History ComicBook / TheWickedAndTheDivine

* DeathBySex: The people at [[spoiler: Amaterasu's [=ShinTwo=] party-turned-orgy suffer this, courtesy of Sakhmet.]]

* GenderBender: Lucifer is reincarnated as a girl (who generally goes by Luci and uses female pronouns). Inanna, a female Sumerian goddess, was likewise incarnated as male. The ''1831AD'' one-shot reveals that this wasn't a 21st-century innovation, as the nineteenth-century Morrigan was male and the Woden of the same era female. The montage in Issue 36 depicts a few Persephones who reincarnated as men.

* ADayInTheLimelight: The Commercial Suicide Arc (starting in issue #12) gives focus to different under-developed members of the pantheon in each issue. #12 is Baal, #13 is Tara, #14 is Woden, #15 is Amaterasu, #16 is the Morrigan (and Baphomet), and #17 is Sakhmet.
* AGodAmI: The Pantheon, as part as the DeityOfHumanOrigin theme. Special mention to Amaterasu and Baal, the former who starts a cult and the latter who says he knew he was a god before the ascension.
** AGodIAmNot: [[spoiler: It is discovered this is the true way to break the cycle. After Ananke shows the remaining Pantheon the truth, they realize they had never been actual gods, only pretending to be gods, in a case of YourMindMakesItReal. Lucifer flips this around, since she, Satan, is definitely not a god, she doesn't believe the rules apply to her... until Laura convinces her to stop anyway.]]

Two one-shots were SomethingCompletelyDifferent: collections of shorts done by different artists (and writers, in ''The Funnies''). Included in the ''Old is the New New'' trade.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** Issue #14 is a remix - literally. It takes art used in previous issues [[spoiler: and some from ComicBook/SexCriminals]] and reorganizes, re-dialogues, and reworks it to show the events of the previous two arcs from Woden's perspective.
** #23 takes the form of a magazine about the Pantheon, and therefore has minimal artwork and focuses on the text-only interviews with several Pantheon members.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Luci almost says this word-for-word when talking about Sakhmet being teased with a laser pointer.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Woden is an unrepentant mysogynist, implied to be abusive to his valkyries, and [[spoiler: helps Ananke murder his fellow gods.]] But even ''he'' balks at [[spoiler: [[Wouldn'tHurtAChild sacrificing Minerva,]] and subtly helps the gods trying to stop Ananke from doing so.]]

* GenderBender: Lucifer is reincarnated as a girl (who generally goes by Luci and uses female pronouns). Inanna, a female Sumerian goddess, was likewise incarnated as male. The ''1831AD'' one-shot reveals that this wasn't a 21st-century innovation, as the nineteenth-century Morrigan was male and the Woden of the same era female.

* ''The Funnies'' is a collection of humorous shorts (ranging from LooseCanon to BizarroEpisode), including “The Wicked + The Canine,” by various creator friends. Released November 2018, between ''Mothering Invention'' and ''“Okay”''.


In May 2015 it was announced that Creator/MattFraction and Creator/KellySueDeConnick will be producing a television adaption of the series (as well as the former's comic, ''ComicBook/SexCriminals'') with Creator/{{Universal}}. No creative talent have been attached to the project as of yet.

* RealityEnsues: The power and adoration one gets by becoming a god is enough to convince people to do some very horrible things in order to get the chance to ascend. It convinces two [[spoiler: fans]] to try to kill Lucifer, shooting innocents in the progress, and convinced [[spoiler: 1830s Inanna to agree to murder her sister's children in exchange for ascension.]]
** Most of the gods are not at all happy with their drastically-reduced lifespan, especially poor Minerva, who's ''12''. [[spoiler: She was acting.]]
** Being a god does not mean that you're above the law, as Lucifer finds out. [[spoiler: Also, when Laura/Persephone kills Ananke, the other gods' first thought is how they'll stop her from getting convicted for murder.]]
** The gods are all teenagers of various ages who have been given vast amounts of power and adoration, who can do almost whatever they want, and who have to deal with the shock of their new identities, their reduced lifespans and their responsibilities on top of all their ''other'' problems and already-existing insecurities. The result? Sure, some of them are nice, but a few are complete douchebags.
** The gods are viewed as entertainers, and most people consider their original personalities to not really matter. As a result, when Tara tries to play her own songs and recite her own poetry instead of just performing like everyone else, the crowd turns on her and she gets so much hate that [[spoiler: she gives up and commits suicide by Ananke.]]
** Laura [[spoiler: becomes Persephone, achieving her every wish, and then has to watch as Ananke, a woman she trusted, kills Inanna- Laura's good friend- and Laura's entire family. The poor girl is so shocked and traumatised that she does almost nothing for days afterwards.]]
** [[spoiler: Ananke has known the gods for millennia, is the one who helps them ascend, and is trusted absolutely. So she's in the perfect position to stab them all in the back.]]
** ''Rising Action'' is an arc full of climactic moments and revelations as [[spoiler: the gods battle Ananke. But once that's done, ''Imperial Phase (Part 1)'' is full of the gods having no real idea what to do with their lives apart from party, perform and wait to die- at least until the Great Darkness shows up.]]

* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: Judging by the prologue in issue #1, even if a god lasts two years without dying by somebody else's hand, they must still die in order for the Recurrence to continue. Otherwise [[spoiler: humanity will lose all creativity, apparently.]] In the 455 special, Lucifer lasts the two years and refuses to die. [[spoiler: Over the next two weeks, he goes completely insane and winds up dying via burnout.]]

* InfantImmortality: Defied. The entire point of the recurrence is that the gods are incarnated as young adults, who will die within two years. Minerva, the youngest, will be dead before she's ''fourteen''. [[spoiler: Or will she?]]

* TheReveal: Issue #20 is full of them [[spoiler: Ananke is the one who killed Inanna, Persephone was saved before she could be killed, and Baphomet is actually Nergal.]]

* Hypocrite: [[spoiler: Following Ananke's revelation the Pantheon are not actual gods, the members realize how hypocritical they have been involving their goals. This leads to some of their own internal BrokenAesop regarding their motivations. For example, Cassandra specifically mentions she wanted to disprove the magic of the Pantheon but by becoming one, she could not disprove anything since she ''was'' one]].

* RunningGag: In Issue #7, people trying to give Laura a flyer and her yelling at them to make them stop. She may have wanted to grab one earlier, though, since it was advertising the reveal of Dionysus.

--->'''Woden''': Who's got two thumbs and thirteen Asian girlfriends? '''This shithead'''.

** AGodIAmNot: [[spoiler: It is discovered this is the true way to break the cycle. After Ananke shows the remaining Pantheon the truth, they realize they had never been actual gods, only pretending to be gods, in a case of YourMindMakesItReal. Lucifer flips this around, since she, Satan, is definitely not a god, she doesn't believe the rules apply to her.]]

* AmicableExes: [[spoiler:Laura and Eleanor in the finale.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Luci, who was often billed as almost a {{Deuteragonist}} along with Laura, dies in issue #5.]]
** [[spoiler: And Laura, ostensibly the protagonist and {{Audience Surrogate}} of the series, seemingly dies in issue #11. Inanna, another Pantheon member who features heavily, dies too.]]
** [[spoiler: Tara dies in issue #13, just after she's been properly introduced.]]

* TheBigDamnKiss: [[spoiler: between Laura and Lucifer in issue #44, just as Lucifer is renouncing her godhood.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Minerva's ascension is never depicted, unlike most of the other characters]].