Lucifer Vol 1: The Infernal Comedy was an interesting read. There were times I didn’t fully understand what was happening or where the tale was taking me. As it moved along though it began to come into focus. There was plenty of violence and a familiar face or two as the story unfolded. As it came to a close it looked like balance had been restored for now.

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Lucifer Vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy (the Sandman Universe) by Dan Watters (illustrated by Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara )expands on the expensive universe created by Neil Gaiman. The Sandman is a series of comic books following Dream (Morpheus, among other aliases), and is one of the few graphic novels to grace the New York Times Best Seller list.

Lucifer finds himself as an old, blind man, living in a small house, in a small town where nothing happens and no one can leave. He realizes that he is actually trapped in a prison, but with memory of how he got there, or even why. Slowly Lucifer goes through the notions of reuniting his son with his mother, while figuring out which characters has jailed him.

In Los Angeles, a cop whose wife died of cancer, and is now facing brain cancer himself is looking for Lucifer, to kill him.

This issue is supposed to be the second which tries to expand Neil Gaiman’s Sandman universe, I haven’t read any of the others (if they’re even out), but if Lucifer Vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy (the Sandman Universe) by Dan Watters (illustrated by Max Fiumara and Sebastian Fiumara) is any indication to how it’s going to be, I’ll make a point to do so. The world of Dreaming was introduced to me when I finally read Sandman, I wouldn’t think that other creators would be able to expand it (and honestly, why not?), but we’re all the better for it.

The story starts in the middle, and uses lots of flashbacks to bring the reader up to date, which makes the book slow, but it still works pretty good. There are many interesting things going on, Lucifer is either depressed or sarcastically funny. English poet William Blake is Lucifer’s sidekick, I didn’t know much about him so I did a little research, and while I still don’t “get” poetry, I found Mr. Blake’s style to be in-line with the Sandman style of writing.
Or is it the other way around?

The writing and artwork work wonderfully together and build off each other, establishing creatures and fleshing out a whole world, with gorgeous settings one could look at over and over. I was pleasantly surprised by the moving and suspenseful story about characters which come off less than likeable, but a delight to follow along with.

This volume was a joy, mixing Christian mythology with the Sandman Universe works surprisingly well. The book was easy to follow, fascinating, telling an interesting story.

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.

Having just read Volume 1 of The Dreaming, I couldn't help but notice that Lucifer, Volume 1, starts with the same issue. I guess everything is happening in the Sandman Universe from the same origin? While that's a neat concept, I couldn't help but feel resentful about the "wasted space" in this first volume.
Once past that first issue, the Lucifer story slowly starts to unwind. I felt this volume went at a good pace, and had several twists and turns over the 200-page span of the book. There are some interesting characters along the way: William Blake, for instance, rolling around on a motorized scooter, and other "friends" that Lucifer has picked up through the ages.
And, of course, it wouldn't be Lucifer if he didn't defy his father and play some part in a rebellion. I'll be returning for volume 2 to see where this goes.

An excellent new chapter in Lucifer's story. This one comes as part of the Sandman's Universe new series. The creative team behind Lucifer Vol. 1 – The Infernal Comedy is a large one (even when compared to the original series). The writers behind this volume are Dan Watters, Neil Gaiman, Simon Spurrier, Kat Howard, and Nalo Hopkinson. Lettering is delivered by Steve Wands and Simon Bowland, and colors by Dave McCaig and Mat Lopes, with art credits for Max and Sebastian Fiumara, Bilquis Evely, Tom Fowler, and Dominike Stanton.

As in the original series, the story line of this new chapter is anything but linear, jumping in time and space, from a multiverse kind of Heaven to a very particular and desolated little village, where Lucifer is now an old, blind man. Developed from a mix of Christian mythology, some Shakespeare and a lot of Sandman's style narrative flair, the plot is suspenseful, bloody and intelligent, with a lot of satire, hence a proper one for none other than the Devil, Mr. Lucifer Morningstar.

