I could probably order it, but every show I keep a little eye out for Azrael: Agent of the Bat #100, the last issue of the book; for the year-end posts. Spoiler alert: I hate that issue. Azrael had been part of the Bat-family for some time by then, but like the weird cousin that was raised way too religious and doesn't quite fit in. Dr. Thompson is involved, trying to steer Jean-Paul Valley to a path of non-violence that wouldn't work for Batman in a million years; Batman's filled with guilt over using Azrael like a weapon, and Nightwing makes a brief appearance as back-up...and possibly, the favored son. There's a fake Azrael trying to turn the Order of St. Dumas into a racist national crusade: Jean-Paul feels like the Order was never like that before, maybe. There's also a guy in a demon costume as "Bis," who might not have cared which Azrael he gunned down, but of course the good one sacrifices himself to save the bad one. Jean-Paul appears to Batman in a vision, telling him not to blame himself; Batman of course figures that was just a hallucination caused by lack of sleep. I doubt that was explained away whenever Azrael returned. I kinda think I don't like Dr. Thompson, though: she feels really preachy there, which of course Jean-Paul would fall for.

So, let's look at a much more enjoyable issue, that I do have! From 1996, Azrael Annual #2, "Night's Fall" Written by Denny O'Neil, pencils by Barry Kitson, inks by James Pascoe and John Stokes. Hey, another Legends of the Dead Earth annual! On a future world, far removed from earth, the warrior-angel Azrael fights and defeats the demon Bis; although he laments his inability to banter to his companion Brian, who is dressed like he just graduated college. Brian also points out, the demon had probably appeared, because Azrael had been putting off the final ritual to leave childhood behind, to consult an oracle and learn his task. The cranky, sleepy oracle gives them a confusing prophecy, but straight-up tells them they have to go to Gotham City. The head of the order, Brother Rollo, puts a spin on that: go to Gotham and kill its king. Rollo is, of course, shifty as hell.

This story is being relayed to children, by a big bald storyteller; and here the story seems to become more fanciful: Azrael and Brian encounter Two-Face and the Joker, before arriving at Gotham. It had medeval-looking walls, but was a gothic-nightmare. The pair are greeted by an Alfred-type, who explains an ogre named Bane had come to town a month ago: Azrael assumes the Bat-King defeated the ogre, but nope! Bane had broken the Bat-King's back, and was still showing it on video all over town. (There wasn't a lot of technology on this planet, at least that we've seen so far.) Azrael feels he must face Bane, but takes off before Alfred could tell him something: he can't kill Bane, since Bane had put the Bat-King's heart in his body! How? Why? Gotham was full of weird crap like that; just because. But Bane isn't even the big-bad here...

We did some Azrael strips some time back: I like the idea of Jean-Paul beating the System, maybe realizing religion has been used as a tool to keep him in line. Still, I did enjoy this issue, even if it was more fairy-tale like than most of the Legends of the Dead Earth stories.

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"The End" Week: Justice League Odyssey #25!

We saw an issue of this some time back, although without looking I couldn't have told you what crossover this series sprung from, or into what crossover it returned. Ashes to ashes, funk to funky...wait, that's not right. From 2020, Justice League Odyssey #25, "Last Stand" Written by Dan Abnett, art by Will Conrad.

Anyway, I think I liked the idea of this and the lineup maybe more than the actual execution, but part of that is probably just the nature of the crossover mill, and that probably at least three of these characters were needed elsewhere. This issue finds the space-based JL team of Starfire, Azrael, Cyborg, and Green Lantern Jessica Cruz; with series regular Dex-Starr and Orion, and Starfire's sister Blackfire, and doomed timeline versions of Cyborg and Jessica; all in a final battle to keep Darkseid from rewriting the timeline. If that seems a little esoteric or out of character for him, it probably was, but he wasn't at the top of his game...until afterwards. His plan gets stopped, doomed Cyborg and Jessica sacrifice themselves, and the team separates to warn the universe of Darkseid's new rise. Oddly, although he mentions it later, we don't see Azrael return to earth in the end: he joins Dex-Starr and Orion, to prepare for war...starting on Thanagar? Orion says it's a planet of warriors, but didn't he shoot the hell out of the planet in Cosmic Odyssey?

I'll look later, but I think I have the next appearance for Jessica, where she gets traded to the Yellow Lanterns, presumably for a draft pick in the next round. Cyborg and Starfire return to earth, and get immediately redesigned, for Death Metal. Fun... Read more!

I really enjoyed the recent Sword of Azrael mini-series: it was one of those things somebody on Twitter posted a bit of, that made me run out and buy the whole thing. But, I didn't get this until recently: from 2022, Sword of Azrael: Dark Knight of the Soul, reprinted from 2021's Batman: Urban Legends #8-10, written by Dan Watters, art by Nikola Čižmešija.

