with a celestial twist.

That said, WicDiv is an interesting experiment. It’s set in a world where the common man seems to accept the presence of gods walking among them. But what I find really interesting is how the writer, Kieron Gillan, centres this study around popular culture. There are many parallels made between man’s devotion to gods and fans’ adoration of pop stars. Concert halls are shown as places of worship where devoted disciples follow their idols and bow at their feet. Pop culture is also referenced throughout with mentions of iPhones, Snapchat and the mainstream media. Even the now out-of-date Vine makes an appearance as a past publicity vehicle for Lucifer. Damn things move fast. Overall, the contrast really works and the commentary on how society’s spiritual focus has largely shifted from the religious to the consumable makes absolute sense to me.

The Look

The Wicked and Divine’s aesthetic is spot on. Artist Jamie McKelvie uses clean and sophisticated line work with stylish design and costuming to push the pop aesthetic. Colourist Matt Wilson contrasts bright neon colours that are saccharine in their application, with darker tones which help balance the page and punctuate the more serious panels. Plus, texture is used sparingly but appropriately to accentuate violence, energy, and style.

The Wrap Up

I enjoyed the The Wicked and Divine: The Faust Act. I like that it’s trying something different by taking a set of classic ideas and bringing them up-to-date by applying them to a modern context. If anything, I think the reasoning behind Laura’s decisions feel a little skin deep and without reason, but maybe that’s a commentary on pop stars and the nature of fans nowadays. There are some great moments in this collection of books, part of which is down to great setup. There’s a particular set of moments that centre around the clicking of fingers that while it sounds simple, holds a surprising amount of weight throughout, leading to one of the drop-jaw moments of the story.

All-in-all, a great read which finishes on a cliffhanger that will definitely have me reading the next volume in the series.

Published by	Image Comics
Written by	Kieron Gillen
Art by	Jamie McKelvie
Colours by	Matt Wilson
Originally released	12 November 2014
Collects	The Wicked & The Divine No. 1-5

You can buy The Wicked & Divine: The Faust Act here (non-affiliate link).

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