One of the great things about this jumping time-line is that the artistic design, while not the drawing itself, adapts to the fragment of story we found ourselves in, reflecting the state and even the personality of the characters involved in that fragment. This allows for a gorgeous display of styles, with color pallets reflecting moods and worlds, from the blues and greens of an old folks home (that it's all but a old folks home); to the oranges and browns of a decrepit island that could be Elba but is instead populated by souls unaware of their exile, and a vibrant multicolored place that it's as much Heaven as it is Hell.

There are many things to like about this Infernal Comedy, however the story may seem a little convoluted at first, mostly because it opens with a sequence about the Dreaming which importance we only get to appreciate (and fully understand) later. Importantly, for those unfamiliar with Gaiman's Sandman Universe, following the story will require extra patience, but it's well worth the effort.

Along the volume, as we get to see Lucifer present situation--after his father has left creation--the pace quickens forcing us to pay attention or else missing out a crucial detail. In that sense, this new book maintains one of the most successful aspects of the original series: the need, not only the pleasure, for total immersion in order to get everything there's on the pages to get.

All things considered, this first volume of Lucifer is a great start to the series and a great entry point for new readers, unfamiliar with story of this character, while it's also a great return to the character for preexisting fans.

The new expanded Sandman Universe continues with this dark and rather bleak offering from Dan Watters. The premise is that the prince of Hell is now an old man trapped in a strange town with no recollection of how he got there . As the scales fall from his eyes and he starts to remember , he sets out on a mission to find his son. Meanwhile a cop with possible brain cancer is on his tail, determined to kill him.
I have to say I did not love this storyline, it was very confusing and really took a long time to come together., and there was no clear connection between the two stories being told. However I did like the artwork by Max and Sebastian Fiurama , the dark scratchy style fit the story.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Another of the set of stories set in the Sandman Universe, the volume opens with a common chapter (to The Dreaming, so I am assuming for all of the four new stories) introducing the world to us, and where it is starting. In Lucifer, the story goes back and forth in time, in another world and this one, and has Lucifer trapped in a desolate place without his powers, while a police Detective is searching for the cousin that his dying wife mentioned. I will admit, compared to Dreaming, this one took a lot of time to catch on to as to what is actually going on, but that is mainly because of how the story jumps across time with no warning, which means having a timeline in your head gets confusing. Lucifer is trapped without the memory of how he got to that place, being cared for by a witch, in a small village where some famous characters through history reside, and he is being tormented by this other character called Jack. In another time, his son is approaching him to find his mother. Detective finds that metaphors may be real, as he goes to Gately House in search for his wife’s cousin, and finds the place to be more than it seems. There is a whole cast of characters whose stories intersect here, and while it takes time to connect the dots, it makes for a rich story that explains the characters and their motivations by the end. As for the story overall, it feels like there was so much of the backstory that comes towards the end, that it sort of ruins any enjoyment of earlier chapters as you are pretty much confused throughout much of it.

For those who thought the return of The Sandman was a bad idea, comes conclusive proof. This unreadable tosh makes The Dreaming book seem a breeze. Not even the handle of a new detective character, fresh from seeing his wife die, offers a firm enough grip for the creators to pull out a narrative. Dreary, depressing, and just plain boring. Do not bother.

Lucifer Morningstar was one of my favorite original Sandman characters, even though he only plays a pretty minor role in the original run. DC went on to create a quite successful spin-off around his character, and I guess that must be required reading, because I haven't read it and honestly have no idea what the fuck I just read. The summary at the back of the volume says that Lucifer's son Caliban is the only one who can "prevent the end of the world"... but there are absolutely no allusions in these pages that suggest that the world is in need of saving? What?

