If murder and suicide are sins before God, then what if you were asked to kill in the name of God and by doing so, it would ultimately kill you? To reclaim his damaged soul, to redeem the mistakes of his past and to make a difference in a Gotham City that has been torn apart by the death of The Dark Knight, Azrael must make a fateful decision – become a hero and die, serving in Heaven or reject the opportunity and live, damned to suffer in Hell.
And while large issues of life and death, morality and eternal salvation are weighed, Azrael must also confront the two parties interested in regaining the Suit of Sorrows: Talia al Ghul and Nightwing!
Summary
In the Batcave Nightwing and Azrael spar and their fight ends in a draw. Elsewhere MWL’s sister in law and her children see a man donned in MWL’s Batman costume. In the Batcave Nightwing takes him down using a “trigger” left by Dr. Hurt. Nightwing meets with Talia
MWL wakes up in his apartment Nightwing has left the suit of sorrows and both swords in his care, allowing him to operate as Azrael in the city. If anything goes wrong he will answer to him. His sister in Law visits and they shag.
Elsewhere Ras Al Ghul prepares to test him
The Good
Art-Frazer Irving’s art hits all the right notes and was utterly gorgeous from start to finish.
Emotion- That moment where MWL and his Sister in law shag was pure emotional gold, it hit all the right notes and the art delivered big time. This is easily one of my favorite sex scenes in a comic ever…and very provocative to boot!
Full Circle- I loved the reveal at the end of how the “Order of purity” are just another set of pawn for the ageless Ras Al Ghul. This ties MWL directly into the batman mythology in a huge way since Ras is one of his greatest nemeses.
Fabian Nicieza- Been a fan since he was over at marvel and he has taken these three issues to make MWL a man of many layers; Emotional, used, skilled, angry. A man seeking redemption, atonement and a man who also seeks his own death.
Cover- Not the best for the series surely but it was a nice teaser for what lay within, a battle between nightwing and Azrael with Ras Al Ghul pulling the strings.
Bad
Some may not like the art
Fans of the original Azrael may be distraught the original is still dead.
The Ugly
3.5/5
