The Wicked + The Divine vol 3 by Kieron Gillen

Vol 3: Commercial Suicide, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, Tula Lotay, Kate Brown, Stephanie Hans, Leila del Duca, Brandon Graham
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We are reaching the point where reviews will need to be super vague because of spoilers to previous volumes and future volumes. 

This volume provides some serious flashbacks into how some of the other pantheon was awoken by Ananke.  To this point, we know nothing of Tara, but we see her awakening.  We also see the beginnings of The Morrigan and the love of her life, Baphomet.  Amaterasu makes another appearance, as we haven't seen her since volume one.  There are some insights into some of the mysterious happenings from the first two volumes. Not all is revealed, and the reader is left with more questions by the end, but more to continue wanting to read the series.

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I really appreciated the background information on some of the other pantheon members we haven't met yet.  In volumes 1 and 2, we had met a majority of the pantheon, but for many of them, we meet them through Laura after they have already become gods.  It's nice to revisit their backgrounds, even if this issue does nothing to resolve the cliffhanger from volume 2.

One of my favorite things about this series has been the art.  Volume three sees several guest artists without the rich coloring I have come to love.  The issue involving Sakhmet was extremely rough.  I think the  point was to mirror the drunken stupor Sakhmet is constantly in to stop her from doing really bad things, but the art reminds me of Daria and completely took me out of the crips, beautiful drawings of previous issues.  We have seen drunken stupors and drug highs before, and they fit in with the established art style just fine.

This has now shifted to an adult comic. Before, there was some hints at sexual situations, and there were a lot of cuss words, but this one is much more up front with its adult scenes.  Also, the experience Tara goes through, especially with her social media accounts, is a harsh reality of social media, but definitely elevates this to the realm of adult comics.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Adult

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2

Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: February 9, 2016​
ISBN: 9781632156310 (Paperback)

Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Adult, Comicbooks, Magic, Mythology, Image Comics