Lucifer #14: Stirring the Pot

I’ve read Lucifer #14 a couple of times now. I absolutely loved it from start to finish. Page one grabbed me immediately with Lucifer among the cosmos and the reader being told he is dancing in the heart of a dying star. It is little moments like this that really sell The Sandman Universe to me. “Since then he has gone dancing in the heart of a dying star. He has sampled the still-respiring cuisine of a living necropolis, and taught himself to sing in the language of termites.” Imagery and language like this is completely elevated by the David Bowie likeness. From page one it is clear that Lucifer can do whatever he wants.

Free will has always been a major theme in for Lucifer both in Sandman and his own eponymous outings. Does Lucifer have free will? Does anyone? Lucifer says he does but I am not so sure. In Hades, Lucifer confronts Cassandra for shackling him to prophecy and reminds her that he takes no part in them. However, when Lucifer realizes that the prophecy regarding the Wild Hunt may benefit him, he decides to take part. So if it was in the prophecy that Lucifer would get involved, was it really his free will to agree? Regardless, Lucifer is in.

I am a big fan of pot-stirring: chili, soup, tomato sauce, and trouble-making. I’m sure the Morningstar is capable of all of these, but in Lucifer #14 he focuses on trouble making. He must build a house for the hunted, so like anyone he heads to the local hardware store. Things do not go as planned, so as Lucifer is leaving he stirs the pot. The owner of the store confronts a customer, a longtime friend, about sleeping with his wife. Lucifer thrives off of chaos, so he goes on with his merry day. The process of building the house was really cool, Lucifer forms the concrete from a single cell which shows that he really is building the house by his own hand. A cat hangs out while he builds and they talk about hunting. Lucifer tells the cat, “Hunters always think they understand their prey. They watch them so closely. As the prey do the hunters. Each obsesses on the other like a lover.” Readers then see an adorable montage of Mazikeen following Lucifer. He always turns her away, like a twisted cat and mouse game … and then we see the cat with a mouse. The cat also has a two tone face, one side orange and the other black. Is the cat somehow Mazikeen?

Things aren’t going well at the hardware store. The owner has killed his friend and now the owner’s wife has killed him. The love triangle comes to an end as a post-pub John Constantine walks into a store. As he is asking if the Devil has been there he sees that the pot was stirred a little too much. Seeing the woman preparing a noose, Constantine says, “Don’t suppose there’s anything I could do to talk you out of–” and she kicks the chair. He continues, “Bloody hell.” Constantine has now made an appearance in almost every Sandman Universe title, which makes me even more excited for his series coming next week. DC Black Label seems to be the perfect place Constantine and this appearance makes me very hopeful for what’s to come.

The house is built, there’s a cat, Constantine is around, so what’s next? The closing pages of the issue feature an interesting conversation between Odin and Achilles. Odin is recruiting Achilles for The Wild Hunt. Early in this issue Achilles told Lucifer that one day he would hunt him down and kill him. Odin is giving him that opportunity. This exchange just brings back the idea of free will. Is it prophecy or is it free will?