Lucifer Vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy (The Sandman Universe)

Absolutley fantastic. I don't think better words exist that can describe it. It's easily my favorite of the new Sandman Universe comics (which are all amazing their own way). I have no criticism. If you enjoy the Sandman series then you won't be disappointed .

I really like this kind of thing. So will anyone else who likes a story that is interesting and compelling. Enjoyed it big time.

Great story and art.

This narrative of biblical base presents poetry to paint philosophy and psychology. The arranging of the sublime and ridiculous to reach. Watters keeps the lofty ethereal feel of the Dreaming. At times difficult to grasp, but there are more senses to making sense of these world of the damned and their roles here and beyond. There is so much to play with, God, devils, humans and what-nots, the strands are long enough to allow for clarity once patience sets in through the quality of the writing. The art is moody as it usually is in a Vertigo book usually is. What a cliffhanger we are left with, I want to see more.

O.K., here's the deal as I understand it. There are four new series that are spinoffs of Neil Gaiman's Sandman Universe. Each shares and expands on the Sandman Universe and is set in the "evolving" world of the Dreaming. Don't know how much Gaiman is involved, (the books are claimed to be "from the mind of...", or "curated by"), but there seem to be more and more books out there that use Gaiman's name and stories but in which he otherwise does not seem that much involved.I've now read the beginning of the "Dreaming" series, (Volume 1, "Pathways and Emanations"), and the beginning of the"Lucifer" series, (Volume 1, "The Infernal Comedy"). Don't be confused. While each Volume collects the first 6 issues of their respective series, each Volume also starts with the same "Sandman Universe Special #1". This Special lays the groundwork for all four of the spinoffs. At first I thought I had the same book twice over, until I realized that they were different books, but just started with the same 48 page one-shot. It appears the two other spinoff series, ("Books of Magic" and "House of Whispers"), will open the same way. The Special follows the raven Mathew as he confirms that the Dreamer has abandoned the Dreamland, and introduces and sets the stage for each of the four new series. For what it's worth, so far the Special one-shot has been my favorite part of this whole project.Each of the series has a different writer; liking or disliking one won't tell you much about the others. So, with that background, (hah! I'm doing the same opening for each series review), let's turn to "Lucifer", the second of the four new Volumes. Our theme, if we need one, is "Hope and Suffering".MILD PLOT AND PREMISE SPOILERS.We open with Lucifer trapped in a strange village-like place. He's blind and destitute, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The story is told through a narrative in the present and lots of flashbacks, which may be a bit showy but actually works well. Basically, Lucifer has to reunite his son with the boy's mother, and figure out which character from his past has confined him to this village prison. An entirely separate story thread follows an L.A. detective caught up in some shadowy satanic conspiracy. The threads do eventually merge in a suspenseful, and even thrilling, fashion.Lots of interesting things going on. Lucifer, when he isn't agonizing, has a deadpan sense of humor. Modeling young and powerful Lucifer on David Bowie has worked for everyone who has ever done it, including Bowie, and it works very well here. Making William Blake Lucifer's sidekick of sorts is a masterstroke, since Blake's actual poetry could be right out of the Sandman Universe anyway. There are lots of heavy throwaway lines and deep observations, but more of them make sense here than seems usual.For those of a literary bent there is a lot to work with here. William Blake wrote an actual book, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" that addresses many of the same "contraries" that arise in this novel's fictional "Annulment of Heaven and Hell". Sycorax, Prospero, and of course Caliban, are all taken from Shakespeare's "The Tempest", a play about justice and the superiority of forgiveness over revenge. That's all fairly heavy stuff, but it is fun to have real, instead of entirely fanciful, allusions in novels like this. (And "Jack Tales" are everywhere and essential reading for any folklorist. The Stingy Jack tale in this book is an exceptionally fine version of one of the foundational Jack tales.) And so it goes; slews of literary and folktale Easter eggs hidden throughout the book. Of course, you can skip all of that if you care to, since the double-threaded story is fine as is.My upshot was that I enjoyed this much more than the first spinoff, "The Dreaming". I don't know how Sandman Universey it is, but this novel was great fun to read, rewarding on close examination, and, it almost goes without saying, a pleasure to look at.(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This generally ignored a lot of the work of Holly Black, and most of Mike Carey. The story isn't bad, but it's more of an alternate to the old comics. I'm a little underwhelmed.

Lucifer Vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy is a graphic novel collection of The Sandman Universe Special #1 and the first 6 issues of Lucifer. Published 25th June 2019 from Vertigo, it's 200 pages and available in paperback and ebook (comiXology) formats. All four of the graphic novel collections in this 30th anniversary story montage in the Sandman universe include the Sandman Universe Special issue #1 (so there's approximately 20% page overlap in the graphic novels- I was confused at first).The pencils by Max and Sebastian Fiumara are dark, gritty, and bleak, and fit the story very well. It's always a little bit nerve-wracking when other people are writing storylines in worlds which are dear to me, but in this case, Dan Watters shows once again that he is a masterful storyteller. These issues felt seamless and I loved the tie-in cameos. I don't know how much direct input Neil Gaiman had on the story arc (apart from curating the 4 books which make up these tie-ins), but they fit so well in the Sandman universe. I continue to be very impressed.As most (all?) of the Vertigo titles are for more mature readers, there is a large amount of violence, supernatural themes, gore, etc etc.The graphic novel includes extra content such as alternate cover art and tantalizing sketchbook glimpses. I really loved the perspective character pencil sketches at the back of the book. Lightly colored. Beautiful work.I literally grew up in a comic/fandom family and Sandman was the comic 'soundtrack' of my early adulthood. I've loved it deeply for decades and this series is a worthy bearer of the franchise name.Four and a half stars.Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Bought this electronic version to read in Kindle app or on Amazon Fire tablet. Downloaded the e-book. It’s amazing!! I can read this and see the beautiful artwork of this book! Wow! Just so amazed! I bought this for the sake of the art work. Now I won’t be carrying the paper hard copy w me but can read this in Kindle whenever I want. So coool!!! Love it!