The Wicked + Divining Comics 1831 Special
Annotations of THE WICKED AND THE DIVINE 1831 Special
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In the early 2010s, Image comics began one of its most prolific, critically acclaimed, and high selling eras since its founding. High-profile creators began beloved series like SAGA, BLACK SCIENCE, DEADLY CLASS, EAST OF WEST, SEX CRIMINALS, BITCH PLANET, and more. One of those series was THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, from writer Kieron Gillen, artist Jamie McKelvie, colorist Matt Wilson, and letterer Clayton Cowles. It was one of the first series I got into during college, when I actually had money to spend for myself.
Last year marked the 10-year anniversary of its publication, and I wanted to commemorate my love of this series with a gift only I could provide: too many words. I'll be annotating the entire series with the end in mind, so SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW. You can show your appreciation for this hard work and get me to write more consistently by supporting me on Patreon or giving me a one-time tip here. I was recently laid off, so anything you can do is even more appreciated than usual. 1831 AD is the first historical special, collected in the 8th trade paperback, Old is the New New. In this issue, drawn by guest artist Stephanie Hans, a prior pantheon creates Frankenstein's monster? As always, thanks to Kieron Gillen for providing his Writer's Notes that have been a major source for these annotations.
Corrections and Addenda from last week
N/A
Solicitation
“MODERN ROMANCE” Critically-acclaimed THE WICKED + THE DIVINE goes back to the nineteenth century, to see what became of the Romantic poets one infamous night on Lake Geneva… Showcasing STEPHANIE HANS (Journey Into Mystery, Angela), this special is NOT included in the forthcoming THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, VOL. 4.
How commercial, to have to devote solicit space to note that this wasn't collected for a while. The quoted reference to (presumably?) Bowie comes back in issue.
Covers
A Cover - Jamie McKelvie Woden and Lucifer
We first see these two (and the Morrigan as an allusion to Percy Bysshe Shelley) way back on page 15 of issue # 2, in the National Portrait Gallery. Thankfully, we've seen all of the cover gods before, so I don't need to explain their mythological antecedents here. Check out issue # 14 for a background on Woden and issue # 1 for Lucifer, if you so desire. Both gods are in different outfits than their original appearance, which makes sense, as people who aren't superheroes often wear different outfits, I've learned. Some other elements were changed as well, such as making Woden's head-wings a golden metal and refining the monocle alongside it. We further get the detail that at least one of Woden's ravens is mechanical. Even if the 2010s Woden is faking it, 1830s Woden is not. I love Lucifer's wind-swept hair mimicking devil horns. They are drawn at the main setting of this issue, Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. More on that later.
B Cover - Olly Moss Inanna and Lucifer
Inanna here is a riff on Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley's step-sister. This is essentially a scene from the book, where Inanna and Lucifer are intimate. For more information on the mythological Inanna, check out my notes on issue # 6. I'll take this moment to note that Gillen is at pains in his notes to stress that these are more allusions to historical personages than analogues. Just as 2010s Lucifer is not David Bowie and 2010s Inanna not Prince, 1830s Lucifer is not Lord Byron and 1830s Inanna isn't Claire Clairmont.
"Recap" Page
Yet another pantheon's icon circle! We haven't seen a different one since issue # 1, with the opening flashback to the 1920s pantheon. Again, as far as I can tell, the placement of the gods in the circle doesn't mean anything in particular. The gods aren't in the same place from one incarnation to the next, and neither is the pretend god. The icons and skulls are also drawn in a crosshatched style that to me evokes the woodcuts of someone like Gustave Dore, who did illustrations for a printing of the Vulgate Bible and Dante's DIVINE COMEDY.
Page 1
Panel 1
In the 1830s analogues, Hades is evocative of John Keats. Specifically, Gillen cites inspiration from his partner and editor Chrissy Williams showing him this poem:
This living hand, now warm and capable
Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold
And in the icy silence of the tomb,
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights
That thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again,
And thou be conscience-calm’d–see here it is–
I hold it towards you.
This then evokes the classic cover of FLASH # 163, and its inversion, THE MULTIVERSITY: ULTRA COMICS # 1, themselves both referenced on this page and its dialog.
Page 2
Panel 5
Ananke's "I love you. I'll miss you." never gets less haunting. Given Hades' state, I assume she says it for herself. Maybe, in her abusive and twisted mind, she does think she'll miss the pantheons.
Page 3
And now Hades is a skull.
