Kickstarting Comics: ‘The Wicked + the Divine: The Covers Version’

Incredibly, The Wicked + the Divine — Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie‘s magnum opus — is 10 years old this month! Time for a celebratory Covers Version funding right now on Kickstarter… 

Bloody hell, time does just fly by, doesn’t it? 10 years ago, Gillen and McKelvie were on an absolute roll. They’d already caused waves with the quite brilliant Phonogram and then brought their style and sass to Marvel, eventually collaborating on the great Young Avengers. And then came The Wicked + The Divine in 2014. It was just the perfect comic for the time, clever, witty, knowing, beautiful, and a totally engaging read of a world of popstars and deities. Seriously, if you haven’t, you really should. It’s 51 issues that you shouldn’t be without.

As for what it’s about, it goes something like this…

‘Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critically thermonuclear floor-fillers Young Avengers and Phonogram reunite to start a new ongoing superhero fantasy. Welcome to The Wicked + The Divine, where gods are the ultimate pop stars. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.’

Oh, and if you haven’t read it and you want a real treat – Image Comics have the first issue to read online. Go, enjoy. I’ll wait.

Anyway, 10 years, great comic, top of their game creators, books still available… but to commemorate the occasion, they’ve putting together a Kickstarter for a big coffee-table art book of all the covers – The Wicked + the Divine: The Covers Version. It should be a rather damn fine looking thing, as McKelvie and colourist Matt Wilson really did hit a real highpoint of making covers for the series that just absolutely popped. Plus there’s a host of other artists who did amazing things on variant covers on the like.

.And that’s just a few of them.

The tiers all start with the standard book at £40. But even then it’s all a bit special. All 126 covers in a super-sized hardback format (240mm x 320mm or 9.44″ x 12.59″) with extra material including Gillen writing an introduction to the book and McKelvie explaining his thinking behind each arc of the covers and showing how he takes a concept to ideas to finished cover. And then there’s the all-new cover by McKelvie of Sahkmet, who finally gets her own head cover after all these years.

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The tiers go up from there to include standard book plus signed bookplate. Then there’s the deluxe book version with black cloth binding, holographic foil, gilded holographic pages, sewn bindings, and all that stuff that makes book people coo a lot and stroke the books. That one includes the bookplate as well.

For those wanting even more, there’s the Giclée Art Print which comes for £85 with Standard Edition and book plate, and £100 with Deluxe Edition, both including bookplate. It’s individually signed and numbered by Jamie, and are limited to 200.

And that’s it – nice and simple. And looking absolutely FABULOUS, as it was always going to be.

Postage has been kept rather ridiculously low at USA: £4.50 ($5.74 USD), UK/Europe: £4, Rest of world: £7.

The Wicked + The Divine: The Covers Version is funding (and probably funded by the time this publishes) on Kickstarter right now and the books are estimated to be in the hands of people by December 2024.