Neil Gaiman’s Lucifer: Reconsidering Milton’s Satan

Neil Gaiman’s writing often features religious themes, drawing on mythologies from around the world. One of his earlier works, the comic book The Sandman, is especially interesting because Gaiman engages in an intertextual dialogue with Milton about Satan and, more generally, Christian depictions of Hell; he replaces both with versions of Lucifer and Hell/Gehenna drawn from the Jewish tradition. His other work draws on his Jewish background far less overtly, so for readers interested in the sources Gaiman draws on, The Sandman is especially significant.