‘The Wicked + The Divine’ #2 Variant Cover Gazes A Gazely Stare

Because you're young you may not realize the latest Wicked + Divine variant cover is a particularly cheeky reference to a 1976 mugshot of David Bowie, himself a major inspiration on the Kieron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie series about ancient gods reincarnated as glamorous pop stars. But hang on to yourself; the only way to get ahold of this conversation piece is to buy it from Beach Ball and Corner Store Comics in California.

Ragged and naive, Bowie was arrested at the Rochester hotel in upstate New York on charges of felony marijuana possession. Fortunately Bowie was not dragged from police station to station, and his stay lasted only a few "...hours" before being released into the heat of the morning -- but not before the Thin White Duke was able to create a little wonder in the form of what's doubtlessly the prettiest star mugshot ever captured.

Riffing on famous pin-ups from the world of music is a trick McKelvie's played before with Phonogram, but I think Rue Britannia is out of bounds; no, the last thing you should do is accuse the artist of repetition, because this variant cover actually plays directly into the plot of issue #2, which finds Lucifer, the pretty/sweet thing on the cover, in serious trouble for exploding a working man's judge of men's head like breaking glass.

If you're not quite sure what you're supposed to do to get a copy of this Wicked + Divine retailer-exclusive variant, take a trip on a Gemini spaceship to Beach Ball Comics, where you can pre-order a copy before they're all consumed by the subterraneans in the underground variant market. These Wicked + Divine covers deserve a better future, because the boys keep swinging them out of the park.