A God’s Empire Falls in Kieron Gillen & André Lima Araújo’s The Wicked + The Divine: 455 A.D. #1
Main Art by Jamie McKelvie
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist/Variant Cover: André Lima Araújo
Colorist: Matt Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover Artist: Jamie McKelvie
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: May 17, 2017
The central concept of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s The Wicked + The Divine—12 gods reborn on Earth every 90 years; within two years they die—is metaphorically rich and open to a host of interpretations. It’s an incisive look at pop culture, belief and mortality. 455 AD is the second in a series of one-shots that delve into the history of this concept; last fall, 1831 explored the pantheon that arrived in the 19th Century, while this one follows the group of gods that arrived as the Roman Empire crumbled.
Make that “god”—by the time this issue begins, all of the totems save one have perished. The last deity standing is this group’s incarnation of Lucifer, who shares a fondness for dramatic finger-snaps with the contemporary version, but is overall a much more haunted character—specifically, by his memories of the now-departed Bacchus, with whom he’d had a relationship. In the opening pages, Lucifer, garbed as Caesar, goes to war with an approaching group of Vandals. His plan: to take on the guise of the reborn emperor and preserve Rome, rather than succumb to the specter of his scheduled demise.
The Wicked + The Divine: 455 A.D. #1 Interior Art by André Lima Araújo & Matt Wilson