Reviewed by Quirky Cat on
The Wicked + The Divine volume three is a bit different from the other two volumes so far. In truth Commercial Suicide is more like a series of short stories about most of the gods and goddesses running around being reincarnated. So here’s the good news/bad news about that situation. The good news is a whole bunch of guests artists got a chance to shine in this volume (which considering the popularity of the series is a great boost for them). The bad news is that most of the stories occur in the past, and thus we still don’t really know what’s happening in the present.
They’re great stories, to be sure, but between the cliffhanger in the last volume (which I’m still dying to see how that resolves – no pun intended) and the constant art style changes, it can be just a little jarring.
After the cliffhanger that occurred in volume two of the Wicked + The Divine I think we were all feeling pretty anxious to see the truth behind what is happening. As I mentioned above this is really a collection of stories about the different gods in the Wicked + The Divine. It was great getting a chance to see what some of these characters were like back when they were human, as well as seeing how they’ve been moving behind the scenes (some are trickier and more active than others, which isn’t terribly surprising).
I know some people would actually label this sort of volume a filler volume, and to be frank I can’t really argue against that point. Had the last volume not ended the way it did I probably wouldn’t have minded this intercession so much…but seeing that I’m incredibly anxious to get answers about what the heck is going on…it’s left me a bit raw. And I’m binge reading through the volumes! I can only imagine how fans felt as they read each issue or volume as it came out. I’d have been pulling me hair out by the conclusion.
I actually do love the idea of changing artist and art styles to better reflect the personalities behind the gods/goddesses and their stories. It’s a brilliant idea; even if the timing could have been a little better (sorry, sorry, I swear I’m not feeling burned about having to wait a bit longer for an answer).
It was great to learn some of the different motivations and histories of the different characters we’ve been seeing move around. The incarnated gods are such big roles in this story, yet before now we hardly knew the story behind any of them. Which may lend to their mystique, but I’d rather know the man behind the mask, so to speak.
This was a fun interlude, but I sincerely hope we’ll be getting back to the main plot in the next volume. I’m so anxious to hear more about the truth and the mere breadcrumbs left in this volume only made the feeling worse. Also, while I did like the whole guest artist bit (seriously, some of those artists are exceptionally talented), I’d be really happy to have the original artist, Jamie McKelvie, back on board for everything from here on out.
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Reading updates
- Started reading
- 29 March, 2018: Finished reading
- 29 March, 2018: Reviewed