Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Azrael #1 - DC

I'm so thrilled that Fabian Nicieza is writing this book. He's written the stories leading up to the launch of this series, but I was a little afraid that they might bring in someone else to handle this book. I'm glad they didn't. I love Fabian's work. I think he's a fantastic writer. I'm also thrilled that they brought this character back. Yes he's different, but . . he's still kind of the same too. I think that's kind of the point. Sure he's a different guy, Michael Lane ex-cop. And, he's being backed by a different order, the Order of Purity. But, I think in the end . . the results . . what he'll turn into and what it'll do to him as a person, will probably be pretty similar. I mean, he's wearing the Suit of Sorrows, and he's brandishing 2 swords called the Sword of Salvation, and the Sword of Sin . . one given to him by the Order, the other by Talia . . I don't think it's to much of a stretch to see what kind of effects all of this is going to have on his psyche . . eventually. In this issue alone he questions going after a hired killer because the killer's cause is just. The killer's going after after a list of people, but it seems to be mostly about vengeance and payback. He's already asking the question, 'How could I punish him for what he's doing when I do the exact same thing?' So, while we see him on one of his first cases this issue, we also get a glimpse into the future. It's set 6 months, 6 days, and 9 hours in the future. In it, it seems that Michael has gone over the edge. Also Harvey seems to be going after fellow police officer Farelli. Officer Farelli has gotten wrapped up in Michael's dealings and has helped him on more than one occasion. Now, Harvey wants some answers. But they may be hard to come by as . . on the final page of the issue we see that Michael has taken off the armaments of the Order and has sacrificed himself upon the alter of their church. Where does this story go from here? I thought it was a fantastic opening chapter. I was sad to see Ramon Bachs leave the Red-Robin book, but . . I also really liked his work here. He's got kind of a gritty look to his stuff, and it fit the mood and style of this book perfectly. This should prove to be a very interesting series. By the way . . just for 'shits & giggles', does anyone remember that when this character originally appeared , in 1995, that Joe Quesada played a huge part in his creation? He and Denny O'Neil did that first mini-series . . Sword of Azrael. Man that was a great mini-series. You can still get it fairly cheap at Mile High Comics or on E-Bay. If you're interested. Anyways, this is a great character and, I thought, a good opening chapter. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

No comments:

Post a Comment