| Product: |
Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway - Mike Carey |
| Date: |
14/11/07 (69 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Impressive debut with some fantastic art.
Disadvantages: A bit of a copy-cat, falling for some of the Sandman's pitfalls.
Several years after Neil Gaiman’s influential comic series The Sandman ceased publication, its characters, settings and ideas continued to entertain readers as a profitable franchise of DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. Probably the best conceived and executed of these spin-offs (some of which were pretty appalling) was the long-running ‘Lucifer,’ originally written by the talented Mike Carey to carry on directly from where Gaiman left the fallen angel and ex-ruler of Hell: wearing a snazzy suit and running a classy piano bar in Los Angeles, aided by his ever loyal half-faced assistant Mazikeen.
‘Devil in the Gateway’ is the first paperback anthology of Lucifer, collecting the three issue mini-series ‘The Sandman Presents Lucifer: The Morningstar Option’ from 1999 and the first four issues of the regular comic which began a year later, forming another three-part serial and a final, separate short story. It’s clear even from this first collection that the recognisable Sandman style is being followed diligently, allocating a finite number of issues to a particular story before moving on to the next and filling the spaces with entertaining one-shots focusing on comparatively marginal ideas and characters. As the titular protagonist, Lucifer (or whatever name your culture bestows him) is much more prominent in these plots than Gaiman’s Sandman was in the long run, though like Dream his role is pushed to the background in the short stories, presuming this book is going to be reflective of the series as a whole. In a further, clearly intentional homage to Sandman, the series would conclude after seventy-five issues in 2006, but now we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
The three stories of this volume – ‘The Morningstar Option,’ ‘A Six-Card Spread’ and the final ‘Born with the Dead’ – are all of commendably high quality, particularly considering this is a franchise spin-off targeted primarily at overly loyal comic fans desperate to part with their money for anything that boasts a relation to Sandman on its cover. Mike Carey presents a Lucifer entirely consistent with Gaiman’s arrogant, self-serving and witty angel, and although his turbulent loyalties and concerns keep him somewhat aloof over the course of these tales, his put-downs and charming sarcasm in the first mini-series particularly make him a strong and interesting character for the reader’s allegiance. Each story has a cast of prominent characters, who may or may not return as the series continues, and in the true Sandman spirit of attempted controversy and unwavering belief that progressive social statements are being made, the cast originates in troubled families, sexual deviations, jobs in the sex industry and angsty teenage goth girls with unrealised, repressed powers. Each story expands the Sandman continuity by introducing further figures from mythology, both based on cultural legends and entirely made-up, more often than not to act as an enemy for Lucifer to talk down to and eventually beat.
As the original mini-series, ‘The Morningstar Option’ is pivotal in demonstrating the potential for a larger series, much like a television pilot episode, and it succeeds admirably. The biggest disappointment is seeing Lucifer agree to work for heaven on a one-time assignment, admittedly for the reward it would grant him, but hearing him state “today I’m one of the good guys” only made me yearn for the series to begin in earnest, and for the David Bowie lookalike to start showing his true colours. Lucifer’s task in this first story is to track down the source of unusual luck being experienced by humans across the globe before it inevitably ends in that stupid, infantile species wiping itself out, and playing the role of detective he ends up recruiting Navajo-descended teenager Rachel Begai, who accompanies him and performs the required tasks of her heritage in the hope that Lucifer will be able to revive her mentally handicapped brother Paul, whom she accidentally wished dead. His investigations take him to the exiled Lilim, residing in dilapidated city back-streets and eventually attacking the angel in a sequence reminiscent of ‘Spawn,’ before the final issue crams in an uninspired Native American vision quest type thing in a rather shoddy attempt to wrap up the story in about the half the time it really needed. Like Neil Gaiman, Carey tries to pay respect to the mythologies of these exotic cultures to avoid getting too caught up in an explicitly heaven/hell argument, and like much of the Sandman, it doesn’t really convince. It’s also a little disappointing to see some plot points borrowed explicitly from the Sandman story ‘Brief Lives,’ though that’s likely more due to the personal grievances I have with that particular story.
While the plot may border precariously on being distinctly average, the mini-series is ultimately made a hugely rewarding experience through an abundance of great dialogue, intelligent use of existing characters (particularly in the contrast between the angels Remiel and Duma) and most of all, absolutely fantastic art from Scott Hampton who applies a painterly style throughout the three issues, handling all the pencils, lavish paints and the great covers himself. Hampton’s human characters and backgrounds are completely convincing and brought to life wonderfully through his use of colour, and the whole thing was clearly a labour of love, easily affording Hampton equal (or perhaps even greater) credit to Mike Carey in making this a great starting point. Of course, the task of a mainstream monthly series meant that Hampton’s virtuoso style would prove highly impractical, and although the more standard comic art of Chris Weston, Warren Pleece and Dean Ormston in the other issues initially seems a little disappointing with the unfair comparison, it’s still above average in depicting the earthbound tales with the necessary degree of realism above all else.
‘A Six-Card Spread’ is a little better plot-wise, but loses the fun dialogue along with the art, as Lucifer reverts to a more generic figure with unspecified powers. To its credit, this story takes the franchise back to its origins as a horror comic, with some really quite disturbing scenes of brutal, real-world violence in frequent racist and homophobic assaults (that’s right, Carey couldn’t set his story in Hamburg without including some neo-Nazis). Lucifer’s mission this time is entirely self-serving, as he tracks down former angel Meleos in his library for a tarot reading from his crazy living deck, but for some reason or other the spirits of the cards end up loose in the city, possessing or otherwise interfering with any characters whose lifestyles are alternative enough to be permitted entry into a Sandman cast. The more local tale plays out better across three issues than its lofty predecessor managed, and while it’s an entertaining enough read on its own, there are further scenes towards the beginning and end that weave plot threads for the future. The final tale ‘Born with the Dead’ makes for a very nice stand-alone issue and concerns a twelve-year-old girl’s investigation into her best friend’s murder, fuelled by drugs, aided by supernatural forces. While it presents the second occurrence even in this thin paperback of the author insisting he knows what makes teenage girls tick, it also possibly owes a debt to earlier Sandman spin-off ‘The Dead Boy Detectives.’ Then again, it might not. I haven’t read it.
Although the tone and appearance leap considerably at the half-way point, as is to be expected from a compilation like this, ‘Devil in the Gateway’ is a consistently high quality graphic novel, clearly taking many cues from the Sandman’s success but also starting to stand on its own feet, aided by its strong lead character. The mini-series is well plotted for the first two issues before cramming in too many clichéd details in the third, and even successfully integrates some back-story for newcomers through an early discussion between Lucifer and Amenadiel, for anyone who hasn’t read ‘Season of Mists.’ This is an explicitly adult title, perhaps even more than its predecessor, with frequent swearing and some grisly but never gratuitous violence, but its basis in heaven and hell mythologies taken from literature rather than holy books – particularly Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy,’ the latter sharing influence with Bosch in the artistic rendering of Hell – keeps it from being blasphemous and offensive to more ignorant, right-wing Christian readers, though those sorts of people will complain about anything.
There are a few problems that threaten to spoil the continuing series, notably Lucifer’s accomplice Mazikeen who does little of interest other than “stand guard” while Lucifer goes about his business, and whose speech is now even more difficult to decipher than it was under Gaiman’s pen, particularly as the earlier author would always have Lucifer conveniently explain what his servant had just said in a manner reminiscent of Matthew Corbett and Sooty. Letterer Ellie DeVille (who I remember from ‘Sonic the Comic,’ quite embarrassingly) also seems to have trouble applying Todd Klein’s decorative style to the speech of otherworldly beings, which is a bit of a problem as this includes the series’ main character. But on the whole, this is an interesting and logical continuation of the fallen angel’s story that really could go anywhere next, but will probably restrict itself to gritty back-streets and various planes of the afterlife.
”A message written in blood. Everyone involved in this drama seems compelled to overact.”
Summary: Collects the mini-series 'The Morningstar Option' and issues 1 - 4 of the regular series (1999-2000)
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