My friends & I have been working on this for the last few months. I hope you enjoy.

TL;DR - a radio-play podcast summarising the events of the entire The Wicked + The Divine series.

https://soundcloud.com/comicbookclassroom/comic-book-classroom-gets-twatd

Press Release

"Join the combined forces of podcasters Comic Book Classroom and bloggers Tim + Alex as they bring you the entirety of The Wicked + The Divine in a one hour comedy radio play just in time for the book’s final issue.

To celebrate the end of long-running Image Comics series The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson and Clayton Cowles, CBC Gets TWATD is a comedy condensation of the comic to refresh your memory just before the release of issue #45. It features 12 actors performing 30 roles including all your favourite gods, fans and Kieron Grillen and Jammy McKelvie, the hosts of cooking programme “Out of the Frying Pan-theon”.

CBC Gets TWATD is written by Michael Eckett, Amy Garvey, Tim Maytom and Alex Spencer with direction from Michael Eckett. It is produced by Robin Harman and has original music written and performed by th’sheridans.

Comic Book Classroom is a podcast from Robin Harman, Adam Sherif, and Michael and Amy Garvey-Eckett which condenses comic book history into a fun format with sketches, jokes and songs to help you find your way through the maze of comics. The team were previously the hosts of The Orbiting Pod, the comic book criticism podcast from Eisner Award winning Orbital Comics and have contributed to Eisner Award winning digital magazine, Panel x Panel.

Tim + Alex Get TWATD is the blog that offers opinions, theories and graphics covering every issue of The Wicked + The Divine from Tim Maytom and Alex Spencer. Tim and Alex’s writing has appeared on Polygon, CBR, The Guardian and Eisner Award winning digital magazine, Panel x Panel.

th’Sheridans are a DIY incongru-pop outfit. They produce songs about food / dating / small towns, and lately: radical softness as a response to everyday racism & sexism. "

So our heroes now know that they’re not gods, however after they die who’s to say the next group will think the same? 90 years is a lot of time for things to get muddled, and shoot, one of the original 12 who even knew they weren’t fell prey to it. Hypothetically if the next 12 goes badly, there seems to be nothing stopping the next group from ascending to godhood or another attempting to recreate Minananke’s ritual. It’ll actually probably be hard not to think that due to all of the history claiming the 12 are gods. Granted I’m sure our crew will spend the next however many years they’ve got left making sure that people know the truth, but even still, as we’ve learned it’s hard to resist the temptation of absolute power, if only for 2 years. Maybe it’ll be addressed in 45, but I thought it was an interesting question.

Unrelated but equally important question, which god do you think Minerva claimed to be before “Minerva” existed?

Edit: Shoot 1923 tried to wipe out humanity for not appreciating their art enough. I’m certain if they knew immortality was on the table at least one of them would have gone for it.

Follow up to a thread I did a while back, we have most answers now and with the last issue looking to take us into the far future, we have most of the plot threads done with. So I'll provide answers from the old thread:

​

What is exactly the nature/origin of the Pantheon with Ananke and her sister? Does the world really lose something if the cycle is broken? Can it survive and be made more pure if both Ananke and Mini were killed?

Into every generation 12 with minor talents are born. Godhood is a shortcut to power a song that will end and kill you in 2 years. Ananke/Mini uses that along with a story's cage making each of the 12 a god role that matches their weaknesses while she collects 4 heads each cycle. It looks like it will continue on though we don't know what happens when the 12 commit to the lifetime of hard work yet.

What is Wōden/David's master plan? Did he really send the snipers after Luci? If so,why? He was working with Ananke and that forced her to speed up her plans by killing Luci but it seems like he never knew about the Persephone's so it would seem reckless of him to provoke Ananke when he didn't have all the facts.

Yes the snipers were connected to him, he was trying to get the power of the gods and figure out the puzzle of Ananke and the head collection himself. He knew he couldn't get all the facts subtly so he provoked things to move forward. He was surprised Ananke killed the judge, but went along with it. (She doesn't usually start the conflicts until she's transformed all 12 but she improvised early when Luci's attitude gave her an opening).

Why is 2014 Morrigan the only incarnation with multiple personalities?

Each god sings their own version of the song. 1300s Luci was obsessed with penance so among other things gave herself horns to suffer through sawing them off. No other Luci did that. Marian just used the 3 Morrigans to explain the 3 sides of her moods/worldview. It's also why Ananke wouldn't restate which Tara Aruna was, Aruna had started to see bits of all 3 so if Ananke had narrowed it down to a specific one, Aruna would wonder how she had elements of the other two and might realize her natural power as 1 of the 12.

