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A review by aceinit
Lucifer, Vol. 3: A Dalliance With the Damned by Mike Carey
3.0
A Dalliance with the Damned is the first "interlude" collection, a lull in the action following the events from Children and Monsters. This collection, smaller than its predecessor, first serves up a trio of one-shot issues focusing on, respectively, Mazikeen and Briadach of the Lilim, Elaine, and concluding with an alternate take on Genesis. The stories intersect to a degree, but each stands on its own and serves and serves to maneuver everyone into position for grander things to come.
Mazikeen, in her search to restore her face (which was "repaired" by Jill Presto in the previous volume), seeks out her fellow children of Lilith and, as a result, finds herself in an unexpected role--one which puts her in opposition to the man (ahem, fallen angel) she has served faithfully for centuries.
Meanwhile, Elaine, seeking to find her ghostly friend Mona, has an out-of-body experience that allows her to glimpse the goings on in Mazikeen and Lucifer's respective stories. Then a journey to Hell (since that's where some souls do end up, after all), puts her in far more jeopardy than she could have imagined. This story also serves as introduction to the Lady Lys, a demoness with insatiable appetites who will come into play later in this volume, and the series as a whole.
As for Lucifer...well, he's off rewriting Genesis.
Having formed his own creation at the conclusion of Children and Monsters, Lucifer is now setting his cosmos in motion and populating his central world, creating Man and Woman and watching how his creation plays out in comparison to that other, more famous, one. But into every Garden, there comes a Serpent, and Lucifer quickly discovers that sometimes, history does repeat itself.
The titular arc, "A Dalliance with the Damned," is another interlude of sorts. It is, honestly, one of my least favorite parts of the run; a necessary distraction set apart from the main story. A multi-issue setup for things to come, especially surrounding Lucifer's promised duel with Amendiel. The problem with these issues, for me anyway, is that they are too far removed from what has thus far been the main action, and seem to stretch on for too long. After the war in Los Angeles...after Lucifer creating his own independent cosmos and setting himself up as supreme deity...the courtly intrigues of Hell feel dull and disengaged. Though Lys, her plaything Christopher Rudd, and other denizens of Hell will reappear later, there are other, greater, things afoot, and as a reader I am itching to get back to them. The scheming and politics of demonic nobility, though of some import later, feels boring and unnecessary at this juncture, and it always takes some expenditure of will not to skip these issues entirely.
The collection concludes with one of my favorite one-shots, "The Thunder Sermon," which focuses on a determined young woman who's convinced she has been called to Los Angeles by otherworldly forces. She and her lovestruck best friend sneak into Lucifer's newly-rebuilt fortress as the Morningstar is dealing with a series of petitioners seeking worlds of their own in his new creation. Though there are other forces at work here--namely Lucifer and Michael's discussion about the fate of the gateway, and a major twist in Lucifer and Mazikeen’s relationship--they are secondary to the moment when Lucifer crosses paths with one of his unwelcome guests. Lucifer's final words in this issue, to the dying man, are some of the most memorable in the series.
Mazikeen, in her search to restore her face (which was "repaired" by Jill Presto in the previous volume), seeks out her fellow children of Lilith and, as a result, finds herself in an unexpected role--one which puts her in opposition to the man (ahem, fallen angel) she has served faithfully for centuries.
Meanwhile, Elaine, seeking to find her ghostly friend Mona, has an out-of-body experience that allows her to glimpse the goings on in Mazikeen and Lucifer's respective stories. Then a journey to Hell (since that's where some souls do end up, after all), puts her in far more jeopardy than she could have imagined. This story also serves as introduction to the Lady Lys, a demoness with insatiable appetites who will come into play later in this volume, and the series as a whole.
As for Lucifer...well, he's off rewriting Genesis.
Having formed his own creation at the conclusion of Children and Monsters, Lucifer is now setting his cosmos in motion and populating his central world, creating Man and Woman and watching how his creation plays out in comparison to that other, more famous, one. But into every Garden, there comes a Serpent, and Lucifer quickly discovers that sometimes, history does repeat itself.
The titular arc, "A Dalliance with the Damned," is another interlude of sorts. It is, honestly, one of my least favorite parts of the run; a necessary distraction set apart from the main story. A multi-issue setup for things to come, especially surrounding Lucifer's promised duel with Amendiel. The problem with these issues, for me anyway, is that they are too far removed from what has thus far been the main action, and seem to stretch on for too long. After the war in Los Angeles...after Lucifer creating his own independent cosmos and setting himself up as supreme deity...the courtly intrigues of Hell feel dull and disengaged. Though Lys, her plaything Christopher Rudd, and other denizens of Hell will reappear later, there are other, greater, things afoot, and as a reader I am itching to get back to them. The scheming and politics of demonic nobility, though of some import later, feels boring and unnecessary at this juncture, and it always takes some expenditure of will not to skip these issues entirely.
The collection concludes with one of my favorite one-shots, "The Thunder Sermon," which focuses on a determined young woman who's convinced she has been called to Los Angeles by otherworldly forces. She and her lovestruck best friend sneak into Lucifer's newly-rebuilt fortress as the Morningstar is dealing with a series of petitioners seeking worlds of their own in his new creation. Though there are other forces at work here--namely Lucifer and Michael's discussion about the fate of the gateway, and a major twist in Lucifer and Mazikeen’s relationship--they are secondary to the moment when Lucifer crosses paths with one of his unwelcome guests. Lucifer's final words in this issue, to the dying man, are some of the most memorable in the series.