Random Happenstance

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.