Gillen says "Modern Romance" is a Bowie reference, but the song is "Modern Love." Romance is a reference to these figures, the standard bearers for the art movement Romanticism. MODERN ROMANCE is the name of a 1981 romantic comedy directed by and starring Albert Brooks, but I think that's a coincidence.
Gillen says the date was chosen because it "is the same as the night where the real events of the villa happened," but that isn't correct. March 11 is the date when the first edition of FRANKENSTEIN, OR, THE MODERN PROMETHUS was published (according to some sources. Others I've found say January 1) in 1818. The year, 1831, was the year the first "popular" edition was published, on Halloween no less. This is also, according to Gillen, the first edition where the Lake Geneva creation myth was published as an introduction to that edition.
Page 4
Panel 1
Now that we have reached said site, I will expound a bit on the creation of FRANKENSTEIN (the book, and not the monster). As the story goes, in 1816, Lord Byron, Percy Shelly, Mary Godwin (not yet married to Shelly), Claire Clairmont (Mary's step-sister and lover of Byron), and Byron's doctor John William Polidori, who has no analogue in this issue, traveled to Laek Geneva, where Byron had rented the Villa Diodati. Kept inside by rain, the 5 read ghost stories, such as the collection FANTASMAGORIANA. Byron proposed they each write a ghost story of their own. After a few days without inspiration, Mary was plagued by an image during the night of a scientist or alchemist looking at his assembled creation on a lab table, only for the creature to begin to stir. This image, made eternal both by the novel and its many cinematic adaptations, became FRANKENSTEIN. Of note also is that Polidori took a fragment of a story Byron wrote to create THE VAMPYRE, considered the first work of modern vampire fiction.
The captions themselves are, in universe, written by Inanna, as evidenced by their scroll shape. This is an allusion to FRANKENSTEIN, which is an epistolary novel. The first caption, mentioning "the year without light," is a reference to the real life "year without a summer," also 1816. The predominant hypothesis is that the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, the largest volcanic eruption in at least 1300 years, caused a global cooling event, the coldest summer on record from 1766 to present day. This may have been a contributor to the dreary rain.
Page 5
Panel 2
Lucifer here has a cloven left foot. The traditional image of a satyr, and specifically the Greek god Pan, were incorporated by Christians into depictions of Satan because of their lasciviousness. This is also a reference to the real Lord Byron, who was born with some sort of foot deformity. This cause him lifelong pain, a limp, and psychological discomfort.
Page 6
Panel 1
The first panel features what in film is called a Dutch Angle. That is where the top and bottom of the frame, or in this case, panel, are not parallel with the horizon. It creates the feeling that something is off, like what you would see as you are falling down or fainting. The use here, for the appearance of Ananke, is apt.
Panel 2
The reference to "shared secrets" is (if I am remembering some future issue correctly) an allusion to Inanna being a fake god, the same way Woden is in the 2010s. Narratively, however, Inanna is in many ways similar to Laura / Persephone, initially passed over and jealous of the gods and also dealing with self-hatred.
Page 7
Panel 2
"She who walks without beauty" is of course a reference Byron's poem "She Walks In Beauty," itself referenced often and the inspiration of much music.
"Helping hand" is a major groan-inducing Kieron Gillen pun. He can't keep getting away with this.
"The Angel of Soho" is a reference to William Blake, made more clear in the following panel. He was born in Soho and from a young age claimed to have visions of angels. Blake was a poet and visual artist of this era, arguably working in the field of comics with his illustrated books like THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, the prints colored by his wife Catherine. He also inspired many people, such as Alan Moore. Blake notably created his own mythology, complete with original deities, theosophies, and doctrines.
Panel 3
Urizen, Enitharmon, and Orc are all figures in Blake's mythos. Urizen is a figure of reason and law, one of four Emanations of the original divine man Albion. He was drawn with tools as a creator of the universe, but villainous, a demiurgic devil. Enitharmon, another deity in Blake's pantheon, is the Queen of Heaven, both a symbol of beauty or poetic inspiration and of female domination. Her child, Orc, is the enemy of Urizen. He stands for ultimate freedom, rebellion, and revolution. The progression of the Blake stand in from angel to reason to sexuality to revolution tracks more or less onto the development of the real life William Blake from his childhood to adulthood and beyond.
Panel 4
Lucifer believes "this night will be eternal." The two-year life span of the gods is of course a compressed version of the fate we are all given, and the desire for immortality one of the oldest and most universal. In the end, Lucifer does help make the night eternal, but only by setting the stage for Woden.
