The Wicked and the Divine #25 — Darkness, everyone, darkness!
How quickly tides — and, by extension, plot devices — turn in comics. What began as an interesting, dramatic turn is quickly becoming not only formulaic, but tiresome. I’m speaking, of course, of Laura’s turn into Persephone, the Destroyer. The Wicked and The Divine #25 continues where the last issue left off, and for once, I’m not sure that’s to its credit.
Ever since the death of Ananke, Persephone has become the loose canon, lashing out and threatening everyone who crosses her. It’s decidedly easy to cross her, too, which makes her rather volatile. But unfortunately, that is becoming her sole defining feature. She’s gone from being this complicated fallen figure to being little more than a rabid dog, lashing out at everything. I’ve grown tired of ending issues in which Persephone threatens to kill someone and everyone else has to talk her off the ledge. By the time she finishes with Woden, I didn’t much care what she did to him.
Of course, the elephant in the room, since the death of Ananke, has been this encroaching Darkness that Ananke spoke of. Is it real? Is it a myth? Is it metaphorical? Baal has long hinted that he knows more than most about this Darkness, and that comes to a head in this issue. The who, what, when, or why of this Darkness has yet to be revealed, but it’s definitely a thing, and something that will need to be dealt with.
The question, of course, is whether or not the Pantheon, in its current state, can do that. To call the Pantheon fractured would be generous. Several issues ago, it was revealed that post-Ananke, most of the gods have retreated to their own little worlds, as the gods are wont to do. Bringing them back together may prove problematic.
But not quite as problematic as the situation in which we now find ourselves, and that is the (supposed) destruction of the world as we know it. In one corner, we have the Darkness, this horrible, awful thing that threatens to destroy everything; in the other corner we have Persephone who, in her own nihilistic rage may destroy everything just because. I don’t see any way in which this plays out well for anyone involved. My gravest fear, however, is that Persephone will deus ex machina the Darkness away, and the entire point will be rendered moot.
Author(s): Kieron Gillen
Artist(s): Jamie McKelvie
Publisher: Image Comics
Publish Date: 01/04/17
Acquired via Purchase
