I’m definitely starting to see the appeal of Holly Black’s take on Neil Gaiman’s character, Lucifer - he retains enough of Gaiman’s uncaring and world-weary Lucifer, as well as a healthy dose of Mike Carey’s interpretation, and draws on Black’s own background and interest in reworking mythology to bring us back to the original Lightbringer. All three incarnations draw heavily on the various ethos surrounding the fallen angel, and as Black explores the world that Gaiman (and DC/Veritgo) has created of Hell she clearly becomes more comfortable putting her own spin on things.

What I enjoyed most about this storyarc was that it heavily featured Mazikeen. Now the reigning Queen of Hell, Mazikeen steps out from Lucifer’s shadow to become a political (and physical) force to be reckoned with as various factions war within Hell (nothing new, considering demons), Earth (also expected, thanks humans), and even Heaven as it is shaken by the disappearance of God. Or whomever they’re referring to him as these days. He’s been shown absent and uncaring of his universal creations in previous stories over the ages, but I’m very curious to see how Black chooses to retell this particular story. Her characters are often flawed and controversial, so in many senses this is a perfect fit for the obviously problematic legions of angels, demons, and humans that populate this portion of the DC/Vertigo multiverse.
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Similar drama about Hell and Heaven as Sandman Slim

The plotting is considerably less dense than in Carey's run, but the efforts at continuing plot threads and character arcs (even going all the way back to "Sandman") are very admirable, and while lacking its predecessor's depth, the plot itself is still interesting and well executed. I still find Lucifer a bit too "traditional devli"-y (as opposed to his much more narrowly defined personality in the Carey run), but the change is slight enough that it's within the parameters of what I assume is an immortal's ranges of behaviour. All in all a very satisfying read. ( )

Battles over the ownership of Hell are combined with the threat of a God who has decided to recreate the universe, this time without free will. ( )