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Tyrrell, Thomas. "“I didn’t say it. Milton said it. And he was blind”: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Paradise Lost." The Luminary 7 2016. Accessed 23Mar. 2021. <https://www.lancaster.a ... sue%207/Article%202.pdf>. Added by: joachim (3/23/21, 5:05 PM) Last edited by: joachim (3/23/21, 5:15 PM) |
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| Resource type: Web Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed BibTeX citation key: Tyrrell2016 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "Footsteps", "Paradise Lost", "Secret Origins", "The Sandman", Gaiman. Neil, Intertextuality, Literature, Milton. John, Moore. Alan, Religion, United Kingdom, USA Creators: Tyrrell Collection: The Luminary |
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| Attachments | URLs https://www.lancas ... 07/Article%202.pdf |
| Abstract |
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With his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) John Milton envisioned a dramatic universe that combined Christian theology with early modern science, and which had at its heart a vivid and strangely sympathetic antihero in the person of Satan. The influence of his writing on the novels of C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman is well-known, but his influence on the comic book has been relatively neglected. Accordingly, this article traces the introduction of Miltonic motifs and references into the DC Universe, arguing that Milton’s episode of the War in Heaven had already anticipated the Manichean narrative of the classic comic book. Beginning with Alan Moore’s “Footsteps” in Secret Origins #10 and analysing in detail Neil Gaiman’s character of Lucifer in The Sandman: Season of Mists, before concluding with a survey of their later successors, I examine the process of incorporating Milton’s universe into the already extensive mythological framework of the DC Universe, following the line of influence from its high point in the nineties up to its present day nadir. By re-examining the seductive charisma of Satan and the arbitrary righteousness of God, Moore and Gaiman investigate the place of the human in the immortal drama, and whether it remains in any sense possible to justify the ways of God to man. Their work represents a sizeable contribution to Milton’s place in contemporary culture as well as to the tapestry of legendary, alternate-historical, science-fictional, fantastical, original and derivate material that constitutes the DC Universe.
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