Faster than a DC Bullet: Lucifer, Part VIII: Exodus

Comic trade paperback, 165 pages
Published 2005 (contents: 2003-04)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2012

Lucifer: Exodus

Writer: Mike Carey

Artists: Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly

Colorist: Daniel Vozzo
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher

This volume is has two distinct halves.  The first, "Brothers in Arms," features two pretty dopey Greek gods discovering that Yahweh has departed our universe, and attempting to take his place at the center of creation.  When I had anticipated that the departure of God in Mansions of Silence would lead to some stories, I had thought they would be more interesting than this.  They're a little too comic to take seriously as a threat (though admittedly they have their moments), and the battle becomes a little too arbitrary-magic-rules at time. (They create a duplicate of Lucifer... somehow... which will kill him when he touches it... for some reason... and yet when he fights it, he survives... some way.)

The story does succeed in part, though, by being focalized through the perspective of the waitress who worked in Lucifer's bar before it was converted into a temple, fighting alongside Mazikeen against some demons.  It turns out that she fell in love with Mazikeen, and Carey wrings a lot out of her confusion at the strange happenings in her life since then.  And the climax, with her and Mazikeen in the Silver City, is one of the best moments in the series so far. (Though could Mazikeen wear an outfit any less like armor?) I also like Lucifer being forced to defend the Silver City.  So it has its moments, even if I was overall disappointed in it.

The second half of Exodus is two interlocked stories: "Stitchglass Slide" and "Wire, Briar, Limber Lock."  In these stories, Lucifer decides that all immortals must be evicted from his new universe, and Elaine Belloc, half-angel and guardian of everything beside hedgehogs, assembles a task force to take care of the problem.  I liked this one a lot, but like many of the best Lucifer stories, Lucifer's not in it a whole lot. (The same problem that afflicted Gaiman's Sandman, I suppose.) Carey creates a really interesting demon for them to fight, one who weaves physical objects out of emotional responses, and forms a touching relationship with a young boy from Earth who stumbles through one of the portals into Lucifer's universe.  It's nice to see Elaine taking charge, but in her own way distinct from Lucifer.  I liked these stories a lot.