Azrael: Dark Knight of the Soul is a one shot written by Dan Watters with art by Nikola Cizmesija, that compiles all three chapters of last year's Urban Legends story. This reprint provides everyone with the opportunity to catch up ahead of Sword of Azrael #1, which is also out today. I’ll be reviewing that as well, so you can catch my thoughts on it here. First, let’s take a look at the prelude!

Right off the bat, I was excited for this comic. Knightfall was the first Batman comic I ever read and I’ve been a big fan of Azrael ever since. What began in concept as a thinly veiled criticism of Image Comics, managed to grow, in execution, into a wonderful character. He’s a great example of a tragic hero and also features one of the coolest backstories of any DC character. So my point is, I love Jean-Paul and I want to see him treated well. Thankfully, my hopes were fulfilled: this is a great comic.

One of my first impressions is that Dan Watters both likes and understands this character. This is the kind of thing that we readers hope is a given but unfortunately is all too frequently not the case. Watters starts this story with an action scene as Azrael spouts his famous line (in my head at least): “Know that men call you liar! Know that men call you Defiler! Know that men call you Betrayer!” This shows me he gets the aesthetic of the character. I have to admit, part of Azrael’s draw is his EXTREME 90s flavor. As the comic goes on, though, we see how Watters' writing of the character builds from Denny O’Neil’s foundation. In typical fashion, Jean-Paul is portrayed as someone who is searching for meaning in his life.

Part of this is his relationship with God, which leads to something that is important to make note of. Despite how long Azrael’s original title lasted, this is the first time I’ve read a story that wants to actively explore the character’s relationship with his faith. It explores multiple sides of this topic and while it is brought up, Watters doesn't lean on the rather overdone and one dimensional “religion is bad and creates zealots” claim.  In the end, it’s simply a story about Azrael’s faith being tested which, to me, should be as essential to him as a test of physicality or intelligence is to Batman.

Outside of the underlying themes, there is also a lot of great world building here that sets the stage for things to come. If you haven’t read this yet, I’ll leave that for you to enjoy. I’ll just say that it really feels like Dan Watters has plans for this character and wants to build his world back up, something I couldn’t say about other writers who have handled him in recent years.

 Nikola Cizmesija’s art is great as well! This is the first comic I’ve read from him but he won me over immediately. His handle on emotion is very strong and his work maintains absolute clarity despite its stylization. The action scenes in particular are fantastic. This page is a great example of the energy he can convey.

Ariana Maher also deserves credit for her fantastic lettering in this issue. Besides that great Ba-Boom effect, her work on Azrael’s internal monologues and word balloons are fantastic as well. Azrael is one of those characters who I find benefits from a special look to his font. It helps create that otherness between Jean Paul’s two sides and Maher nails it. Along with Ivan Plascencia’s brilliant colors, this is a near perfect art team.

There are a grand total of three negatives I find in this comic but they’re essentially irrelevant. First, as collected in a one-shot floppy format, I felt that the transitions between each of the three original parts were somewhat jarring, especially between the first and second. However, I think this could have been remedied by simply putting some kind of chapter marker between them. In the same vein of the production aspects, I wish this had been released on a different day than issue one of Sword of Azrael. Either a month or a week earlier would have worked. It just seems like a big ask to make a reader commit to buying the first two issues of a comic at once without any guarantee of liking it. In the long run, I feel it’s more likely to cost a few sales that could have been gained by making a small separation.

My only other problem is that Cizmesija doesn’t really… draw feet. Feet are difficult. It’s a fairly common problem for artists and it’s also totally possible that the appearance of the “feet” featured in this issue was a conscious decision.

Either way, based on Cizmesija’s overall style, I really feel the need for more substantial feet. They frequently end up distracting when they turn into triangle. What can I say, they remind me of you-know-who’s work a little too much…

Recommended if…

• You’re an Azrael fan!
• Good comics deserve support
• You want to experience some fantastic art

Overall

This is a fantastic comic and my few complaints are nitpicks to the extreme. Whether you care about Azrael or not, I can only give this a strong recommendation!

Score: 9/10

Disclaimer: DC Comics provided a copy of this issue for the purpose of this review.