This continues to be absolutely wild, confusing, and fascinating.

This volume took a while to get going and was a lot of setting up for the continuing story, so I was a little cooler on it for a while, but, gee, does it end on a bang and I can't wait to pick up the next volume. ( )

This second volume I didn't like any more than the first! The plot if anything got more confusing (new gods just discovered out of nowhere) and Laura more annoying!

It's still fine.. the art gorgeous, but I just wasn't that entertained. It's not for me!

I won't be picking up volume 3! ( )

I have so many feelings about this book and the issue that ends it, but I almost never put out straight narrative arc spoilers in my reviews. Though it must be said, while I knew dark things were coming and the right things were being investigated, I did not expect where the last issues of this one went. I actually found myself gasping in surprise.

I liked the way this book went still, both as fall out and as a dénouement between the first explosive series and whatever thing we were walking in. Color me equally parts deeply curious and warily interested in how this progresses after that climactic ending choice. I continue to love the way the gods are displayed and how body gender/self-sexual interest is not a reflection of any of the above but the people who end up with those lives just as much.

( )

This review covers the first two volumes at once.

The idea of the comic is that the pantheon of gods is real, and groups of them are periodically reincarnated every ninety years, but die within two. In the 2010s, the gods are pop stars, giving magically charged performances across Britain that result in enormous crowds of admirers. The first couple volumes follow an ordinary human girl named Laura, aged seventeen, who is a hardcore fan of the Pantheon. Laura ends up involved with the gods, and when the god Lucifer is accused of murder, she tries to prove Lucifer's innocence, alongside cynical journalist Cassandra, and discovers there's a dark conspiracy afoot, and a dark side to both pop idols and fandom.

Like a lot of Kieron Gillen that I've read, I admire it more than enjoy it. I liked Laura, but I struggled to keep track of the large cast of god characters; I really liked the art by Jamie McKelvie, but still didn't feel emotionally connected to anyone. There's a lot of technical proficiency here, but not a lot of heart. And yet, clearly, other people love it. I wonder if it's because they care about music in the way that I don't; the literalization of the pop-idol-as-god metaphor is clearly where a lot of this story's power derives from, and I've just never felt that way about a musician. And the style of fandom it evokes is often a more modern one, I think, the kind that thrives on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, whereas I am a guy who still mostly participates in fandom via what used to be called BBSes!

Still, I am interested enough to keep reading. Jamie McKelvie really brings these characters to life. I look forward to the day I finally get around to reading something like Young Avengers by him, which I think will have a much lower level of buy-in for me, given I like superheroes a lot more than pop stars. There are good twists and neat layouts here, and maybe (as often happens with ongoing comics) the cumulative effect of reading this will end up grabbing me over time.

This builds from the last volume, and Laura gets pulled further into the gods' world. After Luci's death, she becomes a mini-celebrity amongst those who follow the gods, and she becomes friendly with a few more.

And that ending! This volume raised a ton more questions than it answered. I want to know about Ananke! ( )