Is The Azrael 1990's run any good?

[Kid Devil]

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.

[Alan2099]

This. Azreal is absolutely worth reading....but it's not worth finishing the series. But the first few years were absolutely great.

When Jean Paul starts hanging around Gotham more, and trying to emulate Bruce more, that's when it's time to cash in your chips and walk away. If you make it to the white costume with the open hair, you've stuck around a bit too long.

This is probabaly the most accurate call on the series that you can get. By the end, there was hardly anything left of the character that first got people interested in him.

[HandofPrometheus]

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.

[exile001]

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.

[EmeraldGladiator]

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.

[Captain Craig]

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.

[K7P5V]

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):