Customer Reviews

Lucifer Vol. 10: Morningstar

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"Lucifer: Morningstar" is the latest trade paperback collection and brings the long-running series to its apocalyptic conclusion. The book collects issues #62 - 69 of the celebrated Vertigo comic series and the climax to the war in Heaven storyline that has been running over the course of the last few collections. When Lucifer first came out back in 2000 I was quite skeptical. DC had dealt with tales of Heaven & Hell with titles like Swamp Thing and Hellblazer before but here was Hell's ruler in his own title. Well darned if DC didn't pull it off and deliver a fallen angel who managed to gain the sympathy of the reader.

As the book opens, Lilith, the first woman, and the architect of Heaven, is leading her children, the Lilim against the forces of The Silver City. God has disappeared and Lilith means to destroy his throne, the Primum Mobile, to prevent God from returning home. Meanwhile Lucifer gathers his own forces that include Lilith's daughter Mazikeen, and the human woman Elaine, herself now a divine power and maker of her own form of creation.

Lucifer visits Hell's new ruler, Christopher Rudd, in the hopes of convincing him toaid Heaven in their battle with Lilith. This puts Rudd in a sticky situation. His own goal is to eliminate the division between Hell and Heaven and do away with this class system. Think of him as a 60's, hippie commune leader! Rudd wants change but he also doesn't want to see Heaven, and all creation destroyed as Lilith does.

One element I love is Mike Carey's inclusion of the Fenris Wolf as an ally of Lillith. The Fenris Wolf is a Norse myth and he, or it is included as the last remnant of a forgotten pantheon of Gods, who has survived by accident as a force of pure destruction. A clever mix of Christian and pagan beliefs!

The battle is of epic proportions...making things like Infinite Crisis seem like an afternoon tea party. This isn't a battle for the world, but for all creation. Carey's depiction of the Almighty is interesting and a bit humorous in a dry way. He's certainly no burning bush! The art is uniformly great throughout and features the talents of Colleen Doran, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly, and Mike Kaluta. Kaluta's interlude piece is hilariously brilliant.

While the series does end the story doesn't. Many questions about the new order of Heaven, Hell, and the world itself are left unanswered for perhaps a later series. Carey's epic will remain one of the more talked about comics for many years to come and it will be interesting to see what he, or another writer, has in store for us in the future.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Carey's meditation on heaven, hell, will, creation, and responsibility reaches its conclusion -- but not its end -- as Lucifer fights in Heaven for a second time.

This is not the end of the series, however. There will be one more trade collecting the final issues 70-75, hopefully coming out soon.

Lucifer remains one of the finest works in comics, well worth checking out for those of you who enjoy deeply philosophical writing combined with tremendous storytelling and art.

Again Mike Crey pulled off the feat to have a small stand-alone story that is like a prelude to the big story arc he finishes in this volume, only this time, it is at the beginning. Solomon the judge tries to pass an intricate judgement on a lot of bad people. But one of those is the Nazi skinhead guy from the story in volume 1 who has thoroughly repented and reformed himself since and therefore the "wheels of god" mechanism set in motion by Solomon does not work as intended.

Same happens in the big story arc. All sorts of characters try to pass final judgment on heaven, hell and generally all creation (one of them being the second child of the basanos whose beef is only with Lucifer) but in the end it is Yahweh himself who needs to decide what to do with his creation. Lilith and Elaine Belloc serve as "advocatus diaboli" and "advocatus dei" but as always, Lucifer finds a way to bend the rules a little bit, even in this final climax.

A truly masterful work of art.

If all this sounds too heavy, there is another stand-alone story for comic relief. Gaudium and Spera serving as Mephistopheles in a hilarious version of the "Dr. Faust" story. (Mike Carey is fond of Norse myths but he also seems to appreciate classical German literature ...)

This is a pretty great book. This is pretty much the end of the series, even though there is a Vol. 11. Everything thus far comes to a head, with Lucifer, Elaine, and Lilith all in the forefront.

The ending is a bit.. predicable.. but the way it happens is fantastic. Usually I try to space the reading of these books out a bit, but I ended up reading this one all in one day.

All in all, Lucifer is a fantastic book series, and this is a fitting spiritual (no pun intended) sequel to Sandman.

Mike Carey, Lucifer: Morningstar (Vertigo, 2006)

There's a war in heaven, and Lucifer and Elaine Belloc have to choose a side. Now. Surprisingly, the agent who steps forward to help them is Noema, Child of the Basanos and sworn enemy of the Lightbringer. The problem: Lucifer must find himself an ally in the most unlikely of places, or the war will be lost, and all creation will fall back into the void. There's also a quick break for a story in which an ancient mage summons the most powerful demon in Hell...and gets Gaudium. We're at the penultimate volume and the series' quality is as high as ever. Very good stuff. ****