- Title: The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 1: The Faust Act
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Kieron Gillen
- Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Written by Kieron Gillen in an attempt to “turn the most confusing and upsetting two years of [his] life into a pop song,” The Wicked + The Divine is an odd, often messy, but always entertaining, series. Volume One: The Faust Act (earning points for the pun) collects the first five issues of the ongoing series centered around 12 gods reincarnated into the bodies of teens and twenty-somethings every 90 years. The catch? The gods live these new lives for only two years before dying out and waiting most of a century before their next reincarnation.
The story is presented through the eyes of an uber fan girl Laura who views the gods not unlike the pop stars and celebrities of our world. Being in the right place at either the right or wrong moment (depending on your perspective) allows Laura to meet Luci, the mischievous current incarnation of Lucifer who is arrested for a pair of murders she committed (in self-defense) and a very public third death that only Laura believes she is innocent of.
Jamie McKelvie’s art deftly brings Gillen’s world (filled with pain, hope, ego, despair, envy, and exploding skulls) to life. It’s definitely worth a look.
[Image, $9.99]