Before writer Kieron Gillen was picking up plaudits for his outstanding Image Comics saga “Die,” he and artist Jamie McKelvie teamed up for a dark fantasy series entitled “The Wicked + The Divine.” This Image Comics book ran from 2014 to 2019, and introduced a dazzling world where various gods are reincarnated as pop stars.
Speaking to ComicsAlliance about where this inventive concept came from, Gillen revealed the deeply personal nature of it. “‘The Wicked + The Divine’ was one of the ideas I had in the days following my dad being diagnosed with terminal cancer,” he said. “It’s a pop book, but it’s basically about life and death.”
“The Wicked + The Divine” picked up a litany of awards for its outstanding story, themes, and art, and was even dubbed a best series of 2014 by USA Today. In 2015, Deadline reported a television series had been optioned by Universal TV; however, news on this project disappeared into a black hole of nothingness. The richness and imagination of “The Wicked + The Divine” demands that it not be forgotten, though. Given the right attention and treatment, it could be a smash hit in the same vein as Netflix’s “The Sandman.”
