The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act

Let me get the parts I liked out of the way first: the art is great. The characters are drawn beautifully, a god's action certainly looks like a god did it, the use of panels and multi-page spreads are gorgeous. I liked the gods as characters, with Lucifer being the protagonist and the most interesting.



That being said, the book is about gods reincarnating as people who are in their teens to twenties. They are gods and have the powers that go along with it, but they only get to live for two more years. That part is pretty interesting, but the gods have reincarnated as incredibly narcissistic brats who want nothing more than attention for those remaining two years of existence. I get that gods are typically portrayed as selfish and quick-to-anger, but seeing it modernized as some of the worst traits of my generation just didn't appeal to me. We already have enough of this kind of behavior without mythical superpowers.

I think this book would appeal to someone younger than myself, probably someone more in tune with popular culture, someone who can enjoy the parallels of these gods to rock stars. However, for me, a nerdy programmer, the story just didn't appeal to me.