Lucifer Vol. 4: The Devil At Heart
Dan Watters, writer; Max Fiumara, Sebastian Fiumara & Brian Level, artists; Dave McCaig & Dee Cunniffe, colorists
CD Vertigo, 2021
Watters and company bring this chapter in Lucifer's story to a stylish conclusion. In the process they include a wide range of Sandman characters, making it especially appropriate to appear under the Vertigo banner. The previous collection had concluded with a previously unpublished chapter, which would have been monthly issue #19. This one entirely skips the monthly publication schedule: the contents would have been #20-24.
Lucifer had spent the entire previous arc trying to avoid a prophecy. His failure left confusion it its wake, especially among Remiel and Duma (the angels currently in charge of Hell) and the human Beverly Walsh (currently the possessor of Lucifer's heart). Lucifer's entire history has been about the pursuit of free will, and his latest failure drives him to visit the garden of Destiny of the Endless, where he makes good on his threat to entirely erase himself from the pages of the Book of Destiny. The goal is to make it as if he never existed, and the repercussions ripple through human history. It seems that humanity needs the devil in unimaginable ways.
Lucifer's farewell letter reaches Mazikeen in the Necropolis Letharge, and includes a historical tale of his meeting with the painter Francisco Goya. The consequences of his nonexistence extends even to the Heavenly Host: in the absence of the devil, even god seems absent. In short, if the Devil did not exist it would be necessary to invent him (a twist on Voltaire's famous statement about God). It could be argued that this is yet another reset, but it's such a fun read--and so well illustrated by Level, the Fiumaras and McCaig, who really get the classic Vertigo atmosphere right--that it is a satisfying conclusion to this chapter in Lucifer's saga. He'll be back.
Replies
When DC chose to stop publishing the monthly book one issue before the last part of the continued story they promised that the contents of issue #19 would be included in both volumes 3 and 4 so that those of us stupid enough to buy the monthly book wouldn't be forced to buy volume 3 just to get one chapter of the previous story. Unless you tell me that issue #19 is also in volume 4, I guess they reneged on that promise.
I am very much on the fence about buying volumes 3 and 4, or neither. I do know that it makes me even more liked to tradewait in the future.
I had not heard about that promise, but I think they did renege on it. I don't remember any repetition of contents between the two volumes. Unfortunately I don't have volume 3 around to check; I read it as an e-comic using the public library's Hoopla service. That might be an option for you as well.
I get emails from DC constantly. One of the emails announced the cancellation of the monthly Lucifer book. That email included the promise.