Jean-Paul Valley, who always seems sad and hopeless out of his Azrael suit, is back from his space adventures in Justice League Odyssey, and working at a hospice. His patient Stefanos is a former junkie, who seems to have found God but committed a horrible mugging years ago; and it's not certain how much forgiveness Jean-Paul feels he deserves. JP also gets the usual lecture from Batman; since gangster Bullet-Tooth blew himself up, claiming death no longer had dominion in Gotham, and there's also been some decapitations that seem like Azrael's work. Jean-Paul talks about his crisis of faith with Batman, and he might as well be speaking Chinese...no, Bats would understand Chinese.

Bullet-Tooth does make a return from the grave, and Azrael hears trumpets: is it the Apocalypse? The rapture? Is hell full? Azrael seems ecstatic, like Christmas has finally come, and falls to his knees in prayer. The next day, when Stefanos starts hemmoraging, Jean-Paul tells him the resurrection is coming, but isn't sure Stefanos believes him. And that night...nothing? Where are my four horsemen, where are my seven seals? Worst apocalypse ever. Confused, Azrael hits the streets and tracks down Bullet-Tooth...dead in a hideout. But, there was a note with an address; another clue. In what appears to be a church, he finds a horrible lab, and a horrible little scientist: working with Bullet-Tooth, he had got a sample from the Lazarus Pits, and engineered that into a synthetic. It only worked for hours, though: the scientist notes Bullet-Tooth had too much faith in it, the idiot. The wheels seemingly turn in Azrael's head, trying to rationalize this as somehow part of God's plan...maybe? Somehow? A new player arrives, to kill the scientist, and advise Azrael no, it's not: a young Joan of Arc type with a pole arm, who introduces herself as the Poor Fellow.

The Poor Fellow, like Azrael, is the latest in a long line descending from the Templars: a knight had sworn to destroy the Lazarus Pits, and reteach the fear of death to Ra's al Ghul's forces. He had failed, but had taken an apprentice, who took another, a chain continued to the present day. Poor Fellow argues God's kingdom is in heaven, and has been killing anyone involved with the artificial Lazarus 'resin.' To Azrael, she seems like a glorious, horrible angel; like himself; but also a zealot and a killer. "Is this what faith makes of us all?" He spares her, but she claims there were others like them, as she escapes. Still in his Azrael suit, Jean-Paul returns to Stefanos' bedside, for the end. Is it enough? 

I'm definitely the wrong one to ask; but a solid story and good lead-in to the mini.

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Who among us hasn't gone into space and found a weird cult based on them?

There's maybe two or three here, but that number could be going down; in a book I had wanted to try for a bit: from 2019, Justice League Odyssey #5, "Ghost Sector, part 5" Written by Joshua Williamson, art by Carmine di Giandomenico, colors by Ivan Plascencia.

This little League was Starfire, Cyborg, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, and Azrael; having space adventures in the so-called "Ghost Sector," a bunch of worlds that had been recently re-enlarged after being shrunk and kept on Colu. (Think Brainiac!) Today, on the Machine Worlds, the Programmer was trying to convince Cyborg to use their homemade Mother Box to help everyone "ascend" to a higher level, of Cyborg-ism, whether they wanted to or not. Azrael had encountered an apparent disciple to him, Rapture; who turns out to maybe be a little much, as Rapture had killed a bunch of Tamaraneans that had been following Starfire.

Meanwhile, on Tamaran, a surprisingly hands-on Darkseid is wrapping up his fetch-quest with Blackfire, who's cut a deal to keep Darkseid off her world. He won't need it anymore; as Cyborg uses the homemade Box is discover Darkseid's plan: the Coluans may have shrunk all those worlds for a reason, other than scientific observation and dickery. The pieces of Darkseid's plan were spread across the worlds of the Ghost Sector, but he now had the "Other Box" to find them. And Rapture appears to be a Coluan, and presumably so is his Order of Azrael, now on a quest to kill the Old Gods...

Jessica appears to be the only one so far not have a cult or followers; at least not so far. Maybe they were agoraphobic too and couldn't make it? The "Other Box" is kind of a groaner, but it would be kind of neat if this stuck and Blackfire got the W: the Tamereans hail their queen for saving them, even as Starfire testily points out she sold the rest of the sector down the river. Read more!

Oh, sure, it's fine when Batman does it.

It has to be tough to use a villain next after Grant Morrison. Can you top him? Today's book makes a game try of it, by having him start with the most Morrison speech possible. From 2000, Batman: Gotham Knights #5, "Locked" Written by Devin Grayson, pencils by Dale Eaglesham, inks by John Floyd.

If I recall correctly, the first maybe year of this title was narrated by Hugo Strange, building his case files to get into Batman's head. And, in passing, the Key's as well; (relatively) fresh from his JLA appearance: he had been left in a "doorless fractal time-maze" by the Martian Manhunter. (Just say "mind-prison." Done.) Having freed himself in what sounds like a solid batch of self-actualization, the Key had now locked all the doors in Arkham, while he and his little outfitted goons fight Batman, Azrael, and (Cassie) Batgirl. Any one of whom should've been able to beat the tar out of them, but let's go on.

