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The Wicked + The Divine #1-9
The Wicked + The Divine Compendium
“The Wicked + The Divine is about art, creativity and living to the fullest, but mainly about death.” —USA Today
The critically acclaimed, compulsively page-turning, urban fantasy series returns in its definitive edition, collecting the complete story in one binge-ready volume.
Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead.
A world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.
The critical and commercial smash by the team behind Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM has its entire story collected in this single volume.
The critically acclaimed, compulsively page-turning, urban fantasy series returns in its definitive edition, collecting the complete story in one binge-ready volume.
Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead.
A world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.
The critical and commercial smash by the team behind Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM has its entire story collected in this single volume.
1448 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2025
12 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Kieron Gillen
1,459 books1,899 followersKieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 1, 2025
(A-) 81% | Very Good
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included volumes can be found here:
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 3: Commercial Suicide
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 4: Rising Action
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 5: Imperial Phase, Part 1
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 6: Imperial Phase, Part 2
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 7: Mothering Invention
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 8: Old Is the New New
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 9: "Okay"
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included volumes can be found here:
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 3: Commercial Suicide
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 4: Rising Action
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 5: Imperial Phase, Part 1
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 6: Imperial Phase, Part 2
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 7: Mothering Invention
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 8: Old Is the New New
- The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 9: "Okay"
September 14, 2025
This book was not for me whatsoever.
The dialogue was very cringe and immature. I felt like I was reading a CW comic.
One quote for example that was eye roll inducing “Please. The Empress Of Stupid Is Annoying Me”, or directly right after that “I See A Wannabe Who’s Never Got Past The Bowie In Her Parents Embarrassingly Retro Record Collection”.
This was all just so cringe. I don’t understand the praise. Who knows.
I dropped after the first few issues.
This is a DO NOT RECOMMEND FROM ME
The dialogue was very cringe and immature. I felt like I was reading a CW comic.
One quote for example that was eye roll inducing “Please. The Empress Of Stupid Is Annoying Me”, or directly right after that “I See A Wannabe Who’s Never Got Past The Bowie In Her Parents Embarrassingly Retro Record Collection”.
This was all just so cringe. I don’t understand the praise. Who knows.
I dropped after the first few issues.
This is a DO NOT RECOMMEND FROM ME
June 27, 2025
Recent Reads: The Wicked + The Divine Compendium. All of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's epic collected. 12 gods, 2 years, and millennia of lies to untangle. Laura's story takes her from fangirl to god to destroyer to avenger, and at last, home. Not everyone gets out alive, but the world changes.
July 20, 2025
4.4
Ive never in life read a book like this before. This is a complete set from start to finish. We have underdogs, we have villain backstories - we have mythology - we have intergenerational trauma. The best part sweetened towards the very end with a murder mystery :)
Ive never in life read a book like this before. This is a complete set from start to finish. We have underdogs, we have villain backstories - we have mythology - we have intergenerational trauma. The best part sweetened towards the very end with a murder mystery :)
April 24, 2025
I had gigantic expectations for "The Wicked The Divine" after seeing it around for years and having had the chance to read the first volume and loving it. I was in cloud nine at the chance to read the entire omnibus and then went through the entire rollercoaster of emotions: requesting it, immediately getting declined and then by pure luck on a day where I was avoiding doing something productive and couldn't find anything else to read (amongst the hundreds of books in my physical tbr), I saw it was available to download. So what was all that for, Edelweiss?
Turns out it had been protection disguised as rejection (my apologies to Edelweiss) because wtf was this?
The original prompt was not the most original ever, but the main characters and their arcs and choices seemed to be. That was until I got to the first load of writer's notes.
If you do consider getting this edition, get the physical version because then you can go back and forward and notice all the wonderful details that the writer points out and elaborates on. If you are passionate about the series or the behind-the-scenes, they're an absolute treasure trove. Unfortunately, those same notes were where a joke about self-pleasure gave me the ick, and I became unable to forget it and see the story in the same way from then on.
Suddenly, the characters' influences looked more like rip-offs of real artists. Amaterasu (and the Morrigan) as Florence and the Machine, Luci is interchangeable with the one from Sandman (another graphic novel that I can no longer touch with a ten-foot pole), Sekhmet is a copy and paste of Rihanna, Baal is straight out of the TV show Empire and so on. What before was only inspiration suddenly felt voyeuristic and exploitative, a way for these men to enact their fantasies.
The writers use the excuse that this is a story about "problematic people doing problematic things", but I think that is a cop out for a bunch of men to put women and people of colour through their violent fantasies and get paid for it. And because certain communities get so little representation, humiliation gets passed on as acceptance into the mainstream and men like these get to get rich and be called trailblazers and social justice warriors.
This could have been such a cool exploration of the price of fame, elitism in the entertainment industry, trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms, but it ends up being a circle jerk around female suffering disguised as empowerment and representation.
I got tired of seeing women getting beaten, cheated on and abused and still have to run back and end up in bed with those same men who then get to redeem themselves through them. I got tired of the angry, animalistic black characters trope. I got tired of not being able to call none of that out because the puppet master was a woman.
Not even the teen character was exempt from that, and the way that women are drawn in comparison to men is disgusting, but because the authors call out their sexualization, somehow that makes them exempt from perpetuating those same problems through their work.
If there is any actual growth (spoiler alert, not all of them die in two years), I don't care to know about it, I only regret not having DNF'ed this before I read 600 out of the almost 2000 pages.
Take me back to my female authors, I wish I had never laid eyes on this ridiculous thing.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Simon and Schuster and Image Comics for this DRC.