Lucifer is no longer Lord of Hell, but a destitute beggar with no recollection of how he ended up in that position, trapped and tormented... in some strange village surrounded by buried statues he digs out? His eyes have been picked out? A LAPD detective who recently lost his wife to a brain tumor is trying to make sense of some secrets she seems to have kept during their marriage... he ends up with a brain tumor too, which enables him to see demons, and he decides he must kill Lucifer because of it, I guess? There's also a witch coven that needs a third, a mother, to be complete, William Blake is involved for some reason, and some guy Lucifer tricked and damned to eternity outside of Heaven or Hell who is now out for revenge? Oh, and the mysterious village turns out to be on the skull of the witch Sycorax, mother of Caliban? That just now may have possibly been a major plot spoiler, but since I was completely lost while reading this, I couldn't tell you with any certainty. I also think that there must have been some sort of flashbacks through-out, because Lucifer repeatedly goes from looking like an unkempt homeless man to a chiseled David Bowie?

I honestly don't know if Watters is a lousy story-teller or if he just throws the reader in the deep-end, assuming one's familiar with all the spin-off material, which is why I'm having a really hard time rating this—I may just have been the entirely wrong audience for it, not familiar with enough character backstory, William Blake poetry, mythology and/or Shakespeare plays to "get it". The art was very nice, but I didn't enjoy reading this, it was a convoluted mess of a story that made no sense to me and offered no satisfying pay-off at the end. I doubt that I'll check out the rest of the Sandman Universe story arcs after this.

Thank you NetGalley and DC/Vertigo for the eARC.

Another in the new line of Sandman spin-offs, but one I enjoyed far more than The Dreaming; a scratchy, claustrophobic anxiety dream of a comic, with Watters' knack for stories that feel like fevers perfectly complemented by the Fiumaras' unsettling visuals. Opening with enough injury-to-the-eye motifs to get Frederic Wertham's corpse up another few hundred RPM, we find the Morningstar blinded and imprisoned in a strange town, while a second strand of the story follows a detective watching his wife slowly fade away, medicine maintaining her life long after its quality has gone. Obviously something ties these two prisoners to each other, but what? And how about the other scenes, in which Shakespeare's Prospero merges with Poe's (well, maybe more Corman's), and Lucifer appears to be engaged in the sort of Devil-ish activities which I thought this version of the character found somewhat beneath him? True, it wobbles with the third issue: fictional 'Bill' Blakes are a lot harder to pull off than you might deduce from the number of fictional Blakes out there. And after that it never wholly recovers the sureness of the opening, but it does pull back together into a tense and curious little knot of a story, as against the floppy mess of The Dreaming. Yes, on one level, much like the previous Lucifer series, it shouldn't exist; the Lightbringer should have been allowed his final escape into the outside of everything at the end of the Carey run. But hey, this is corporate comics, and them's the breaks; there'll always be another threat Superman must vanquish, another chauvinist for Wonder Woman to take down, another cage for Lucifer. They're our saints, and that means they exist in ritual time, re-enacting their emblematic trials for as long as we need them.

(Netgalley ARC)

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley.

I should have known after the summary started with "This is the ~one true tale~ of what befell the Prince of Lies" that it was going to be like this, but I had to give it a chance. I was going to call it a DNF after issue 3, but then I decided to at least look at the artwork for the rest of the issues and I ended up reading about the last half of issue 6 so I guess I read slightly more than half of this comic. From what some other reviewers are saying I don't think it would have made much more sense if I had read the whole thing.

Mostly I just don't understand why they felt the need to entirely reboot the Lucifer character, and if they were going to then why do it in this way. Not only did I have next to no idea what was actually happening, but Lucifer was not a compelling or likable main character in this AT ALL (and yeah I know, he's Lucifer, but even when he was doing awful things in the original you were still always rooting for him at least a bit). I suppose if you have never read the original Lucifer series by Mike Carey then you may find some value in this, but I found it pretentious and convoluted.

It is possible that it will get better in the next issue because a lot of the things I hated about the majority of this volume seem to be resolved at the very end, but the original Lucifer series is pretty much the best graphic novel series I have ever read and I don't see why they felt the need to erase all of that instead of continuing on from the end of it. They could have easily ignored the shortly rebooted series from 2016, but to ignore Carey's work and take Lucifer back to only his Sandman beginnings is like saying we should all give up cars and go back to horse drawn carriages. Disappointing.

