In Robert Heinlein's Magic Inc., magicians visit Hell in order to put a stop to demonic interference in American legal procedures.
In Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos, the Matucheks visit Hell in order to rescue their kidnapped baby daughter.
In Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, the plant elemental visits Hell in order to rescue his friend's soul unjustly imprisoned there.
In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Morpheus visits Hell twice, first to retrieve one of his tools in the possession of a demon and secondly to rescue a former lover whom he had wrongly imprisoned there.
Orpheus, retold in different ways by Anderson and Gaiman, visits Hades - but that is a different place - to restore his lover to life.
Of all these infernal travelers, Morpheus has the biggest surprise. On his second visit, Lucifer Morningstar, tired of presiding over pointless suffering, has expelled the demons and damned and retired as Lord of Hell!
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And it's my view that Anderson's version of Hell and Satan is closest to what I hold is true. The Hell universe in OPERATION CHAOS is a deadly grim and dire place to visit. And the hatred and rage of the Adversary to God and mankind is all too plausible.
Sean
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