Morning Star - 5

Wherein we finally see Yahweh in various forms and a good old fashioned Lucifer v/s Fenris fight. Yahweh is waiting for the two people one to speak on the side of Destroying his creation and one for preserving it. We see Elaine in the form she had when she first appeared.
Oh and Lucifer v/s Fenris. He is Lucifer he does not lose. It is ironic to hear Lucifer telling Fenris that fenris isn’t capable of learning new tricks, because Lucifer has remained Lucifer throughout the series. And noema seals her fate by stabbing Lucifer.
Elaines refusal to speak in favour is a neat twist as is her reply of Ill fight you.
And I did guess right , the sword at the ends refers to the cutting of the Gordian knot

Fireside Tales

When we last saw martin, thole’s son he left us with the lines ‘The grief I keep within me, atleast until I can weave it into something else. And we now see in this story that he does.
This is a story about stories. The centaurs are having a story telling competition and Martin is participating. Where he meets Elaine again. The first story deals with lies and their cost. The second with truth and its cost. And the third is Martins., the third is about lies , truth and love woven by Martin.
We do not get to see who wins the competition but we do see a side of Elaine that we haven’t before.
The art is nowhere as good as peter gross’ but the writing. “It too is a lie. All stories are lies. But good stories are lies made of light and fire.” And Lucifer certainly qualifies for that

Morningstar - Part 4

Christoper Rudd brings his damned and demons to join the war between the Host and the Lilim. And he attacks both. Fenris goes to destroy the primium mobile and Lucifer who has been wounded by fenris is healed by Esa Corla and goes back to the silver city , still retaining his sense of sarcasm. Duma is informed of Michaels death and I wonder if this will have repercussions. Lilith seems to repent, but is mortally wounded.
But the strongest points of this issue is Lucifers, Elaines and Christophers dialogue which sums up their essence
When Lucifer wants Elaine to sit on Gods throne and she asks him why not you , Lucifer replies
Ill see Creation fall rather than sit on the Chair. And you have the same choice of course .
Always the manipulative bastard. Rudd To Elaine. Promise me this If Creation endures , rebuild it without a heaven or hell and Elaine replies If I have anything to do with rebuilding, there wont be a hell
And as always Carey has an end to the issue to surprise you. Fenris destroys the primium mobile

This sisters of mercy

This story is an epilogue of sorts to the naglfar where the fates of Elaine and Mona are decided. By Elaines choice of wanting to be the guardian angel of the Lucifers creation we perhaps are seeing what the future will have in store for her. The story basically has Elaines and Mona’s realization that they have no place in their creation anymore and it is time to move on. Carey adds his usual wry humour like when mona and Elaine are back in their creation Elaine remarks Tatu is good. For those not in the know, Tatu was a two girl supposedly lesbian band with one controversial video wherein the tatu duo dress up in school girl uniforms and are seen making out. Im not entirely sure if the storyteller technique used is a tip of the hat to Gaimans Prelude to dolls house . certainly the lines I have told it to you dear one as my mother told it to me. Keep it silent in your heart until you tell it too are reminiscent of gaimans similar lines. Lucifers lines about worshipping ridiculous gods which bring the concept into disrepute also reminds me of alan moore’s comments when he started worshipping some snake god.
The art is too cartoony this issue. No issue of Lucifer is complete without some of Lucifers quips and the one that stands out this issue is Lucifers reply to Bergelmirs I still believe  that you’ll be bought to pay for it , one way or the other . Lucifer replies  Well belief is meant to be a great consolation. Take it with you when you go.

