As the Battle For The Cowl story arc continues it was only a matter of time before it splintered into at least one multi-part series. This week my Batman Beat continues with Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight Part 1.

For those drawing a deep breath thinking Jean-Paul Valley has come back from the dead (Valley was killed in the Agent Of The Bat series but his body was never discovered) this isn’t that. Instead DC has given us almost a re-boot of the character though I’m not sure if this will lead to a whole new series or it’s just another element to Battle For The Cowl. Whatever it is this first issue is one of the more interesting elements of the current storm of events in the DC Universe.

Azrael Death’s Dark Knight starts off on a dark note and doesn’t let up for the entire issue. When it opens a man is begging for his life to somebody dressed in the Azrael armor. While trying to explain he is an undercover cop the begging man is beheaded by Azrael who claims that he serves “God’s Justice”.

Meanwhile Nightwing is convinced that Jason Todd has stolen the Azrael armor from the Batcave and that he’s behind the death of the undercover cop. With Gotham still falling apart due to the growing knowledge that Batman is dead Nightwing is under tremendous pressure to find this armor before it throws gasoline on the fire. Little does Nightwing know that the former owner of the Azrael Armor Talia Al Ghul is out to get it back.

Meanwhile the truth about the Azrael armor is unfolding and his nothing to do with Jason Todd. Apparently the original creators of the armor, The Order Of Purity, have it and had entrusted it to the man who slaughtered the cop. Realizing somebody that unbalanced will not be an appropriate candidate to wear the armor The Order Of Purity turn to Michael-Washington Lane a man with a sordid past.

A former Marine Lane lost his son to a car accident, his wife to suicide and his two siblings to violent death at the hands of a satanic cult. After becoming part of the Gotham PD Lane was put into a program to be trained to fill in for the Batman if the Dark Knight was to ever fall in battle. During this program Washington suffered a complete mental breakdown driving him nearly completely crazy.

I don’t want to give anything else away for fear that you won’t read this issue and you really should. Writer Fabian Nicieza (X-Men, X-Force, Cable) really captures a shadowy noir feel to the story. This is a dark time in Gotham City and Nicieza puts that across in a way the other writers haven’t. He writes with violence, chaos and secrecy. The Order Of Purity is not just a one-dimensional “Evil” organization but instead has a point of view you can almost agree with.

Where the writing really shines is with the character of Lane and the slow unfolding of who he is. Outside of his back-story we don’t learn much about the man and even dialogue wise he doesn’t say much. Still he’s incredibly interesting and you’re left at the end really wanting to know what happens next.

The only place the comic suffers is with the art. Frazer Irving (Necronauts, Judge Death, etc) has a very oil & water style, which just doesn’t quite work. You can see what he’s doing with the art, trying to use shadows to create a dark mood but it ends up giving us characters that are robbed of individuality. Usually you can blur that line but with writing this crisp it really needs art that pops out and this just doesn’t.

This new direction of Azrael is really compelling stuff. I had read the title in the past with little interest but this new angle has me hoping it develops into its own monthly series. Whatever the case the arrival of Azrael is going to spell real trouble to a Gotham City steeped in turmoil. If this Azrael throws his hat into the ring of Battle For The Cowl it will spell real trouble for Nightwing and Robin.