Page 8
Panel 2
And here we meet Woden and Morrigan properly for the first time. Certain elements are retained across pantheons, like Morrigan's crows and Woden's technology. But their personalities could not be further apart.
Here is some of the design work McKelvie did for Morrigan and Inanna.
Page 9
Panel 1
Gillen insists that his research shows Percy "was a fucking idiot who didn't seem to quite understand why his wife may be a bit down after losing three kids." That certainly is reflected in his depiction.
Panel 4
The "gallows" that Woden is god of are a reference to Woden, who is said to have hung from a tree (most likely the world-tree Yggdrasil) for nine days and nights in order to gain wisdom.
Page 10
Panel 2
Lucifer here has a skull-shaped goblet, as did the real Byron.
Panel 3
Here, the four turn to stories, like their real-life inspirations.
Panel 5
Only, their stories are autobiographical and not of ghosts, monsters, and vampires. Gillen in his notes mentions that Mary's mother was the feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft, who already has a WicDiv connection to which he'll give a thumbs up to those who notice. I already mentioned, back in issue # 11, that Innana's worship ceremony takes place at Stoke Newington Unitarian Church, a rebellious institution to England's national Church. As a reminder, the most famous minister, Dr. Richard Price, preached on the rights of women, one of the inspirations of its most famous member, Mary Wollstonecraft. Excited for my special WicDiv thumbs up, Mr. Kieron Gillen.
Page 11
Panel 1
Though there is some debate on the matter, it is possible Claire and Percy were sexually involved. She definitely was jealous of Percy and her step-sister Mary, especially of their talent and reputation. Claire did encourage the others' romance.
Panel 4
It is notable that we don't see the flashback of Inanna's ascention. As I mentioned before, she is not a truly a god, just as is true of 2010s Woden, and is jealous of the gods, as is true of Laura.
Page 12
Panel 1
Gillen notes a fun quirk of comics as time objects here. The flirty dialog, read first up top, gives way to the image of angry Woden. Comics aren't truly, as is often supposed, snapshots of a moment in time, but depictions of time themselves.
Panel 5
The three children that die in this sequence are based in fact, though, as Gillen admits, the timeline is a bit compressed. Further, they did have one surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. They also relate tangentially in to future developments in the series. It is implied later on (incorrectly) that if Persephone were to give birth, the cycle would end. Though this is Woden and not Persephone, it certainly rhymes. It also references another future event, though that reveal comes later this issue.
Page 13
Panel 5
Woden refers to herself as a "dead woman". Obviously this references all of their impending deaths, but it also serves as part of the FRANKENSTEIN allusions, as she is in a sense part of the dead body that brings new life into being.
Page 14
Panel 3
I like my wine chilled, but Woden might be taking it a bit far.
Panel 5
The Lonely Sisters, another triple goddess, are a reference to the famed Brontës, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Though they themselves were from Yorkshire, this is also a reference to WUTHERING HEIGHTS, the novel not the song, by Emily. In the novel, Mr. Lockwood has a nightmare where the ghost of Catherine begs to enter through the window, like the sisters in this panel. This scene is also referenced in Stephen King's novel SALEM'S LOT. The three Brontë sisters all died relatively young and left no heirs, as did their older two sisters who never made it to adulthood and their brother, so their family house might also have been empty. Gillen and this issue's artist Stephanie Hans will reference the Brontës again in their later series DIE, particularly in issues # 4, 9, and 12. The name "The Lonely Sisters" might be a reference to a statue in the British Museum unofficially called "The Lonely Sister" due to it being the only one of a set of six carytids looted from the Parthenon and not returned.
Page 15
Panel 1
Morpheus here is a reference to poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In an infamous story, Coleridge says he, under the influence of opium, had a dream in which he composed several hundred lines of poetry about Kublai Khan. Upon awaking, he began writing them down. Partway through, he was interrupted by a knock at the door by a man on business from Porlock, after which he could not remember the original ending to his poem "Kubla Khan." Aptly, Morpheus is the god of sleep and dreams in Greek myth. He is perhaps most famous in comics as being the titular lead in THE SANDMAN.
