Nut Ink. Mini reviews of texts old and new. No fuss. No plot spoilers. No adverts. Occasional competency.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Lucifer: Vol 7: Exodus (2005)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrators: Peter Gross / Ryan Kelly | Page Count: 168

I served our Father faithfully,
and my reward was to be chastised for not being you.”

Book 7 of 11 in the Lucifer series.  The Morningstar is forced to take preventative measures to ensure the safety of his property.  After the effort expelled to create and then to keep it, to leave it open to God’s whim now would be folly.  This forces him into a position with the Heavenly Host that’d he’d rather avoid but sometimes circumstance forces even the hand of the angels.

Elsewhere, the secondary characters are given more to do, in a more thought-out and interesting storyline than last time.  And while this leaves Lucifer absent a lot of the time it really didn't matter because the parallel storylines kept my attention diverted.

There's a lot of humour in Exodus.  It was unexpected but not unwelcome after the drawn-out nature of the previous book.  The fugly little fallen Cherub Gaudium gets a chance to shine.  He and his sister could sustain an off-shoot of their own, about the domestic problems of two incompetent siblings.  I’d buy it.

There's a beautifully penned dark fairytale about a troubled boy and an eager, pensive demon.  It works both in the context of the Lucifer universe and would work equally well if it were removed from it.  It reminded me why I fell in love with comics.  Their ability to be both heart-warming visually and filled with deeper metaphor textually is a great strength.

The final few pages are a cliff-hanger that had me grasping for the next volume off the shelf immediately.

The book collects together Lucifer issues 42 - 44, and 46 – 49

4 great needs to blaspheme out of 5

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