I think it's good. It's the first ongoing series I finished actually. If you were to read the bare minimum I defiantly recommend going through the first arc of Azrael vs the Order of St. Dumas and the Ra's al Ghul Issue after.
I think it's good. It's the first ongoing series I finished actually. If you were to read the bare minimum I defiantly recommend going through the first arc of Azrael vs the Order of St. Dumas and the Ra's al Ghul Issue after.
Yeah, the minute he changes costumes to the white one I think that's the perfect point to jump off. The issues before that dropped in quality as well but they were still decent. It's funny how the minute Lilhy and Brian stopped being supporting characters and featured less was when the quality suffered.
Roger Robinson is the artist for a large part of this. His work is fantastic to start and gets better as he goes.
The writing is a bit all over the place and O'Neill never quite decides on certain things (Sister Lilhy often seems ready to betray him). It's definitely better when Azrael is away from Gotham and in the original suit. I recall Return of Bane as a highlight.
"Has Sariel summoned you here, Azrael? Have you come to witness the miracle of your brethren arriving on Earth?"
"I WILL MIX THE ASHES OF YOUR BONES WITH SALT AND USE THEM TO ENSURE THE EARTH THE TEMPLARS TILLED NEVER BEARS FRUIT AGAIN!"
"*sigh* I hoped it was for the miracle."
Dan Watters' Azrael was incredible, a constant delight and perhaps too good for this world (but not the Forth). For the love of St. Dumas, DC, give us more!!!
I loved the run for the most part, the Quesada design is what drew me to the character, through the mini series just in time for Knightfall. I have all 100 issues of his run and I loved the early Kitson stuff, he is my 2nd favorite Az artist to Quesada. The only thing I didn't like about the run was when they did the costume change, maybe it was a Quesada dig but the other look really sucked and I think it hurt sales near the end of the book, they rectified the mistake at the very end of the run right before they "killed" him. I truly love both the original Azrael look, flaming claw, then Kitson added a sword as well. I also like the Quesada Az-Bat look, they look he had when he beat Bane not the bulky version when he "lost" to Bruce. It was a cool idea of venomizing the Az-Bats look, giving the armor to someone else and making him an antagonist for JPV.
I read the whole thing. I'm an "older Timer" who considers JPV to be a top 5 Batfamily member. I realize that 21st century readers will likely take the resurrected Jason Todd over him.
Like a lot of characters the title under went a shake up creatively. Issues #1-49 plus the mini tell the origin and integration of JPV into the Gotham/Bruce/Batman landscape. Issues #50-100 tell of a man trying to find himself after the wreckage of so much that has happened.
If you're only interest is in how JPV ties into Bruce's world then the first half is all you'd likely enjoy. If you grow to like JPV in his own right then stick around after the intermission and catch the second half.
Note: I only read Justice League Odyssey because JPV was on the team. Once his participation was over after the second arc I dropped the title.
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" - Optimus Prime
I know Quesada isn't looked upon too favorably among TPTB, but I'll always love his design for the OG Azrael costume.
And for what it's worth, the team-up between Azrael & Ash was most enjoyable (IMHO):