Every door in Arkham Asylum locked included locking up all the food as well, so inmates and trapped staff alike were both near starved at this point. Batman tears into the Key; to the point that Batgirl and Azrael have to intervene. And if those two think Bats has gone too far; that's a bit. Batman then throws a drug dealer off a roof to his death, if not for Batgirl saving him. Azrael confronts Batman, as the 'captured' Key drugs Robin and explains his game: if he can get Batman to kill him, he'll achieve a level of unprecedented fame, as well as "the ultimate escape! What door, after all, can bar you from death?"

In a reversal of their earlier positions, Azrael finds himself fighting to keep Batman from killing; but their fight is given short shrift, with Bats walking over him. Instead, it's a random doctor that talks Batman down, albeit while Bats hallucinates hearing it from his dead dad. Batman produces an injector of some kind, with an antidote to the Key's drug, from under his cape...or out of his ass, since where did that come from? It's possible he had it the whole time, but the drug precluded him from thinking to use it. The Key threatens to kill himself, but a disgruntled Batman takes a scalpel away from him, and says the only way to impress him would be to figure out a way to lock the Key up, which that nut sees as a challenge.

I've been trying to scare up the last issue of Azrael: Agent of the Bat for a while now; but I don't think anyone really took to his more-generically super-hero looking costume. That, and he had luxurious blonde locks that Thor would envy. Also this issue: a Batman: Black & White story, "Hide and Seek" Written by Paul Levitz, art by Paul Rivoche. It's not bad, but has one of those moments where Bats should maybe tell people what he's doing, before Commissioner Gordon has to start an unnecessary citywide lockdown...
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We looked at the Bat-title crossover "Officer Down" a while back, and mentioned how Catwoman's involvement seemed a bit forced. It's slightly less so in today's book: from 1996, Robin #27, "Natural Born Healer" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Mike Wieringo, inks by Stan Woch. Terrible title there, but it's weird to think Tim Drake's book would run 183 issues before DC forgot what to do with him...

This is the third chapter of the twelve-part "Contagion," regarding an Ebola-like "Apocalypse virus" loosed on Gotham City. Robin and Alfred are trailing a geologist who could be immune, when Catwoman cuts herself in, intent on cashing in on a reward for him. Interspersed with scenes of the virus starting to spread, Batman tries to intimidate the Penguin, who plans on getting his hands on the cure in order to bleed dry some afflicted billionaires. And in Canada, when Robin and Catwoman find the geologist, the Penguin's henchman Tracker finds them; but Batman sent Robin some backup: Azrael. (Whom Robin would not have been thrilled to see at the time, still relatively soon after Az's term as Batman.) Shown here, Bats goes to Azrael for help, who seems to be more interesting in starting fires--in fact, by the end of the issue he appears to have set a building on fire!

Lot of plates spinning here. An odd footnote: Renee Montoya has a boyfriend this issue, who dies of the virus: she was a lesbian in Gotham Central and every version since. I know Dixon is a more conservative writer, I don't know if he would've had an issue with her sexual orientation; or if it hadn't come up yet. Still, her boyfriend is obviously doomed so the main characters will lose someone: Robin and Batman would both get hit by the virus later on, and they sure as fun weren't going anywhere.


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"Bad Crowd."

And with that, I'm on vacation! Things will be on blog-o-pilot, so stuff will still post, but have a good week!
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An odd page with Azrael/Batman...

From Primal Force #7, "Lessons" Written by Steven T. Seagle, pencils by Nick Choles and Greg LaRocque, inks by Barbara Kaalberg. Liam, the new Jack O'Lantern, receives a series of lessons from the mysterious Water Woman; to see if he can become a hero and "head of the Brotherhood of Leymen." Did that sentence mean anything to you? I didn't really read this series, so...

Still, the Water Woman is surprisingly plugged in, giving Liam examples of heroism from Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Green Lantern--in fact, the Water Woman actually lets Liam in on Kyle's secret identity in passing! She also uses Azrael, the new Batman, as a bad example; but notes that he's from a brotherhood not unlike the Leymen.

An odd issue, and it doesn't tell you much about Liam or the rest of his team; but it's a bit of a snapshot of mid-90's DC.

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"Double whammy."

We are surprisingly ahead of schedule lately, as far as homemade posts go; so this week and next at least, we'll have an extra strip on Friday!

And hi-keeba, see you next week!



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"Postgame."

It occurs to me Azrael would be the very epitome of Batman...for a twelve-year-old borderline psychopath like Damian.





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"Batman Azrael Forever."

While setting this one up, I thought it would be fun if DC made a Batman RPG like Marvel's X-Men Legends or Ultimate Alliance games. Say the player starts with four characters, selected from Batman, Inc; or various Batgirls or Robins, Outsiders, and so on. The game would begin with small street crime, then individual villains, working up to the big organizations like the Court of Owls, the League of Shadows, or Leviathan. (Ah, Leviathan! I forgot that one in the strip!) Wow, there's a lot of big crime in Gotham...and for purposes of the game, you could throw in Kobra, the Secret Six, and more.

The fun thing about a game like that, would be playing with the characters you want. It would be tough to go without a Batman, but I'd love to be able to pick guys like Orpheus, the Knight, the Stephanie Brown Batgirl, or the Creeper.









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