Read for the Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
The Lucifer series takes off from his appearance in the Sandman series where Dream had removed his wings, and he’s resigned from his job ruling Hell. Instead, he’s gone to Los Angeles, where he owns a piano bar.
What I love about this character is how it takes any ideas you might have about what the ruler of Hell should be like, and pretty much turns them inside out. This Lucifer is merely out for his own good, and isn’t someone you can really assign a label of evil to. In fact, in this book, Heaven asks for his assistance in some matters that they can’t directly intervene in.
This particular collections features two stories: one where the ancient gods of the Nahavo have tried to regain their power by granting everyone’s fondest wishes (a terrible thing to do if you stop and really think about it), and another story where an ancient deck of tarot cards comes alive and wrecks some havoc in Germany. There’s also a story at the very end about a girl who can see ghosts, and uses that ability to solve her best friend’s murder.
This is the kind of book you’ll probably enjoy better if you get a good grounding in the character in his Sandman appearance first. Once you do that, it’s interesting to see where he goes when he’s the center of the tale.