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lelyreads's review
4.0
I found this graphic novel particularly engaging. The art was lovely and it was easy to follow as well as adding an extra dimension to the dialogue. This will be a great addition to the Sandman Universe.
Thank you to NetGalley, DC Entertainment, and Vertigo for providing me with an ARC of Lucifer.
Thank you to NetGalley, DC Entertainment, and Vertigo for providing me with an ARC of Lucifer.
watercolorstain's review
1.0
I got this volume as an eARC along with Volume One of The Dreaming, which means I sampled half of the new Sandman Universe story arcs released to celebrate the series' 30th anniversary.
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'm not familiar with it (yet) 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, but he grows them back? 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 won't be checking out any more of the Sandman Universe story arcs after this.
—————
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
—————
My other ડꪖꪀᦔꪑꪖꪀ reviews:
01: Preludes & Nocturnes · ★★★½
02: The Doll's House · ★★★★
03: Dream Country · ★★★
04: Season of Mists · ★★★★½
05: A Game of You · ★★★½
06: Fables and Reflections · ★★★½
07: Brief Lives · ★★★★½
08: Worlds' End · ★★★
09: The Kindly Ones · ★★★★★
10: The Wake · ★★★
Overture · ★★★
Endless Nights · ★★★★
The Dream Hunters · ★★★★
Death: The Deluxe Edition · ★★★★
Audible Original #1 · ★★★★★
The Sandman Universe · The Dreaming: Pathways and Emanations · ★★
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'm not familiar with it (yet) 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, but he grows them back? 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 won't be checking out any more of the Sandman Universe story arcs after this.
—————
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
—————
My other ડꪖꪀᦔꪑꪖꪀ reviews:
01: Preludes & Nocturnes · ★★★½
02: The Doll's House · ★★★★
03: Dream Country · ★★★
04: Season of Mists · ★★★★½
05: A Game of You · ★★★½
06: Fables and Reflections · ★★★½
07: Brief Lives · ★★★★½
08: Worlds' End · ★★★
09: The Kindly Ones · ★★★★★
10: The Wake · ★★★
Overture · ★★★
Endless Nights · ★★★★
The Dream Hunters · ★★★★
Death: The Deluxe Edition · ★★★★
Audible Original #1 · ★★★★★
The Sandman Universe · The Dreaming: Pathways and Emanations · ★★
beliboville's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
ruthsic's review against another edition
3.0
Warnings: physical violence (including partner abuse), gun violence, torture, mutilation, body horror and gore, depictions of self-harm, terminally ill partner, animal cruelty
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.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Vertigo, via Netgalley.
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.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Vertigo, via Netgalley.
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