Lucifer Vol. 8: The Wolf Beneath the Tree
TheSandmanspin-off comic bookLuciferrebounds from recent doldrums with three story arcs: a novella, a short story, and a novel. The novella, "Lilith," shows how that precursor of Eve is responsible for two fallen angels (one of whom becomes Lucifer, so this is an origins legend for him) and the remaining angels' abode after Lucifer's secession. The short story, "Neutral Ground," is a grimly amusing demon-possession romp: while a failed punk rocker's soul is occupied by a high-level demonic confab, a transvestite guard-demon absconds with his body--and conscience. The novel follows the vendetta of the great wolf Fenris of Norse mythology against the banquet guests who long ago betrayed him, and the fate of a young man who bludgeons wife and child to death; when these plotlines merge, all creation, even Lucifer's domain, is imperiled. WhileLuciferregulars Gross and Kelly limn the big tale, P. Craig Russell fills "Lilith" with his classically perfect figures, and Ted Naifeh (see alsoHow Loathsome,2004) peoples "Neutral Ground" with spiky characters.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved