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Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand
by krisis
I’m happy to announce that my Guide to Lucifer at DC Comics is now available to all CK readers to celebrate for The Morningstar’s appearance in Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman thanks to the ongoing support of the Mighty Patrons of Crushing Krisis.
Many viewers have wondered if Tom Ellis’s seductive version of Lucifer would appear in Netflix’s The Sandman, and were surprised to learn that the character would instead be an androgynous golden-haired version played by Gwendoline Christie.
If you read Gaiman’s introduction of the character with Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg in The Sandman (1988) #4 you’ll see yet another depiction – The Morningstar is drawn as an overt homage to a pre-Ziggy Stardust David Bowie!
My guide lists all of Lucifer’s appearances throughout The Sandman as well as how to collect the subsequent 75-issue Lucifer series by Mike Carey, on which the CW show is very loosely based.
Plus, don’t miss on Dan Watters’ excellent 2018 revival of the title and character for DC’s relaunched Sandman Universe!
by krisis
Gearing up for this week’s debut of Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman? I’ve updated my Definitive Guide to The Sandman Universe with all of the newest collected formats of Gaiman’s landmark 75-issue series, plus its continuation in the 2018 Sandman Universe!
If you’re looking to pick up the entire original run of Sandman for a binge-read after your binge-watch, you currently have five different physical format choices – all summarized below! For full collection information for each book and plenty of additional information, see the full guide. [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to The Sandman Universe
by krisis
Today’s new guide Patrons of Crushing Krisis is actually three guides (or maybe four, by the time you read this), which seems like overkill for what is essentially a single title with an obvious ten-volume paperback line. But, it’s really so much more than that…
Sandman Universe – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide
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Books of Magic – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide
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Lucifer – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide
I am fascinated by how Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (and, in fact, all of the extended Sandman Universe) bridges the gap between comic books and serious literature.
That fascination has lasted for over 25 years – almost as long as Gaiman’s reinvention of the Golden Age character has existed.
Even the most-knowledgable comic fan could be forgiven for not knowing that Morpheus the King of Dreams was merely an iteration on an already-rebooted Golden Age DC hero. The original Sandman, Wesley Dodds, was a minor character who ran for seven years in the Golden Age and then popped back up twenty years later in the Earth 2 Justice Society of America in the Silver Age.
Without Gaiman and Morpheus, Dodds would probably be that one JSA member whose name you could never recall. His Silver Age iteration certainly wouldn’t jog your memory – a Kirby/Simon creation meant to be Mr. Sandman who lasted just six issues and who was later retconned in Wonder Woman to be a professor lost in the world of dreams.
There was no harm in Neil Gaiman revamping such a character to a more adult version early in the Post-Crisis years in 1989. At the time, Gaiman was still a relative unknown, coming off of the slept-on Black Orchid mini-series – a similar act of excavation and reinvention. He was so used to tepid reception to his early work that he expected Sandman to run just eight issues, which is why the first eight form such a satisfying arc despite being a mix of one-shots and continuing stories. He though that would be the whole series!
Instead, The Sandman became the springboard off of which Gaiman launched his multimedia fame in a miraculous three-year run from 1990-93 that saw him release Books of Magic at DC, the novel Good Omens (with Terry Prachett), win a World Fantasy Award in a category where Sandman wasn’t even eligible, essentially give birth to what we know as the modern American graphic novel market with the first two Sandman trade paperbacks, and top it off with the landmark Death: The High Cost of Living (the collection of which would be introduced by his friend and frequent name-checker, Tori Amos). [Read more…] about New for Patrons: The Definitive Guides to The Sandman Universe
The definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for DC Comics Lucifer comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated August 2022 with titles scheduled for release through January 2023.
Lucifer Morningstar. Rebellious Angel of Heaven. Lord of Hell.
We first meet the DC Comics Lucifer of the Sandman Universe in The Sandman (1989) #4, where he is modeled on Space Oddity era David Bowie. He is a prickly and clever opponent for the still-recovering Morpheus, but one who allows for a battle of wits with his proxy rather than a physical confrontation.
That’s why it’s so surprising when Lucifer abdicates his throne in “Season of Mists,” handing the key to his kingdom to his former foe, Morpheus and decamping to the mortal coil to live on Earth.
Lucifer continues as a supporting character through the end of Neil Gaiman’s run on Sandman, also appearing in The Demon and Books of Magic in the 90s. When we find him in Mike Carey’s 1999 mini-series, he is running a piano bar in his exile when an agent of Heaven asks him to intervene in a human wish-granting scheme.
This highlights the central conflict of this version of Lucifer. Does he have free will? Does anyone? In choosing to abandon hell or aid heaven, is Lucifer flouting the shape of God’s plan or going along with it? This Lucifer seems to yo-yo between rebellion and self-destruction, never quite sure which which will cause more deviation from God’s plan. [Read more…] about DC Comics Lucifer – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order