Neil Gaiman Responds to Lucifer Petition

When Fox unveiled its plans to produce a TV series based on DC Comics’ Lucifer; itself a spin-0ff of the seminal Sandman by Neil Gaiman, it was inevitable that there would be a certain level of backlash. However, this is not the kind of backlash that is expected of a comic book property i.e. that of your standard fanboy purist, but rather the religious kind. Last week, a group called One Million Moms, a subset of the American Family Association, launched an online petition calling on Fox to cancel the series stating; “[t]he program previews mischaracterize Satan, departs from true biblical teachings about him, and inaccurately portrays the beliefs of the Christian faith”.

The series which sees Lucifer Morningstar (played by Tom Ellis) retire from ruling the underworld and set up shop in Los Angelos. When he is witness to the brutal murder of a young women, Lucifer uses his ability to draw out people’s secrets to team up with homicide detective Chloe Dancer (played by Lauren German) in order to solve the mystery of her death. All the while, Lucifer is confronted with the reality of what happens to the underworld when its master abandons it.
The petition recently came to the attention of Lucifer’s co-creator; Neil Gaiman himself, who took the opportunity to respond on his Tumblr account;

“Ah. It seems like only yesterday (but it was 1991) that the “Concerned Mothers of America” announced that they were boycotting SANDMAN because it contained Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans characters. It was Wanda that upset them most: the idea of a Trans Woman in a comic book… They told us they were organising a boycott of SANDMAN, which they would only stop if we wrote to the American Family Association and promised to reform.


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I wonder if they noticed it didn’t work last time, either…”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Neil Gaiman is king. Lucifer is set to premiere on Fox this Autumn.

Gary Moloney
Gary Moloney
Some would say that he is a mine of information, too bad most of it is useless. You can read his own comic work over on garymoloney.tumblr.com. Follow him on Twitter @m_gearoid.