Lucifer Vol. 11 - Evensong

Lucifer Vol. 11 - Evensong
By Mike Carey, Peter Gross, & Ryan Kelly

And so Mike Carey's acclaimed series comes to a close. Please allow me to cut to the chase: No, Lucifer is not the second coming of Sandman (though to Carey's credit, I'm sure that was never his intention; he forged his own path). Yes, it may have been overpraised. No, it's not at all bad, though at times it's disappointing. Yes, it is good, and at times very good indeed.

Lucifer was an uneven experience, burdened by storytelling problems noted in other posts and a clear case of filler-itis. Between this and Volume 10, however, it ends on a strong note. As expected, this was an extended coda. Character arcs come to a close, the story reaches an end -- yet one that feels like a beginning -- and all that stuff set into motion so long ago is wrapped up nice and tight, turning Lucifer into a neat little package.

I liked it. With caveats.

The inclusion of a 48-page one-shot at the end of the volume does feel out of place, though. It's an okay story, nothing special, but that's not the problem here. It's the placement. Being placed after the final issue feels wrong somehow. The series' grand saga ends on a great note and then, oops, one more thing to read. It takes away from the power of the saga's end.

Overall, though, I find myself forgetting my earlier misgivings and walking away from Lucifer very satisfied. This last volume has some fine little stories and does a good job of closing the door on the series.

Sure, Lucifer wasn't quite the foray into brilliance many have said -- it was an inconsistent reading experience, its excellent highs often marred by muddy, boring lows -- but looking at the big picture, the total package is worth praising thanks in large part to an excellent close. Carey pulled it together in the end. Had the last two volumes not done such a good job of retroactively making all that came before relevant and worthwhile, I'd suggest a pass on this series. Instead, I'd say this is worth reading if you like the magic/religious/mythology wing of the Vertigo Building (which I do), just as long as you know it's at times inconsistent.

And none of this is to suggest that Mike Carey is anything less than a real talent, because let me tell you, when this guy is on, he's ON.

An earlier version of this review was originally posted at IMWAN.com.

Read my regular, everything-and-anything (usually on writing and music) blog right over here.

Lucifer Vol. 10 - Morningstar

Lucifer Vol. 10 - Morningstar
By Mike Carey, Peter Gross, & Ryan Kelly

Oh, how you frustrate me, Mike Carey. This wasn’t supposed to be brilliant. It wasn’t supposed to be good. It wasn't supposed to be wonderful. But it was.

How you frustrate me.

I was ready to stop reading this series. Bored, uninterested, no longer “feeling it.” Its uneven pacing and the holding pattern that was Crux finally pushed me near the bailing point. And then Morningstar comes along and I find myself in love with all things Lucifer. How did this happen? How can you have turned around something that was spinning off the rails into Overpraisedville? How can you have rescued it and made it great? Yes, GREAT.

This, the tenth volume in Carey’s Sandman spinoff, is a brisk, involving look at the climactic clash between heaven, hell, the Lilim, and various other factions. God is gone. The universe is dying. And Lucifer, the Fallen Son, the Lightbringer, the Morningstar, wants to save it. Thing is, a dozen other factions have their own aims in mind. A slew of other stories are ready to intersect. Amazingly, Carey managed to weave all these threads together into a functioning whole.

No, more than a functioning whole. A dynamic, dramatic, damned good whole.

If Crux was an unmoving bore and little more than an extended setup, this was an extended climax. Characters fight and die. Stories set into motion 40, 50, 60 issues prior come to a head. Stuff you hated earlier suddenly seems worthwhile. And the resolution to things … it actually makes sense! Not only do you buy it, looking back it appears as if it was part of the plan all along. It’s the natural end to the stories Carey was telling.

Damn. I was not expecting this.

So, one more volume to go. I expect it will be an extended coda wrapping up a few character arcs and stuff. But for now ...

Sheesh. Against all hope, he pulled it together in the end. He really did! This was awesome.

An earlier version of this review was originally posted at IMWAN.com.

Read my regular, everything-and-anything (usually on writing and music) blog right over here.

Lucifer Vol. 9 - Crux

Lucifer Vol. 9 - Crux
By Mike Carey, Peter Gross, & Ryan Kelly

I wanted to sit down and write this post about as much as I want to finish this series at the moment. Which is to say, not at all.

Crux, one of the final arcs of Mike Carey’s acclaimed Lucifer, is hardly an arc at all. It’s an extended setup and little more, putting in place the pieces of the puzzle necessary for the final showdown between the forces of Heaven, the Lilim, and whatever other baddies Carey wants to throw into the mix, but doing little else more.

So yeah, I feel like I don’t have a damn thing to say about it. It ends at pretty much the same place it began. God is gone. Lucifer is gone. The Silver City is under siege. It started there. A few chess pieces were shuffled. It ended there.

That’s about it. Booooo-ring.

I’d honestly like to offer at least some intelligent commentary, but Crux offers very little to comment upon. It left me with no impression, good, bad or indifferent. It was just sort of there. Lifeless. Forgettable. Uninteresting.

:yawn:

An earlier version of this review was originally posted at IMWAN.com.

Read my regular, everything-and-anything (usually on writing and music) blog right over here.

Lucifer Vol. 8 - The Wolf Beneath the Tree

Lucifer Vol. 8 - The Wolf Beneath the Tree
By Mike Carey, Peter Gross, & Ryan Kelly

God is gone, gone, gone, so Fenris, the wolf of Norse mythology, decides now is a good time to end the world. Such is the core story of the eighth volume of Mike Carey's epic Sandman spinoff, Lucifer. This volume also features two one-shot stories.

'is all right, though it felt kind of like a retread of the last arc. Monsters from mythology see an opening in God's absence and try to take advantage of it. Lucifer, for reasons that are his own, forms an uneasy alliance with the angels (in this case his brother archangel, Michael), and races to stop them. Big Event happens at the end, one I'm sure will impact the last three volumes of this book. The end.

There is also a weird and off-putting subplot about a schizo who bludgeons his wife and young son to death with a hammer. It's part of the main story, but it feels forced, it doesn't quite fit, and it's kind of ugly.

However, the opening story, a standalone called "Lilith," is pretty damn good. It's a double-sized for the book's 50th issue and serves as an origin of sorts for both Lilth and Lucifer. Fantastic stuff.

The other standalone story is moody and interesting, but pointless. It's about ... ahhh, who cares what it's about? When you're this deep into a series-long saga, tossing in one-shots is risky unless you've got Neil Gaimain-like short story chops. Carey is good -- at times really damn good -- but I feel like this energy would have been better spent getting the core series in order.

At this point I'm looking forward to finishing this series, not because I'm eating it up, but because I'd like to see how things resolve and get it behind me.

An earlier version of this review was originally posted at IMWAN.com.

Read my regular, everything-and-anything (usually on writing and music) blog right over here.