Review - Lucifer #18: Hunters at War

Lucifer #18 – Dan Watters, Writer; Max Fiumara, Artist; Dave McCaig, Colorist

Ratings:

Ray – 9/10

Ray: DC has normally stayed away from the Norse Gods for the most part, due to their dominance over at the competition. But Dan Watters has waded into those tricky waters with the current arc of Lucifer, which casts Odin as the main villain of the story – or does it? As always with Lucifer, truth is a tricky thing and you never know who to trust.

Lucifer has been ferrying the Hunted God around, trying to stay one step ahead of Odin – not helped by the fact that the Hunted God is a shy middle-aged woman who has no tolerance for Lucifer’s arrogance and no problem slapping him when he’s rude. It’s an amusing dynamic, but it’s only a small part of Lucifer #18 as we see how Lucifer and Odin’s rivalry built up over untold millennia and centered around an endless array of atrocities. This is one of the darkest issues of the series, and definitely one of the most compelling.

It all starts with the Wild Hunt trespassing into Hell one eon, which Odin sees as a backwoods realm and Lucifer sees as his sacred territory. Lucifer lets them take their victim and complete the ritual, but he exacts a price – to join the Wild Hunt in its next cycle. And that’s where this title takes a huge turn, as Odin weaves a tale that portrays Lucifer as the biggest monster he’s ever been – hunting an innocent soul not just as part of a ritual, but as part of a deranged obsession with torturing it into oblivion.

Is Lucifer just luring the Hunted God into his trap? Or is Odin looking for revenge and using any lie he can to get it? In a title with no heroes, it’s a lot easier to get thrown by the various characters as they try to manipulate each other – and you. Lucifer #18 has some genuinely disturbing visuals, and potentially one of the most evil takes on Lucifer we’ve ever seen.