The Wicked + The Devine: Vol.1, The Faust Act (Gillen/McKelvie/Wilson)

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Written by: Kieron Gillen
Illustrated by: Jamie McKelvie
Coloured by: Matt Wilson

** Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. **

"Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead."

Let's be honest here - bright colours, combo of Gillen and McKelvie and a synopsis that doesn't say anything really but says enough to intrigue you, I was into it before I even started reading. That said, I'm not exactly a fan of "the god thing". Thor is fine but that's about where my patience with gods in comic books and literature in general ends. However this comic book had done everything to change my mind.

This books starts with a bang. The bang is what carries the story in here. And I loved it.
We meet Laura, a seventeen years old nobody who will be our unreliable narrator through this first volume. She's a fan. Of whom? Gods, of course.

There isn't many places where a book about gods can be relatable to us humans. But these gods are rockstars. And rockstars are the people we nowadays treat like gods, right? Religion is cool only as the soundtrack you give to it. If it's good enough, we all are going to be worshippers.

There are many things that this comic books does right. Starting with connecting old and new, high and low. And it's not just the gods and the humans. The epigraphs in the beginning are a combination of both too - quote from Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and lyrics from Vengaboys' song Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! (a stupid song I now can't get out of my head).

The gods themselves, as you start getting to know them, are interesting very interesting. Background of those who belong to The Pantheon varies and that's how you get Baal Hadad (there's several Baals in Canaanite pantheon) as well as Woden (Anglo-Saxon counterpart of Odin) or Tara (the Buddhist or the Hindu one?). And their visual connection to the icons of popular music is undeniable - we could argue whether or not Amaterasu looks like Florence Welch but Luci(fer) is very obviously David Bowie.

The comic book was overall a fun read with beautiful art and well-thought plot that sets up the storyline for (hopefully) a long run. The character development was a bit slow at the beginning but it always is when you're introducing multiple characters in a short time. So I can't wait for the next volume.

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