Turns out it had been protection disguised as rejection (my apologies to Edelweiss) because wtf was this?
The original prompt was not the most original ever, but the main characters and their arcs and choices seemed to be. That was until I got to the first load of writer's notes.
If you do consider getting this edition, get the physical version because then you can go back and forward and notice all the wonderful details that the writer points out and elaborates on. If you are passionate about the series or the behind-the-scenes, they're an absolute treasure trove. Unfortunately, those same notes were where a joke about self-pleasure gave me the ick, and I became unable to forget it and see the story in the same way from then on.
Suddenly, the characters' influences looked more like rip-offs of real artists. Amaterasu (and the Morrigan) as Florence and the Machine, Luci is interchangeable with the one from Sandman (another graphic novel that I can no longer touch with a ten-foot pole), Sekhmet is a copy and paste of Rihanna, Baal is straight out of the TV show Empire and so on. What before was only inspiration suddenly felt voyeuristic and exploitative, a way for these men to enact their fantasies.
The writers use the excuse that this is a story about "problematic people doing problematic things", but I think that is a cop out for a bunch of men to put women and people of colour through their violent fantasies and get paid for it. And because certain communities get so little representation, humiliation gets passed on as acceptance into the mainstream and men like these get to get rich and be called trailblazers and social justice warriors.
This could have been such a cool exploration of the price of fame, elitism in the entertainment industry, trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms, but it ends up being a circle jerk around female suffering disguised as empowerment and representation.
I got tired of seeing women getting beaten, cheated on and abused and still have to run back and end up in bed with those same men who then get to redeem themselves through them. I got tired of the angry, animalistic black characters trope. I got tired of not being able to call none of that out because the puppet master was a woman.
Not even the teen character was exempt from that, and the way that women are drawn in comparison to men is disgusting, but because the authors call out their sexualization, somehow that makes them exempt from perpetuating those same problems through their work.
If there is any actual growth (spoiler alert, not all of them die in two years), I don't care to know about it, I only regret not having DNF'ed this before I read 600 out of the almost 2000 pages.
Take me back to my female authors, I wish I had never laid eyes on this ridiculous thing.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Simon and Schuster and Image Comics for this DRC.
July 20, 2025
A story about celebrity, fame, and immortality.
Every 90 years, twelve gods are reborn. They live for 2 years before they dying suddenly. The cycle begins again.
A story that spans Millenia with more twists and turns than I could have ever expected. The cast of morally complicated characters are memorable and the story hit me emotionally consistently. A beautiful and complex story from start to finish.
Our protagonist Laura goes from fangirl to god to destroyer to avenger. The "gods" of this modern age are literal pop stars, drawing inspiration from the likes of Rihanna, Florence and the Machine, Bowie, Daft Punk and more. The story draws a comparison between the concerts and religious sermons, as the attendants undergo a sort of religious extacy watching the Gods perform. That the gods only live for two years can be seen as a comparison to the often short-lived fame of pop stars. They burn bright but burn quickly.
Not a simple story but definitely worth reading.
Every 90 years, twelve gods are reborn. They live for 2 years before they dying suddenly. The cycle begins again.
A story that spans Millenia with more twists and turns than I could have ever expected. The cast of morally complicated characters are memorable and the story hit me emotionally consistently. A beautiful and complex story from start to finish.
Our protagonist Laura goes from fangirl to god to destroyer to avenger. The "gods" of this modern age are literal pop stars, drawing inspiration from the likes of Rihanna, Florence and the Machine, Bowie, Daft Punk and more. The story draws a comparison between the concerts and religious sermons, as the attendants undergo a sort of religious extacy watching the Gods perform. That the gods only live for two years can be seen as a comparison to the often short-lived fame of pop stars. They burn bright but burn quickly.
Not a simple story but definitely worth reading.
June 18, 2025
4.5
Kieron Gillen knows how to stick a landing.
Conquering the entire series in one sitting was daunting, and it really doesn ebb and flow. But it reads great in trade, which is satisfying for an issue to issue comic series to read so well together.
The world building is phenomenal (although 1923 took FOREVER) characters were consistent throughout, story hit every emotional beat you needed it to. Truly beautiful storytelling from start to finish.
Kieron Gillen knows how to stick a landing.
Conquering the entire series in one sitting was daunting, and it really doesn ebb and flow. But it reads great in trade, which is satisfying for an issue to issue comic series to read so well together.
The world building is phenomenal (although 1923 took FOREVER) characters were consistent throughout, story hit every emotional beat you needed it to. Truly beautiful storytelling from start to finish.
July 13, 2025
A fast-paced fantasy about twelve young people who become gods, gaining fame, power, and a two-year time limit before they die. It follows Laura, a teenage fan who gets pulled into their world as one of the gods is murdered and secrets start to unravel. The character-driven writing focuses on how people handle fame, pressure, and the need for recognition, while the art gives every scene a clean, stylish look that matches the characters' larger-than-life presence.
October 22, 2025
Only recent became familiar with Lieron Gillen because of The Power Fantasy (incredible) so went back to some previous work. Very very compelling book and every time he made some choice I didn’t like it would pay later on in a wonderfully clever of unexpected way.
I just wish image would keep producing the deluxe versions of these books, coming to this one late and the compendium just doesn’t cut it.
I just wish image would keep producing the deluxe versions of these books, coming to this one late and the compendium just doesn’t cut it.
July 8, 2025
i have no idea who you are. but we're going to live to find out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2025
It’s been a long time since I’ve read something like this…I’ve missed the feeling. I loved every second.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews