It’s been a long, strange, and very violent ride for Azrael since the Batman Reborn status quo. If you would’ve told me that a main character would be linked to Jesus, have the majority of issues be about someone’s believe in faith, and have actual flaying involved then I would say this: “This can’t be in a mainstream comic book, let alone a DC comic”. Yet, for some strange reason, Didio and others at DC have gave this book a good chance for a year and a half now. Sadly though, there is only so much a book about religion can last and this is the penultimate issue of this series. While not the original writer, David Hine has put a lot of great ideas since taking over. Can he possibly end this run in any way without it being disappointing?

Just to get a nitpick off my back; the cover and the solicitation are pretty much wrong in this case. Azrael is not forming a team of Azrael’s for Gotham, he is actually trying to find ‘The Fireball’ in Afghanistan. You know it’s not the first time a cover has mislead what is inside a book, and DC solicts have been widely wrong for years now, but it’s still annoying we don’t get that story promised. But what is here is pretty interesting, and it’s Hine trying to justify radical Islams and their faith. That doesn’t sound like something you want to read in a Bat-book, I know, but Hine writes it pretty well. He presents both sides of the religion and also states that Islam is not the violent religion that has been stated in the media. Hine also ties it into Azrael’s history and mindset, but to be honest it’s hard to see where Hine is gonna go with only one issue left. I mean most of this issue is dealing with the origin of ‘The Fireball’ so we don’t really get a sense of what the point of this venture is.

Cliff Richards has taken over for Ramon Bachs (which is a huge improvement) and Gullem March (judging from the cover I’d love to see him again) and he’s done a pretty good job with this issue. I think he’s also trying to envoke Frazier Irving (who was the first artist to do the new Azrael in the mini-series) with the striking lighting and the sort of ‘flat’ lines on the characters. He definitely handles the violence pretty well with a bevy of explosions and chopping in the issue. It can be pretty stiff at times, especially with Azrael riding on the horse, but overall it’s a pretty good looking book. Also, Tomeu Morey colors help with making it a visually striking book.

I fail to see what the end game is for this series, and more then likely this was probably rushed in the long run. Still David Hine is doing the best he can with these limitations and he writes some great stuff involving religion and faith. Add in with some pretty good pencils by Cliff Richards and colors by Tomeu Morey; and you got a pretty good book in your hands. It’s a shame that more people didn’t get into this series because it really is an underrated book defined. Maybe these type of topics don’t work well with a mainstream book, but I’ll be damned if I don’t find every issue to be so engaging and fun every month.