The Devil Made Me Do It: Neil Gaiman on Hell

I’ve recently been reading through one of Neil Gaiman’s masterworks in graphic novels, The Sandman. It’s a series about the Lord of Dreams (named Dream) and his interactions with humanity through their dreams as well as gods, ghosts, historical figures, etc. Norman Mailer called it “a comic strip for intellectuals” and he couldn’t be more right. It traverses a lot of ground philosophically as well as theologically.

One particular page of panels stuck out to me. In this particular issue, Dream must reluctantly travel to Hell in order to get back something that was his. But like with most of The Sandman‘s stories, this is all just a reason to get a conversation going and Dream has a fascinating one once he comes across Satan himself. Satan is presented as a beautiful, Miltonian angel. Dream refers to him as “first among the fallen” as this particular Satan is more influenced by Paradise Lost than the Bible itself. Their conversation steers to mortals and their relationship with the Devil and Hell itself. What follows would make a fitting companion piece with Rob Bell’s Love Wins…