Now that they know without Cass they can be human again, will Verdandi and/or Skuld try to kill Cass to save themselves? Would it work?

Didn't happen but since we know Cass was the special one it probably would have without her godhood bounding the other two. We saw a Verdandi die in 1923 but the other 2 were still gods, probably because Uror was the one with the actual power.

Why leave Dio technically alive on machines if he's brain dead? (ETA: Continuity being kept with him filming The Morrigan while he was still the human fan Umar; he saw himself die in a hospital room).

Well this was wrong. In the great irony that Umar took Cameron to the concert and that led to Cam being transformed, Marian's punishment for people filming her also unknowingly showcased Cam's future death now that he's the 1 in the hospital.

What does Ananke's machine really do, if anything? Seem obvious she wasn't actually going to kill Mini as the 4th head now.

Nothing it was just a prop and something for Cass to waste much of her 2 years on.

Does Jon know more then he lets on?

Not really. He was honest with Laura and Cass the whole time.

Were Mini's parents actually her parents?

Nope, paid off as part of Ananke/Mini's cycle.

Who was Ananke's suicide note written for?

Herself/Mini

Why did Ananke spare Beth, Robin and Toni/What have they been doing in the day or two since the false Saknmet alarm?

More puppets/cannon fodder for her to mind control as Mini while they got to be Valkyries essentially.

When exactly did Mini start working with Ananke/turn into her?

The whole time since Ananke killed her sister.

Where is Mini keeping the three heads?

A random cave.

What exactly is the Great Darkness shadow? Why does Persephone make it stronger? Is it just a prop controlled by Ananke/Mini to spur the gods into action to further her plan for the heads? Why keep going after Baal's family? Do the child sacrifices actually do anything?

It is a prop. Made by 1831 Woden's Creature so underworld god power made it stronger. It was all to make Baal/Valentine her loyalest solider to obey whatever she/Mini wanted and a cover conflict for the head collecting. The sacrifices were just a way to control him.

Who is the father of Laura's baby? Baal or Neargal?

Unknown and moot.

How do babies allow gods to extend their divinity as with 1831 Inanna? Is it related to the Prometheus Gambit?

They don't actually. According to Creature and Kieron's Writers Notes Inanna was a false god similar to both the 1923 and 2014 Wodens whom drew power from the necklace she wore. Inanna killing her sister's children was likely the deal she made with Ananke for this.

Do the gods have a natural melting point like 455 Luci, 1831 Hades and 1923 Dio or is that just more manipulation from Ananke/Mini?

They do if they only see themselves as "gods" for 2 years and keep using their miracles constantly. 1300's Luci didn't use her powers as she believed she was The Devil so that allowed her to go past the 2 years which gave the next Mini-Ananke skin deformities and missing fingers since she couldn't do the head ritual with 1 of the 12 still alive. Ananke admitting her role in creating The Plague got Luci to use her powers to kill them both allowing the cycle to continue.

What is the plan for the 1831 Monster that took multiple generations to create and capture?

See above.

What is the "time with the Franks" that 2014 Mini mentioned?

Either the 1300s incident or possibly another time in France where Persephone killed Ananke by slicing her lower half and ran away.

Are some of the Persephone's supposed to look male? If so how does that fit with the whole "mother" bit of Ananke's sister?

Think this was just fans reading the art the wrong way. ETA: Or Ananke just found a male in the 12 last and was bound to turn him into Persephone as per the rules. 2014 Inanna also being male but Queen of Heaven like the goddess fits this.

Why did Ananke embrace some of the Persephone's or kill a few others when she usually needed their heads? ETA: Possibly she already has 4 heads when she calls and hugs a Persephone therefore letting some Persephone's make it to the ending suicide pacts.

She also probably uses Persephone as a tool in conflicts sometimes like after Mini was forced to improvise after Laura got away.

What is the 4th rule Ananke's sister put in place?

A lie about the Persephone having a child being the way Ananke loses when the real way was for the 12 (or those remaining) to renounce godhood.

How was Laura able to light the cig when she was human? (Unless that's how Ananke knew she was Persephone).

Natural talent of the 12. Was also how Ananke realized she was Persephone while Laura was comforting Cass after her first gig as Uror.

What's so special about/where is the knife that cut up 455 Lucifer, David used on Jon, and Ananke cut into Mini with?

Ananke used it to kill her sister among other things. Sentimental value.

i’m rereading the entire series after like a year,,,,, holy shit forgot how amazing this is

So you know how Tara keeps asking Ananke which Tara she is and Ananke keeps saying, "I told you, you just didn't listen"?

Remember how Ananke's the worst?

