By a happy coincidence - or then again, perhaps not - incoming X-Men writer Mike Carey is also finishing off an assignment this week, by concluding his Vertigo title Lucifer.

Vertigo have released countless Sandman spin-offs over the years, of which this is just one.  The numbers have dwindled recently, but back in the day you couldn't move for stories featuring a minor character who had three lines of dialogue in Sandman #17, usually discovering the exciting world of lesbianism and tarot.  Most of them were, shall we say, less than memorable.

Against that background, Lucifer stands out as establishing a real identity of its own, and relying less heavily on the reflected loyalty of Neil Gaiman's fanbase.  It takes as its starting point Gaiman's use of Lucifer in "Season of Mists", but largely follows its own path from there, sticking to the ground rules of the Sandman universe without trying to clone the book.  Caitlin Kiernan's The Dreaming can arguably make a similar claim, but it had the benefit of being presented as a direct sequel to Sandman, and still got cancelled five years ago with issue #60.

With this final issue, Carey reprises his key theme.  Lucifer isn't truly evil in this series, at least not in the conventional sense.  He doesn't want power and he doesn't care about worshippers.  He doesn't especially want to hurt other characters, although he isn't too concerned if they happen to get in his way.  Ultimately, though, Lucifer's main concern is simply to escape the shadow of his creator and become his own man.  He rejects the idea that God's plan represents any sort of ineffable wisdom, and sees no reason why he should play along - other than the possibility that he has no choice.  So the series follows Lucifer as he tries to escape God's plan and, ultimately, leave creation entirely.

Whether you regard this as a worthwhile cause to be fighting for, and the final panel of Lucifer flying off alone into the void as triumphant or as an empty victory, is of course precisely the point.  Our instinct is to root for him, because all he truly wants is his autonomy.  On the other hand, his idea of autonomy is so purist that he seems unable to tolerate any world where he doesn't have total control - even if he then doesn't want the responsibility.

Admittedly, it's not Sandman, and the early issues have some very obvious isn't-this-Vertigo bits - lots of tarot, for example.  But it's been a very good series with a powerful central theme, and this final issue does an excellent job of reprising the big ideas and putting the finishing touches to the main character's arc.  Exactly what a final issue ought to do.

Rating: A

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