I’ve never read the Mike Carey Lucifer series or seen the TV show (and I’ll probably never do either now) so I don’t know if it’s because I’m so unfamiliar with the character and his story (couldn’t tell you if this is a continuation of the previous books or a reboot) or whether Dan Watters is just that incompetent a storyteller but I had absolutely no fucking idea what was going on in Lucifer, Volume 1: The Infernal Comedy!

It’s not a good sign when you get to the end of the book, read the blurb and don’t recognise the summary as reflective of what you’ve just read! I got that Lucifer was no longer King of Hell for some reason but apparently his kid will prevent the end of the world? If you say so, Vertigo marketing department!

There’s also a Philip K. Dick-looking LAPD cop embroiled in this mess but even the blurb can’t explain why! His wife dies and he has a breakdown which enables him to see demons for no reason? How and why he’s singled out in the first place is beyond me. Dude does nothing as well - a total waste of space character!

There are apparently conspiracies to kill Lucifer but, again, don’t know why. It gets worse. We see Lucifer as this broken, weak, homeless-looking dude who’s obviously in a bad way - but he’s also a David Bowie-looking dude who’s got his shit together? So… does he need to regain control of Hell or doesn’t he? One version of him needs help, the other seems to be ok. Was Lucifer always two people? Ah, who cares? It’s not like I’m gonna keep reading this title!

Into the mix is William Blake, because why not, and one character with a Phantom of the Opera mask who talksh indecihpehbly liksh thsh fer het whleo tme and it’s so fucking annoying to read. Actually, the other characters talk clearly and they’re only slightly less annoying to read - that’s how awful the writing is!

An unrelentingly bad, incomprehensible and boring book from cover to cover, the latest ill-conceived Sandman Universe title is definitely the worst comic of 2019 I’ve read so far - abandon all hope ye who pick up this crap!

Started reading this one, good illustrations and art. However, I do believe that one has to read sandman to enjoy this book fully.

Lucifer Vol. 1 is a dark and twisted story in true Gaiman fashion. Full of legends and myths, the story finds the prince of darkness trapped and broken fighting his way back to himself. The tale begins all contorted and twisted and confusing as all get out before settling down to an entertaining story of darkness and tricks that leaves you with an aha moment as everything clicks into place. The art tends toward the macabre and fits the story perfectly. Volume 1 is an exactly start to a new storyline. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

The story was interesting, but definitely confusing and difficult to follow. I don't know that I fully understood what happened or when things happened. The art was excellent.

Admittedly, it's been more years than I care to remember since I last looked looked at the Sandman series. Happily, this was a genuine, unexpectedly excellent reintroduction the Sandman Universe. The story threads come together very well by the conclusion, the characters are memorable, and the art is lovely to look at.

Think fans of graphic horror novels will be pleased.

With thanks to DC and Netgalley for the arc.

The Second, (and Possibly Best), of the Four New Sandman Universe Series

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.)

High fantasy, beautiful art, and mythology weave together to create a tremendous reading experience in this book. The characters are the stuff of dreams -- Neil Gaiman's dreams, in fact. And those are very interesting and revelatory dreams to explore.

Si Spurrier leads this journey into the Sandman universe and I was glad to have the opportunity to see what this text had to offer. I would gladly visit for another volume.

I came to this graphic novel with no prior knowledge of the Sandman universe. All I know of the character of Lucifer comes from the recent TV series, so I was interested to go back to the roots, as it were. Due to my lack of background reading, I did find the opening section a tad confusing; however, it will probably mean more to longtime fans. Once the main plot kicked off, I settled into it with ease. I enjoyed the premise and loved the ties to Shakespeare. The story moved at a good pace, with an excellent balance of images and text, and the artwork was gorgeous. It certainly left me keen to read future volumes. Although those in the know will probably take away more from this work than a newbie, the story is also accessible to those who, like me, are coming to the character and world via the television show.

DNF at 10%
I just couldn't get into the story because it jumped around so much. The art style was okay, but I just didn't like it enough to keep reading.