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Carey, Mike

Entry updated 3 February 2024. Tagged: Author, Comics.

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(1959-    ) UK Comics writer and author who also writes as M R Carey and as by Adam Blake; father of Louise Carey. He first came to notice for his comics, initially for two stories for 2000 AD, Th1rt3en (2002 2000 AD #1289-1299; graph 2005), a Space Opera and Carver Hale (2001 2000 AD #1236-1240/1247-1249; graph 2005), which is horror. He has since written many scripts for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the latter including graphic adaptations of part of Orson Scott Card's Ender: Shadow series [for fuller details see his Wikipedia entry under links below]. His most striking comics work is the 1999-2006 Lucifer Fantasy sequence, developing the title's legendary fallen angel from Neil Gaiman's revisionist treatment in his Sandman comic, in which Lucifer renounced his rule of Hell to go his own way. In Carey's ensuing complications the End of the World is several times threatened; further universes are created and there is general metaphysical upheaval leading to war in Heaven and the ultimate installation of a new, more caring God (who is or was a young girl). The saga is assembled as eleven Graphic Novel volumes opening with Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway (graph 2001).

Carey is also of interest for his prose fiction, including the Felix Castor sequence beginning with The Devil You Know (2006), an Urban Fantasy series set in London and starring an exorcist much in demand in troubled times, as the barriers between the normal and the supernatural world have become fragile. The Heather Kenney sequence beginning with The Dead Sea Deception (2011) as by Adam Blake presents Paranoid versions of the secret history of the world. The Steel Seraglio (2012; rev vt The City of Silk and Steel 2012) with Linda Carey (1959-    ) and Louise Carey is an Arabian Nights tale set in a modestly juiced-up Land of Fable [for Arabian Nights, Land of Fable and Urban Fantasy see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. The House of War and Witness (2014) with Linda Carey and Louise Carey is a Gothic set in the eighteenth century Austro-Hungarian Empire. The dead are moving out of their graves. Revelations are expected.

Of more direct sf interest is The Girl with All the Gifts (2014) as M R Carey, set in a Near Future world devastated by a Zombie-generating Pandemic (see Horror in SF), a fungus which transforms victims into brain-dead flesh-eaters. Fortunately these over-familiar Clichés soon unpack interestingly. The tale is set initially in a Keep where some of the few remaining humans protect themselves from the "hungries" now occupying the planet, while running experiments on infected children. The eventual discovery that second-generation hungries retain their mental capacities, and as a successful mutation (see Mutants) will legitimately succeed Homo sapiens, is melodramatically achieved but strikes a welcome new note in the literature. The Rampart sequence beginning with The Book of Koli (2020) as M R Carey is set in what may be a moderately close Far Future world long after a civilization-ending Holocaust; evidences of buried Technology, when discovered, are treated as Magic; the protagonist, exiled from his community, must make his way in a balkanized terrain, aided by a spunky female AI with access to ancient knowledge. [JC/DRL]

see also: Eastercon; Novacon.

Michael R Carey

born Liverpool, England: 1959

works

series

Felix Castor

Heather Kenney

Rampart

Pandominion

  • Infinity Gate (New York: Orbit, 2023) as M R Carey [Pandominion: hb/]

individual titles

collections

graphic novels (selected)

series

Lucifer

  • Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2001) with various artists [graph: collecting The Sandman Presents: Lucifer #1-3 and Lucifer #4: Lucifer: pb/Duncan Fegredo]
  • Lucifer: Children and Monsters (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2001) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #5-13: Lucifer: pb/Duncan Fegredo]
  • Lucifer: A Dalliance with the Damned (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2002) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #14-20: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: The Divine Comedy (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2003) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #21-28: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: Inferno (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2004) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #29-35: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2004) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #36-41: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: Exodus (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2005) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #42-44, #46-49: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: The Wolf Beneath the Tree (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2005) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #45, #50-54: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: Crux (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2006) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #55-#61: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: Morningstar (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2006) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #62-69: Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]
  • Lucifer: Evensong (New York: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2007) with various artists [graph: collecting Lucifer #70-75 and special issue Lucifer: Nirvana (graph 2002): Lucifer: pb/Christopher Moeller]

individual titles

  • Th1rt3en (New York: DC Comics, 2005) [graph: first appeared 2002 2000 AD #1289-1299: illus/pb/Andy Clarke]
  • Carver Hale (London: Rebellion, 2005) [graph: first appeared 2001 2000 AD #1236-1240, #1247-1249: illus/pb/Mike Perkins]
  • The Highest House (San Diego, California: IDW Publishing, 2018) with Peter Gross [graph: collecting The Highest House #1-#6: illus/pb/Peter Gross]
  • The Last Night at the Star Dome Lounge (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing/Absinthe Books, 2022) as M R Carey [chap: hb/Ario Anindito]

links

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