Art by: Joe Quesada and Jimy Palmiotti
I' going to take step back in giving attention to the obscure and generally ignored works for this entry, in place I'm going to focus for now a forgotten one instead. This prestige format one-shot comics is basically a relic of the '90s. A non-consequential, irrelevant, crossover story simply done for the money and perhaps as a bit of fan service for the die hards. The character Azrael is not used by DC, it's parent company anymore and Ash and it's publisher ceased when creator Joe Quesada became the EIC for Marvel Comics.
This comic is quite especial for fans like me in that this one shot reunited the original team and creators of the character Azrael pairing him with Joe Quesada's other most famous creation, Ash. Back in high school as a teen, when I was just dreaming of becoming an artist and starting to hone my skills, Joe Q was one of my heroes. The guy whose works I look up to for inspiration. Times have changed and so has my sensibilities, still whenever I see his art, it reminds me of my younger days and simpler times. I have always considered his style as one of the best fit for the action genre, including superheroes and especially the street level ones.
I have also always wanted him back then to have a decent run on Batman, a dream tandem of my favorite character back in high school along with my favorite artist. It never happened because he really didn't wanted to. The closest it ever was, outside of the occasional covers he did for the character that was of note was this one-shot comic (and Batman was just a cameo here) and the original Sword of Azrael mini series.
Like I've said, time has moved on and things have changed. The audience climate and perception has totally changed, the character Azrael who once was heavily tied to the Batman mythos has been almost totally forgotten and many relics from the time period is looked at with disdain by many. I call shenanigans though, I had a blast back then and that's all I care about. This comic was basically an end of an era for me as I've never looked back with fonder memories to superhero comics after this one. My sensibilities and priorities have changed, for better or for worse.
In the grand scheme of things, this comic is irrelevant. I love it though as a personal reminder for the stuff I liked as a kid. Besides, as a throwaway entertainment, this one is pretty good in my humble opinion.