Panel 2
"The real mystery" of "what became of Thoth in Paris," is a mix of several Edgar Allen Poe references. A loose ape in Paris is the murderer revealed at the end of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," which is considered the first modern detective story. The taking of the heart of a murder victim is, naturally, a reference to "The Telltale Heart." Finally, the character is depicted as a raven because of Poe's famous poem, "The Raven." This is also the reason for his deity being Thoth, the ancient Egyptian deity with the head of an Ibis and associated with the moon, writing, magic, and judgment.
Panel 3
Hestia, with her "pride of suitors," is a reference to Jane Austen and her novel PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The deity is the Greek goddess of hearth and home, I presume a reference to the domesticity of Austen's novels.
Perun is an allusion to someone very unfamiliar to me, Alexander Pushkin. Thankfully, someone has already gone so in depth in to analyzing this ten word sentence as to put even these annotations to same. Maya Garcia, for Graphic Policy, explains that "Pushkin is the All-Father of the Modern Russian Literary Language," thus, the reference to "pure language." He died from wounds sustained during a duel, like his analogue here "raging from his guts." Perun, the article also explains, is a Slavic sky-god, the supreme deity in his pantheon. While little remains of Slavic myth due to their lack of a writing system until Christian missionaries invented one to spread the gospel, the article concludes by drawing out an interesting comparison: the other major sky god in this series is Baal. Like him, Pushkin was also Black, the great grandson of African Abraham Hannibal. Both characters, thus, are instances of the trope of Black superheroes with lightning powers. This could be complicated by bringing in the (at the time unknown) reveal that Baal is actually a sun deity and his lightning powers are due to Woden's technology. Anyways, the whole article is worth reading.
Page 16
Panel 5
Lucifer makes explicit his desire for immortality here.
Panel 6
It is interesting that in this pantheon, it seems these four do not suspect Anake greatly. Woden takes her at her word that this "necromancy" is inadvisable.
Page 17
Panel 2
"Freedom, anarchy, love," were all principles the real Shelley lived by. He was a student of William Godwin, Mary's father and Claire's step-father. Godwin was one of, if not the, first modern proponents of Anarchism. Further, Shelley believed in free love, what today might be called ethical non-monogamy.
Panel 3
Godwin also apparently believed in the possibility of physical, earthly immortality.
Panel 6
Inanna writing that she was "entirely Ananke's creature" seems to confirm my memory that she is a fake god.
Page 18
Panel 1
Do I need to tell you that this is a reference to the creature's reanimation in FRANKENSTEIN? And, as Gillen lampshades in his writer's notes, "every big structuralist comic has to have a naked blue dude," in allusion to WATCHMEN, a major touchpoint of this series.
Page 19
Panel 1
"I will be Lucifer or I will be nothing at all," is both a tragic, Faustian bargain and, Gillen mentions, an allusion to a fragmentary poem by Byron.
When, to their airy hall, my father's voice
Shall call my spirit, joyful in their choice;
When, poised upon the gale, my form shall ride,
Or, dark in mist, descend the mountains side;
Oh! may my shade behold no sculptured urns,
To mark the spot where earth to earth returns!
No lengthen'd scroll, no praise-encumber'd stone;
My epitaph shall be my name alone:
If that with honour fail to crown my clay,
Oh! may no other fame my deeds repay!
That, only that, shall single out the spot;
By that remember'd, or with that forgot.
Byron wanted to attain an immortality in the sense that his name would live on in history. So far, so good.
Panel 2
Morrigan here references Shelley's most famous poem, "Ozymandias." In addition to being another WATCHMEN allusion, it is an apt choice given this issue and indeed this series's focus on immortality. Shelley writes of a statue of Ozymandias, or Ramses II, famed pharaoh of Egypt, that was being brought to England. The statue is marked by the phrase, "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair," inverted by Morrigan's dialog, an ironic caption given the statue's place in the midst of a vast and empty desert. What works that humans are capable of will last the test of time, if even the great Ramses II is pharaoh of an empty kingdom? By inverting the real poem, Gillen emphasizes just how much of a big dummy Morrigan is.
Page 20
Panel 2
In our world, Byron died as part of a plot to free Greece from the control of the Ottoman empire. He planned to attack the fortress of Lepanto, strategic for its location at the river mouth feeding in to the Gulf of Corinth. Before the war party could set sail, Byron caught a cold, had some blood let, and died of a fever. His death is reflected here in his exsanguination and release of smoke.
Page 21
Panel 1
Shelley died of drowning. He and some other inexperienced sailors were caught in a storm on the poorly made boat ,the Don Juan. His remains were found, identified, and burned, but apparently his heart did not light. It was calcified. An ironic ending for the Romantic who cared about passion and love. This rocky heart was buried by Mary. Here, the creature kills Morrigan by sucking air bubbles out of his lungs, like a drowning.
