nepenthes
02-18-2010, 08:01 PM
http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/4/14034_400x600.jpg
This is an issue I'd urge everyone to check out next week when you go in for your Batman & Robin. Actually you really need to just buy it as it won't read well off the shelf and you need to sit down with it.
This series may have got off to a bumpy start but with the end of the opening arc last issue I decided I'd continue with number 5, a fresh arc, and see if it comes through. And well it's not a new arc entirely, more like an epilogue, but it's very impressive.
Anyone who likes Grant Morrisons Batman VS The Devil angle should know that the twist in issue 4 developed Michael Lanes connection to that even further. Lane was an ex-soldier and policeman when his family was murdered by Satanic cultists, as you may know, and in the Deaths Dark Knight miniseries he began sleeping with his dead brothers widow, Jennifer. Both are crippled with grief over their loss and naturally find comfort in each other. Well last issue we learnt that
Jennifer was the one who killed their family, under some sort of hypnosis. She remembers the event and breaks down hysterically.
Issue 5 shows her coming to grips with that and Michael hinting to the larger connection. Where this will go remains to be seen.
We also see why Michaels old cop friend (his "Commisioner Gordon") Pete O'Farrel is such a good foil to Michael as they meet in the local Irish bar for drinks. Lane also has an interesting support cast in the Order of Purity and a headquarters in the "old white money" brownstone they've bequethed to him.
The real meat and bones of this issue though, which I won't go into too much, is in the Ragman and how he questions the familiar religious motivations in the Azrael concept. Ragman is of Jewish origins and the issue unfolds over the backdrop of Holy Land tensions in Gothams streets.
When Jennifer confronts Michael about the purpose of his crusade he says that he must be Azrael because it's "all I know how to do". Ragman pushes it even further and overturns his whole reason for being. With the contradictions and futility of the Azrael brand exposed it will be interesting to see where Nicieza goes with this series. Intruiging, and definitely unique among DC's hero titles.
This is an issue I'd urge everyone to check out next week when you go in for your Batman & Robin. Actually you really need to just buy it as it won't read well off the shelf and you need to sit down with it.
This series may have got off to a bumpy start but with the end of the opening arc last issue I decided I'd continue with number 5, a fresh arc, and see if it comes through. And well it's not a new arc entirely, more like an epilogue, but it's very impressive.
Anyone who likes Grant Morrisons Batman VS The Devil angle should know that the twist in issue 4 developed Michael Lanes connection to that even further. Lane was an ex-soldier and policeman when his family was murdered by Satanic cultists, as you may know, and in the Deaths Dark Knight miniseries he began sleeping with his dead brothers widow, Jennifer. Both are crippled with grief over their loss and naturally find comfort in each other. Well last issue we learnt that
Jennifer was the one who killed their family, under some sort of hypnosis. She remembers the event and breaks down hysterically.
Issue 5 shows her coming to grips with that and Michael hinting to the larger connection. Where this will go remains to be seen.
We also see why Michaels old cop friend (his "Commisioner Gordon") Pete O'Farrel is such a good foil to Michael as they meet in the local Irish bar for drinks. Lane also has an interesting support cast in the Order of Purity and a headquarters in the "old white money" brownstone they've bequethed to him.
The real meat and bones of this issue though, which I won't go into too much, is in the Ragman and how he questions the familiar religious motivations in the Azrael concept. Ragman is of Jewish origins and the issue unfolds over the backdrop of Holy Land tensions in Gothams streets.
When Jennifer confronts Michael about the purpose of his crusade he says that he must be Azrael because it's "all I know how to do". Ragman pushes it even further and overturns his whole reason for being. With the contradictions and futility of the Azrael brand exposed it will be interesting to see where Nicieza goes with this series. Intruiging, and definitely unique among DC's hero titles.