The Crux

In this story arc we finally get to see Mazikeen meet with her mother Lilith. As can be expected there are no tears or joy between these two. There is also a striking contrast between the Lilith we saw in issue 50 and the Lilith we see here, though the seeds were always present. Lilith has been manipulated by the Berim, The Silk Man and Sandalphon to agree to support them when the crux arrives. Their plan is to simply smash the Primium Mobile and prevent the God of their creation from ever returning. The significance of the Primium mobile is not apparent to me but the characters do take it as a given. Parts of Briadach’s origin are also shown.
The utter ruthlessness of berim is also chilling . When asked by Lilith what the cost would be. Berim Replies , Your children. Will it please you to come in from the cold?
We see how much Lilith has hardened when she agrees to the plan. And the scene when Berim describes Elaines fate saying what could she have to set against the wind of fire ?
Her will? Her Hope? Her smattering of half-glimpsed wisdom? Nothing . She has Nothin gwith the backdrop of Lucifer reaching out and holding her hand is a scene straight out of JLA. Thougn Lucifer would never do anything if it didn’t benefit him. Lilith takes control of her children and imprisons both mazikeen and briadach to prepare for the battle.
There are glimpses of Lucifers  black humor. To Elaines Oh thank God, its still there Lucifer replies Thank who? Which is a far cry from his you came to my house and prayed to him.
We also get to see Carey’s style or revealing the glimpses of what is yet to come told in the start of the story which hints of the war in the Silver City.
And the ending of Lucifer standing over Elaine saying Now we begin is dramatic.

The wheels of God

The Judge Solomon puts out his own brand of justice , though his means seem to now resemble Lucifer’s. And we see the fates of two characters whom we had seen early in the series, Jayesh And Karl. Meleos makes an appearance as well and we should see the two again in Morningstar towards the end I think.
David tires to manipulate a crooked cop, a politician, a gangster and Karl so that each is ruined or dead to satisfy his sense of justice. The plan goes awry when Meleos intervenes with “You still have a choice even if its all you have” to the police officer.
It ends with perhaps what we as the readers also probably had already realized. He already knows. He Has always known.  

The Beast cant take your call right now

A comic interlude story , starring Gaudium and Spera written as an interlude by mike possibly to heighten the suspense as we are midway through Morningstar and everyone expects a Fenris v/s Lucifer battle. But no one minds , since Gaudium is always good for a few laughs. I didnt like Kaluta's rendering of Gaudium. It seems to me that whenever Peter draws the Lucifer comic book, then the characters seem just right (with the sole of exception of Lilith).
As the demons have left hell to join Lucifer , when an evil magician conjures up the most powerful demon in hell, to strike a bargain with him, he gets the only demon in hell, Gaudium. Who is still prepared to bargain , since he'd be one soul ahead of the competition. The magician tricks gaudium and is in turn tricked by spera.This is essentially a gag story with just one really noteworthy dialog (which isnt by carey), Hell is other people

The Eight Sin

A story focusing on *Christ*opher Rudd , which attempts to question some of the fundamentals of hell. I.e. where the sinners are damned and punished and their penance is eternal. This is what you get from most religions. Hell (Nark) for the people who sin and there can be no redemption.
In Lucifer however, Christopher preaches compassion in hell, and that nothing is eternal, even the damned can change which brings him in conflict with Remiel who believes that only through suffering, can the guilt be burned away.
It ends with Duma judging Christopher fit to rule them in hell.
Gaudium puts in a guest appearance to add a dash of humour with his if i didnt exist someone would have to invent me!(from voltaire!) and Christopher breaking bread with the damned(i seem to remember this as something from christs last supper but i cant remember).
A thought provoking story this, because when would you consider someone beyond redemption?. You could say never till you read some stories in the newspaper, too heinous to mention of the things humanity is capable of.

The Yahweh Dance

The Yahweh Dance
In which we learn of Elaine’s attempts to form the third creation. With Elaine trying to cope with Michaels powers pouring into her, he forms a third creation. Suitably commented on by Lucifer at every step the story traces Elaine as she tries to establish a universe. With a couple of examples demonstrating how Elaine’s interference in her creation always has side effects , Carey tries to drive home the point that if God did create us , he would still leave us to our own devices.
The art in the issue is not quite up to the mark, but then I have probably been spoilt by Peter Gross’s work.
The dialog is as ever great and I especially liked the end
In tribute to her we leave our own storied unfinished still
Until she comes back to tell us the out come of hers

Children And Monsters -Prelude

A short story , in some ways reminiscent of Sandman, wherein the chief protagonist is someone who is only a minor character in the overall series, the *hero* only plays a bit part(but what a part) and the story has the threads that will be tied later.
And taken by itself still an amazing read
The story is of a priestess cursed to live forever a day in her life where she had suffered a miscarriage by some gods who deemed it as punishment for losing her virginity and refusing their offer of death because of the child she carries. The woman yearns for release and meets Lucifer who appears to advise her of her way forward.
Lucifer is of course only interested in her so as to further his interests and he does come out of it with the better bargain as always.