Review – Lucifer #2 (DC Vertigo)

Publisher: DC Vertigo
Writer: Dan Watters
Artwork: Max Fiumara, Sebastian Fiumara
Colours: Dave McCaig
Letters: Steve Wands
Release Date: 21^st November 2018

Lucifer continues to dazzle this week in the second issue of the ambitious Vertigo relaunch. Still trapped in an as yet unknown realm of existence, Lucifer finds himself falling faster and deeper than even his original fall from grace. Blinded, beaten, insane and looked after by a mothering caretaker with a tendency to patronise the king of lies. But the character we’ve known all this time is clearly still in there somewhere, compelled to dig every day in search of the reason behind his imprisonment and the source of those mysterious statues.

In a simply beautiful set of scenes we learn of the two witches’ connections to Lucifer, a series of scenes that I have to say provide one of the most beautiful and haunting portrayals of Lucifer in the entire history of the character. The feeling of there being puzzle for the reader to figure out continues here as we’re drip-fed information, almost like every page is another page of evidence in a huge dossier of unsolved crimes. But these pages are sent to you gift wrapped in that quintessential Sandman style, with Max and Sebastian Fiumara and Dave McCaig delivering beautiful images of these well-known characters in haunting scenes covered in blood, gore and Gothic architecture.

Last issue had me fishing out my old Vertigo collections of the original Lucifer series, both to compare and in an attempt to look for more clues. What made that series so great was the continuity that was maintained over years of publication, with seemingly throwaway characters making small decisions that would end up literally tearing the universe apart.

I also loved the way that the character of Lucifer Morningstar was always ten steps ahead, using that knowledge to bend the situation to his advantage like a dark twisted Columbo reveal in the final scene. And in weird way this current revamp both continues and completely departs from that formula as Watters throws Morningstar into the bottom of someone else’s scheme, testing him to see if he really is as brilliant as he always appeared to be.

The art and story work in tandem this issue to emphasise the contrast between new and old, showing the Lord of Darkness in a way we all knew him to be, as opposed to his ironic Jesus-esque image. It’s this unease that makes you want to read on as the creators continue to explore the character in new and continuingly surprising ways.

Rating: 5/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK]