Lucifer, Vol. 2: Children and Monsters by Mike Carey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Retired Lord of Hell Lucifer continues to collect the items he needs to put his plan into action, and this series continues to be awesome. One of the best dark fantasies I’ve read. Mike Carey is up there with Gaiman and Ennis in my book.
Lucifer, Vol. 1: Devil in the Gateway by Mike Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What happens to Lucifer after he resigns his post as Lord of Hell in Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN? He moves to L.A., opens a piano bar, and gets his own comic courtesy of Mike Carey. This first collected trade edition hooked me from the get-go. Carey’s imagination is vast and dark, filled with magic and monsters–just the way I like it. He writes Lucifer as a smart, charming, and utterly selfish conman who often winds up doing right by others only because it will help him achieve some other goal. The three story arcs in this volume are compelling and also a lot of fun. The only reason I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that the plot resolutions feel rushed, not allowing the reader to fully grasp the implications of what just happened. But Carey is such a good writer I have no doubt this is an issue he’ll overcome in the following volumes.
Hey, everyone, here’s a sneak peek at the cover art for Die and Stay Dead, the sequel to Dying Is My Business!
There might still be a tweak or two before it’s considered final, but what do you think of this scene of Trent facing down some demons in a smoky New York City alley?
What’s it about? Funny you should ask! Here’s a teaser:
A brutal murder in Greenwich Village puts Trent and the Five-Pointed Star on the trail of Erickson Arkwright, the last surviving member of the Aeternis Tenebris doomsday cult. The cult believed the world would end on New Year’s Eve of 2000. When it didn’t, they decided to end it themselves by summoning Nahash-Dred, a powerful, terrifying demon known as the Destroyer of Worlds. But something went wrong. The demon massacred the cult instead, leaving Arkwright the sole survivor. Now, hiding somewhere in New York City with a new identity, Arkwright is planning to summon the demon again and finish the job he started all those years ago. As Trent rushes to assemble the pieces of a long-lost artifact that may be the only way to stop him, the clues begin to mount that Arkwright’s nefarious history and Trent’s forgotten past might be linked. And if they are, it means the truth of who Trent really is may lay buried in the twisted mind of a madman. (Not final copy.)
Also in this book, Trent gets a girlfriend! (Sorry, Trent and Bethany ‘shippers.)
Die and Stay Dead is scheduled to hit bookstore shelves September 30. That’s still quite a ways away, but in the meantime you can already pre-order the paper edition here. The e-book edition will be available closer to the pub date.
Haven’t picked up a copy of Dying Is My Business yet? Maybe these awesome reviews will change your mind!