Page 22
Panel 1
"Be not afraid" is the classic thing angels say in the Bible right after scaring someone half to death. Here, it retains that sense of dread.
Panel 2
I'm not a FRANKENSTEIN expert, so take this with a grain of salt. But, throughout the novel, the being is called a "creature," here mirrored by Woden's use of "created," and opposed to "monster," as he is called by Inanna here and the Doctor his creator in the novel. In addition to being the novel's references to alchemy and the occult, it adds a gnostic (as popularly used) sense to things. An imperfect, or indeed evil, creator who makes an imperfect and suffering creation.
Panel 3
Fans of this series are likely to interpret this panel for its plot significance, as the creature plays a part in the 1920s and 2010s pantheon. But, within this story, the creature is also a stand-in for the symbols and themes. The creature, part of Lucifer and Morrigan's attempts at immortality, does achieve something akin to it even as they die. But, it takes on Woden's form, and she, the one who has accepted her impending death, lives on the most. On the level of the authorial symbols, Woden's Mary Shelley outlives Percy and Byron through her writing of FRANKENSTEIN. Through her artistic output, she has become the "Great Man of History" (sexism intended ironically) Byron so desired to be, her name alone a sufficient epigraph.
Page 23
Panel 2
Now, at the end, might be a good time to mention how beautifully Hans uses color. While never straying into the purely abstract, one can tract the moment to moment emotions of the story entirely by the colors dominating any scene. Here, the reds of Lucifer make way for Woden's naturalistic blues.
Panel 4
And lest you think this is going to be a nod to THE AWAKENING, the new gestalt being freezes the lake so they can walk across it.
Page 24
Panel 3
Because the pantheons are not one to one, here Inanna becomes Baal (though the reader doesn't know it yet). She is the one who killed Woden and Morrigan's three children, all for Ananke and in order to pretend at godhood.
Panel 4
In case it wasn't clear that this is a new being, neither Woden nor Hades, even though it looks mostly like Woden, it has Hades' hand.
Page 25
Panel 1
Claire Clairmont was indeed pregnant with Lord Byron's child. In fact, in the real world, she bore their daughter, though Byron was a terrible father. He placed her with foster families until she died at age five due to illness.
Panel 3
"You are not my sister," is loaded on many levels. The creature is not Woden. Both in the story and in real life, the two women were step-sisters. And the creature denies the familial connection because of Inanna's evil.
This, of course, is also an allusion to the ending of FRANKENSTEIN, where the creature sails off into the ocean.
Page 26
Panel 2
The references to Lucifer's corpse and Morrigan's ashes and heart are both based in the truth of their real-life inspiration.
Panel 4
The interrupted journal allows for a subtle and clever joke. The daughter of Claire and Byron was initially named Alba, by Claire. However, when Byron took custody of the child, he renamed her to Allegra, the name by which she is known to history. By ending the proposed name at "Al--," the moment hangs in ambiguity.
Page 27
Panel 3
No one escapes death. Though, perhaps, Ananke should listen to her own advice. And it might behoove 2010 Woden to learn how Ananke's aide fared.
Page 28
The real Claire did die on March 19, though a good many years after this.
The caption, "Of the devil's party," comes from William Blake's description of John Milton. Many have wondered why the character of Satan feels so sympathetic in PARADISE LOST. Blake wrote, "The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it." Though Lucifer is traditionally the devil, here it is a bit more ambiguous, as the most demonic figure here is Ananke.
Backmatter
None this issue!
Back Cover Quote
There are actually, for the first time, two different back cover quotes, depending on the cover. For the A Cover, we get a Woden quote.
"YOU WILL GO ON LONG AFTER WE ARE GONE." - WODEN -
And on the B Cover, an Inanna quote, though I don't have access to this cover. Please, if you bought this cover, tell me what quote is on the back so I can perfect my annotations.
And that is the conclusion to my annotation of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE # 1831 AD. Did I miss anything in those, lord, 4600 words? That's the most ever, other than the silly work I did for the remix issue. Are you named Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, Clayton Cowles, Hannah Donovan, Chrissy Williams, Sergio Serrano, or most importantly this issue, Stephanie Hans, and would like to correct the record on anything? Comment below! I will issue any corrections in the next annotation and add a note on this one. See you soon for issue 23.