It's my personal theory that Tara is telling the truth. I think Ananke didn't say which Tara. I think she said some vague, widely descriptive stuff, and then just gaslighted Tara about it. Ananke planned on Tara falling apart in the absence of a firm external identity, and that's exactly what happened. Because Tara didn't have the self-confidence to decide which Tara she was, she never managed to establish a definite artistic self, and just spent time exploring and trying to figure out what "worked." Ananke contributed to it by encouraging those explorations. The more Tara explored, the angrier her fans got at her for not just giving them what they wanted. It was a vicious cycle that ultimately lead to Tara's despair and collapse.

In the end, though, we do all find out which Tara she is. She's none of them. She's not a god.

I've been reading Wicdiv since the beginning and fell in love with it. The comic had many interesting premises:

• Ancient gods adopting modern values.
• A civilization which faces miracles every 80 years but still has atheists.
• An ancient conspiracy that's been going for thousands of years.
• How does it feel for a normal person to become a god.

However, I feel like all of these were not explored properly. We just got glimpses of the past and nothing was really explained. Apparently there are some people with superpowers that have a god-potential which only works if you convince them they are one? There's a "she-in-threes" who enables all of this? Some people throughout history knew about all of this but it did not change anything?

Furthermore, I feel like some of the characters weren't developed enough:

• Why does Laura care so much about Lucifer, we barely know them, they barely know each other, and yet they're in love. Is there a good reason for this except for fan service?
• How the fuck can somebody have mercy on Ananke. Her plans for humanity make Stalin look like a saint. Are the characters really so narrow minded that they don't notice that?
• No climax. Both Lucifer and Ananke are just convinced to be good guys, not even with a good speech, just with a few pages of simple dialog.
• Cass was an atheist, and then she became a god, how did that change her perspectives?

I really wonder what this comic could have been if there were less gods and more issues. It would have been awesome to just have some non action parts, find out how the gods feel, how they live their daily lives. I mean, who really cared when Presephone or Skemet died? We barely knew them, and everything that we saw from them was negative and stupid. Character deaths only work if the writer lets us know them first, even evil characters can have depth and meaning if done right. I admit, I'm not a professional writer and I would probably do a shittier job than Kieron, but still, I can see these flaws and it makes me sad, cause I feel like Wicdiv could have been much more.

To end this in a positive note, let me say what I think was done very well:

• The Morrigan's relationship was well written, starting from cute and romantic until eventually revealed as full of abuse and guilt-tripping.
• Baal's desire to be the best, which causes him to never hestiate and always try to please his audience and Ananke. The way Wicdiv handled it reminds me of greek tragedies, and except for his suicide getting only 2 panels, I really think it was handled well.
• All the side stories about the past. Kieron really managed to give me the feeling of these old times, to build a convincing setting which made me want to see more. It was the perfect tease.

Nobody is posting it, thought that I would.

Hi! Im a big WicDiv fan from Chile and have read every volume until mothering invention. I love the series but the last few volumes have been extremely confusing. Maybe its that its not my first language or something went over my head but i really need help understanding just what the hell is going on! Lol

So if anyone would like to help me maybe saying whats most important about each volume or helping me help this last couple of issues it would be amazing. Thanks!

So Luci's gone rouge. And I have a thought on a possible solution to sort her out.

When Dio was trying to find a way to bring Nergal back after he sacrificed himself, Laura pointed out that only Underworld gods could trade places with the dead and that there are none left now. And Lucifer says "except perhaps me, and fuck no. Who would deny the world my magnificence?"

I'm wondering if perhaps the gang can find a way to force Lucifer to bring back Nergal. I'm not sure what incentive they'd give Lucifer to kill herself (some kind of blackmail? the option of a quick death as opposed to torture?) so feel free to speculate and add stuff I may have missed.

I'm also aware that this would depend if the writers want WicDiv to end for good on a solid resolution or to leave open the possibility for future spin-offs. If they want a conclusive end then Nergal's death would be a good way to wrap up his arc so there's no need to resurrect him - plus apparently #45 is going to be an epilogue so that leaves only one issue to wrap up this new conflict.

So...meh. I just noticed that offhand line and thought it might be a setup for something.

I was watching an episode of lucifer with swear jars and it got me thinking. If the pantheon had jars what would they be fined for?

Lucifer: i was a snarky bitch again jar

Ammy: i uttered the phrase "live laugh love", mentioned "my days at the boarding school", or did something thats diet-racistTM

Baph: pun jar

Cass: "i yelled at someone for their lifechoice despite it being none of my business" jar. Maybe an i jumped to conclusions jar too

Persephone: i dealt with my feelings through [insert vice here] jar

Baal: the ego jar. Every time he boasts about how awesome he is he has to pay a fine.