Originally published on Patreon
Other than making a brief appearance in DC vs. Vampires: All out War, which isn't in the main DC continuity, I've not really seen much of Azrael over the years, which considering how big a character he is in one of the most famous Batman stories, Knightfall, it's a surprise that he isn't used more. Perhaps this is because some writer find him a hard character to pin down, and his strong religious connection can sometimes lead people to not really knowing what to do with him.
Well, it seems like Azrael is getting something of a revival, with not just one, but two comics released in the same week. The first, this one, isn't actually a new story, but collects together the three part story that featured in Batman: Urban Legends into one nice single issue that kick-starts his new series.
The story sees Jean-Paul navigating his new life in Gotham, where he works in a hospital as a porter during the day, and hunts down criminals at night as the masked vigilante Azrael. Azrael has discovered some strange things happening in Gotham, where the dead are rising, and believing that it could be God's divine intervention, wants to look into it.
Unfortunately, it turns out to not be anything to do with God, but a group looking into harnessing the healing powers of the Lazarus pits (similar to the work happening in Task Force Z). However, it turns out that there is a connection to the Order of St Dumas, and Azrael comes face to face with another holy warrior on a mission for her chapter of the Templar Order.
Azrael: Dark Knight of the Soul is a nice reintroduction to the character, especially for those who've not seen him much since Knightfall (there is a nice nod to his time in Justice League Odyssey where he went to space). the book seems to also handle his character better than I've seen a lot of other writers do, and Dan Watters seems to know how to write a character with a complex relationship with his faith that doesn't just turn into 'religion = bad'.
The book has some nice artwork too, and some of action scenes really pop off the page, especially the one where Azrael gets blown out of a building and the building is divided out into smaller panels with Azrael crashing his way from one to another. His new enemy also looks pretty cool, and her design compliments Azrael's quite nicely.
My biggest criticism with this one-shot it that it's not anything new if you've been reading Urban Legends, and if you're coming to this new it does get a bit clunky in places where the three parts are stitched together because there were supposed to be cliffhangers scattered in there. It also feels like a bit of a misstep bringing it out the same week as the start of his new series, especially as if folks are unsure about the character they have to take a risk on two issues at once, and this could ultimately harm sales, and could reflect badly on what's a pretty interesting character.
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