Batman: Sword of Azrael

This book, a collection of comics but in book form, pictures and all, introduces a new powerful character to the DC universe in Azrael. Azrael is from a secret holy order, The Order of Saint Dumas. In Christian mythology, Dumas was a saint. This gives a specific character much needed depth desides just artwork and a role model or hero to gloat over. All DC characters have an achille's heel. Azrael was brainwashed by the Order of Saint Dumas, given super human strength, etc and his powers come from his mask. He has good body armor and a flaming sword. Cool and intimidating, but he's not an alien or anything like Superman, all his powers come from his self made suit. Azrael is introduced as Batman's protege, the last in order of assasins from Saint Dumas. The Azrael as Batman was a menorable storyline from the 1990s and was controversial. DC comics was looking to boost sales by killing off Superman and crippling Batman, two of of its most recognizable characters from the start to today. Azrael is a super hero but with villanous tendencies- he has a psychotic disorder. Later on in the Azrael saga, he and Robin and Nightwing fight over who is the real Batman. Azrael was later given his own comic, but forever remained in the shadow of Batman. I had given up comics years ago but still had a casual observer interest as icons of pop culture. A famous band started his own comics company, crossing over and sexualizing comics with rock music and even porn. Well we all have reproductive organs, don't we? Anyway, my personal favorite comics character starts here. He is tougher and smarter than Batman.

Believe the 5 star reviews, this is an incredible book. The artwork is some of the best. So many comics have expressionistic style drawings, this one is drawn the way, as Joe Queseda says in his introduction, that makes a comic a collectible. The story is very good; Azrael is an interesting character, and this helps set the rest of the story. I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone.

THE SWORD OF AZRAEL really plays out more as an unintended prequel to the events of Batman's KNIGHTFALL, and it's a far superior work of art. Jean-Paul Valley is troubled by his inability to master the control over his superhero impulses to become an avenging angel, until Bruce Wayne enters his life. This four-issue collected trade paperback is a must for any serious fan of the Bat, and, even today, stands as an example of one of the best works of Batfiction available. (As well, there was a BBC adaptation of KNIGHTFALL that covered some of the events of AZRAEL that's absolutely breathtaking!)

This is an excellent mini-series that intoduced Bruce Wayne's would-be successor to the mantle of the Bat. I have always loved Denny O'Neill's take on the exploits of the Batman family and the characters he has introduced in these pages are extremely well considered. This is a tale of a globe hopping adventuring Batman that very much brings to mind O'Neill and Neal Adams Ra's Al Ghul epics. The Azrael character and the order of St Dumas are also very interesting and mysterious. Some of the best Batman stuff of the last decade, and I didn't even mention the art which is breathtaking.

Honestly, I had no idea who Azrael was when I picked this book up. I knew who Joe Quesada & Kevin Nowlan (the artistic team)were. First of all, the artwork blew me away. Quesada's dynamic visuals & Nowlan's vast knowledge of shadows draw the reader in to every single detail on every single panel. But here's the kicker: They story also grabs you. O'Neil writes a tale of a troubled young man forced to pursue the life of Azrael due to his bloodline. His torment & tribulations are clear throughout the story, but Azrael comes through in the end. And to all the Batman fans out there, we know who took over the cape & cowl for a little while, don't we?