A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

Wrapping up the series of yet another spin-off character from Gaiman’s Sandman, Lucifer: Evensong tries to tie-up the messy lose ends. The collection of issues 70-75 also includes the one-shot story Nirvana with the awesome painted art by Jon J Muth.

Lucifer the series of course is the story of the fallen angel Lucifer Morningstar/Samael who rebelled against Yahweh’s Kingdom and given charge to the souls of Hell. In the Sandman series, he left Hell and set loose all those which reside in it. For a time, Hell was empty until two other angels continued Lucifer’s work…for the sake of maintaining balance. In the meantime, Lucifer retired to play piano in his bar/resto in L.A.

In the course of his own series, Lucifer was asked by Heaven to go on a mission. He was rewarded with a letter of passage to exit from the whole of Creation. Of course, Lucifer being Lucifer created his own universe to sit side by side with Yahweh’s Creation. Of course these attracted all sorts of characters to either seek refuge in Lucifer’s creation or to seize it from him. Everything was copacetic until Yahweh leaves His Creation and it starts to deteriorate. That’s when the End Times/Rapture/Ragnarok ensued. Evensong picks up Lucifer and his allies after they remedied the situation of Yahweh’s absence.

Writer Mike Carey juggles Judeo-Christian, Japanese, Nordic and even the Endless myths in the series. It was this strange mix which put me off initially to the series. The art wasn’t particularly bad but it wasn’t a stand-out either. It was serviceable. It’s bad enough to wait for a comic book every month but if you have to follow the complicated plot of Lucifer, you can easily lose interest.

But passing off on this series is passing off on one of the more best written books out there. At its best it’s an interesting blend of epic adventure, philosophical discourse and theological exploration of man’s soul, destiny and self-determination. Lucifer having distinguished himself as the One Who Rebelled finds himself questioning whether that was of itself predetermined or his own invention.

The confrontation between Yahweh and his son Lucifer brings the one of the most satisfying endings to comic book series I’ve read. The players remain consistent to their characters and Carey doesn’t take the easy way out. It’s a good read and I’m sure it’ll be an even better re-read.