â??Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heavenâ? was Luciferâ??s unforgettable, damning judgment in Miltonâ??s â??Paradise Lost.â? Heaven had been rent by warring winged factions, with Lucifer leading the rebels. The losers were exiled to hell. Rather than make peace with the Almighty, the fallen angels decide to tempt man, to pull him down to their domain. Youâ??ve likely heard the rest of that story in Sunday school or elsewhere: snake, Eve, apple cores, exile.
Countless scribes have tried their quills at writing Old Scratch. Only a few added anything that resonated. Itâ??s possibleâ??in my judgment, itâ??s likelyâ??the tag team of British comic book writers Neil Gaiman and Mike Carey pulled off that difficult trick. In his hit comic â??The Sandman,â? Gaiman gave us Lucifer Morningstar, lord of Hell who changed his mind after 10 billion years on that sulfurous throne.
Read Full Article »