Children and Monsters (2001)
Author: Mike Carey | Illustrators: Peter Gross / Ryan Kelly / Dean Ormston | Page Count: 208
"You know how it is. You put things away for a rainy day [...] then you look up one day and it's raining Angels."
Volume 02 of 11 in the Lucifer series contains two distinct but interconnected parts.
Lucifer owns a Los Angeles piano bar named Lux; the irony of the location and naming amuses him because he's not without a Machiavellian sense of humour.
In the four part The House of Windowless Rooms he leaves his precious bar behind for a time to pursue the next part in his great work, which requires him to speak with Izanami-no-Mikoto, the Japanese Goddess of creation and death. He'll be powerless in her realm, so must rely on his wits and his cunning to be his weapon and his armour. Shit hits the Japanese fan.
The second story, the five part Children and Monsters, focuses on what happens while Lucifer is away from Lux. His aide Mazikeen gets a chance to prove her loyalty to him. I like her a lot. If you've trouble understanding what Mazikeen is saying, try reading it aloud and listen phonetically; it makes more sense then - at least, it did for me.
Dean Ormston takes art duties on that one. Even if you dislike his style, the story itself is likely strong enough to distract you. I like his work, having been introduced to it via the Judge Dredd Megazine (in a story called I Singe the Body Electric), so I was easily sucked into the world.
The reasons for Lucifer's actions up until now begin to become clear and it further develops the people, places, and things that are keen to stop him achieving his agenda.
The position he holds between cockiness and arrogance is what keeps him an enigma to his enemies and his followers, and only he knows the distinction between the two. His unbending will is his greatest weapon and he uses it without fear of reticence.
Lucifer may be a spin-off series but it's definitely not a Sandman clone. In terms of spiralling narrative, Mike Carey is easily Gaiman's equal (or better).
The book collects together Lucifer issues 5 – 13.
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