Lucifer #1 Review: A Good Mix Of Old And New

Lucifer #1
Writer Holly Black
Artist Lee Garbett

The original Lucifer run in Vertigo comics was a dark thing of beauty, one that almost led me to completely avoiding this new series. I’m glad I didn’t. This book makes sure to pay homage to the past while striking out to create its own story. It begins with the perfect beats, starting in a place where no previous knowledge is necessary. The book manages to honor the past of Lucifer both in myth and as a Vertigo character. It is filled with nods to the old series and exists firmly within the shape and structure left by what came before.

In the story, we have a larger mystery that both frames and implies the smaller mysteries within. As Lucifer crashed into existence a week ago and is just returning to the scene, we are reminded that the world has continued to trudge forth without him. This book is quick to show us that what was once familiar to him is no longer the way things are. We are in a world he recognizes but no longer knows all the details within.

All the details within the book are crisp and clean. While I rarely mention the artist in my reviews, the art of Lee Garbett makes this an easy read and only contributes to the story. His work is crisp, stylized, and as dark as the story calls for it to be. His angels are as imposing as the new lord of hell is both sexy and frightening.

More from Comics

• X-Men: 6 reasons why Marvel’s mutants are the best superhero team
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• Marvel Comics announces seven important X-Men comic books
• The X-Men were betrayed by Captain America in Uncanny Avengers
• Spider-Man: Miles and Peter team-up for their first ongoing series

This series understands the importance of what Lucifer is and isn’t. It manages to show his mythological size and grandeur simply and efficiently in background details while both pushing the story along and letting his voice retain it’s natural quality. Lucifer is the fallen angel who has seen everything creation has to hold and beyond. That is held in the way he speaks. He’s intelligent, he’s pointed, he’s arrogant and very much an individual, all hallmarks of his character.

In all, Lucifer #1 is a fine return to Vertigo’s world of angels and demons, of Heaven and Hell and Earth.

It is a setting thick with possibility, brought to us through the only guide with the hubris and ingenuity to get us to the end. The door in is a murder mystery the size of our universe, and ahead of us are questions about what happened in his time away, both to Lucifer and to the world he left behind. Holly Black has given herself a massive playground to work in, and I look forward to seeing what she’ll build.