Lucifer (series)

Lucifer was a comic series published by Vertigo, a spin-off from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman focusing on the titular character, Lucifer Morningstar. The series continues from the story Season of Mists and Lucifer's first mini-series, Sandman Presents: Lucifer, and builds off of plot threads set up therein. The series ran from June 2000 to August 2006. It received a second volume revival beginning in 2016 that concluded in 2018, with Lucifer's story continuing into a new series within The Sandman Universe.

Premise
The series follows Lucifer Morningstar as he tries to create a world of his own and gets involved in the affairs of angels, demons, gods, and mortals in the process.

History
After some ten billion years, Lucifer abandoned Hell. During his tenure, he played the various demons of Hell against each other, provided a place for dead mortals to be tormented, but at some point, he got fed up, bored with his existence. He wearied of being the blame for every sin from  mortals, such as the idea that he purchased and traded for souls, which was untrue. He resented the assumption that he caused the evils humans committed - he did not, in fact, have anything to do with the actions of the mortals, he simply punished them once they were dead. He felt it an unfair his punishment for one rebellion was eternal. Lucifer finally emptied Hell before locking Hell's gates and handing over the key to Hell to Dream of the Endless. Eventually, control of Hell was handed over to two Angels, Duma, the angel of silence and Remiel, while Lucifer retired to Earth.

The series has him running a piano bar, "Lux" in Los Angeles with the assistance of his consort, Mazikeen, Lucifer is shown as sophisticated and calculatedly charming. Charismatic and handsome, Lucifer is a deadly and Machiavellian character, with little regard for human life. He is a proud, arrogant, and vindictive fallen angel who has no qualms using his powers, second only to those of his Father.

At one time, Lucifer had been described as having been the wisest, most beautiful, and most powerful of all the angels in heaven. Despite his egotistical and narcissistic tendencies, he does follow his own code of honor. He refuses to ever lie, which he considers to be both crass and undignified, he insists also on paying back debts, and keeps his word whenever it is given.

Lucifer's retirement was disturbed by a series of intrusions from his past, and eventually tried to create a universe in competition with that of his Father. This puts him on a collision course with several powerful entities that have a vested interest in the new creation and draws the angelic host into the fray - including his brother, the archangel Michael Demiurgos.

Of the few beings in the universe he respects, Lucifer's brother, Michael, and the Angel Duma rank highly among them. Just as there are very few he can be said to care about; these include the demon, Mazikeen, and his niece Elaine

Collections

 * Lucifer, Book One - Collects vol. 1 #1-13, plus Sandman Presents: Lucifer #1-3. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401240264
 * Lucifer, Book Two - Collects vol. 1 #14-28, plus Lucifer: Nirvana - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401242602
 * Lucifer, Book Three - Collects vol. 1 #29-45 - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401246044
 * Lucifer, Book Four - Collects vol. 1 #46-61 - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401246051
 * Lucifer, Book Five - Collects vol. 1 #62-75 - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401249458
 * Lucifer, vol. 1: Cold Heaven - Collects vol. 2 #1-6. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401261931
 * Lucifer, vol. 2: Father Lucifer - Collects vol. 2 #7-12. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401265410
 * Lucifer, vol. 3: Blood in the Streets - Collects vol. 2 #13-19. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401271398
 * Lucifer, vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy - Collects vol. 3 #1-6, plus The Sandman Universe Special #1. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401291334
 * Lucifer, vol. 2: The Divine Tragedy - Collects vol. 3 #7-13. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401295721 - Kindle -
 * Lucifer, vol. 3: The Wild Hunt - Collects vol. 3 #14-18 & the unpublished issue #19. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781779502353 - Kindle -
 * Lucifer Omnibus, vol. 1 - Collects vol. 1 #1-35, plus Sandman Presents: Lucifer #1-3 & Lucifer: Nirvana. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781401294762
 * Lucifer Omnibus, vol. 2 - Collects vol. 1 #36-75. - WorldCat - ISBN 9781779505644

Trivia
The Fox/Netflix television series, Lucifer, starring Tom Ellis and Lauren German is loosely based upon the comic, altering the character of Lucifer from blonde to brunette, and from an arrogant and alien sociopath who meddled in human affairs out of mere curiosity, to a more relatable, humanized Lucifer who simply does not understand emotions, and hides his ignorance from long habit behind a cavalier and thoughtless facade.