The avenging angel of Gotham City, Azrael, will soon star in his own solo series for the first time since 2003.
As reported by Newsarama, Sword of Azrael debuts in August and is written by Dan Watters and penciled by Nikola Čižmešija, the same team behind the recent three-part storyline Azrael: Dark Knight of the Soul, which ran in issues #8-10 of Batman: Urban Legends. Sword of Azrael picks up in the aftermath of that tale, which saw Jean-Paul Valley fighting dead foes reanimated by Lazarus Pit extract, encountering an unusual member of the Knights Templar named the Poor Fellow, and questioning his faith in God.
Sword of Azrael spans six issues and sees Jean-Paul moving to a monastery in Europe in search of inner peace. There, he encounters a young woman who alleges that she also has the harsh mental programming of the Order of St. Dumas, the offshoot of the Knights Templar dedicated to creating avenging assassins, or Azraels. Jean-Paul must come to terms with his heroic identity as he defends this newfound companion against all who would harm her.
This latest Sword of Azrael series takes its name from the mini-series of 1992-'93 written by Dennis O'Neil and illustrated by Joe Quesada. The series introduced Jean-Paul to the DC Universe as a college student who was completely oblivious of his heritage until his father died and passed the Azrael mantle to him. Jean-Paul would go on to tap into his mental programming - dubbed the System - whenever he donned the iconic red costume, and after helping Batman defeat the international criminal LeHah, he became a student of the Dark Knight.
Jean-Paul notably filled in for Batman during the "Knightfall" saga of the '90s, after Bruce had his back broken by Bane. He became increasingly violent and consumed in the rage of the System, and eventually fought a recovered Bruce for the right to wear the Batman costume in the finale of the epic story arc. Following his defeat, Jean-Paul starred in a 100-issue series that ran from 1995 to 2003, delving into his struggles to find an identity for himself and root out remnants of the Order of St. Dumas. The series ended with Jean-Paul dying in a blaze of glory in issue #100, but DC's New 52 reboot saw the character reappear in the pages of the Batman & Robin Eternal series. He has since served on Batman's Gotham Knights team in Detective Comics and even ventured into space in Justice League Odyssey.
Sword of Azrael #1 goes on sale July 6.
Source: Newsarama