Bohemia Bunny

Devil’s handmaiden

October 26th, 2004 by lynnylchan under Uncategorized

I have been reading the excellent comic Lucifer for some time now, and I was comparing it to its original series The Sandman. I call it the original series because it was in Sandman that Lucifer in his current form and character appeared.

More specfically, I was pondering its use of mythology. Neil Gaiman’s landmark series practically DRIPS with references to myth, literature and popular culture. Lucifer does so but to a lesser and more subtle degree. I never thought I would imply that Neil Gaiman was anything less than a consummate storyteller with the vital skill of subtlety, but here I am. When characters from other realms of mythology appeared in Sandman, it was always very clear and obvious who they were and where they came from. Thessaly was obviously a reference to a bunch of witches, Calliope to the Muses, Bast to the ancient Egyptian pantheon.

Mike Carey, writer of Lucifer, also brings in elements of mythology and history, but somehow I didn’t really notice until I started on this comparison exercise. I’m looking through my 4 volumes of Lucifer now, playing spot-the-reference.

In Volume 1 - Devil in the Gateway, the first culture to come up is the Navajo culture, through the introduction of Rachel Begai. I was re-reading it, and noticed a small foreshadowing of Erishad, who will appear in the next book. The angels Remiel and Duma (a particular favourite of mine) appear, and the Japanese god as well, although not in a particularly significant role. (Everything with this books is about foreshadowing.) There’s something in there about tarot cards, and even more angels (seem to be a lot of them wandering about on Earth).

Volume 2 is cool. Beginning from this story arc, the artistic team is settled. Although there’s nothing special about Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly’s artwork, that is to say nothing unique and different from the usual comic style, I like it a lot. It’s clear, easy to see and captures action and emotion, which is all I ask. The layout for “The House of Windowless Rooms” is particularly good. A good part of Volume 2 is occupied by Japanese gods. There’s something about Chaldaea in here, which I don’t get at all, and the religious practices of civilisations long gone. The tarot cards appear again later, and then a bit of angelic mythology. Heaven looks like a proper bureaucracy. Not the heaven of the afterlife, rather the heaven of the angels’ residence. They sit around and debate, strategise, and whine. No happy human souls wandering around this part of town…

In fact there aren’t many happy souls to be seen. You have disturbed souls like ghosts, spirits of the underworld, and of course the souls in torment who inhabit Hell… Hell just looks gross. Vertigo has the goriest drawings I’ve seen in comics, apart from Japanese manga. But then… I haven’t read any other comics in some time. But perhaps there is a reason why my Vertigo titles are ’suggested for mature readers’.

Volume 3 doesn’t have any mythology in it. It’s all just about hell and the demons that live there. They live such pampered lives. It’s like a grotesque mirror of the aristocracy. Those who own fields of tormented souls are the landlords, and they live like the aristocracy of England did. Swanning around, playing cards and being fashion victims. Pity about having to live in hell forever and ever, though. There’s also something about the first wife of Adam, and how she left Eden to be free from the subservience expected of her.

Volume 4 has the Japanese god making another appearance. Man but he has a bone to pick with Lucifer. A cherub or two make an appearance, in fact, they get a whole issue to themselves. Here we learn more about the hierarchy of heaven and the creation of the universe. Something that strikes me about the portrayal of God in Lucifer is that it’s more towards the Judaic mono-theist tradition. There’s no mention of Jesus or the Holy Spirit. In Volume 2, God (or Yahweh as some characters call him) is referred to as the ‘God of the covenant’ by some hapless guy who will die in service of the story.

That’s that so far. Unlike Gaiman, no Greek or Roman gods or spirits have had a cameo. Then again, that’s because Lucifer has no use for them. Unlike Dream of the Endless, he is not of all faiths and religions. And when he possessed an item of infinite power, not gods but demons and evil spirits came to ask him for a share in it. When Morpheus held the key to hell, so many came to visit him - envoys from Egypt, Faerie, Asgard, and other cultures. They were all gods (with the exception of the angels who came to look after matters), not shape changers or demon-spawn.

Oh, and I handed up my history paper today. I stayed up till 5 am to finish it off. Now all I have to worry about is the relevance of the content to the question… but that’s one paper off the list!