Azrael: Death's Dark Knight - HOLY CANOLI!

Oh...My.....Lanta!!! I just read the new Azrael book and I really dug it. There's only 2 things that I'm dissapointed about. 1) No Jean Paul Valley, and 2) It was kinda short. But, I still have hope that JPV'll be back; I mean, Rip Taylor's chalkboard DID say "Jean Paul Valley LIVES!", not just "Azrael lives!", implying that we will see the return of JPV at some point. Plus, if you've read the book, in the last panel Azrael is

Spoiler:

so who knows, maybe Jean-Paul will return to take up the mantle!?

Same here... big fan of Jean Paul Vally. He was my first introduction to Batman when I started reading Batman: Knightfall

I'm 50/50 on the new Azreal at the moment, but one of my favorite issues was Detective #842 with the introduction of the suit of sorrow... That issue is in my top 3 Batman comics and I don't know why!!!

Great to see it back in this Azreal series...

Oh man, I love love LOVE the Knightfall/Knightsend books, it was probably my faveorite bat series ever. The new Azrael was a bit weaksauce, but either way I'd rather have him (or someone else who isn't Valley) as Azrael in the Bat-verse than nobody. There's still no word as to whether or not Azrael will be back in the DCU after this mini-series, right? They've been holding most of the Battle for the Cowl stuff pretty close to the chest, so the only official word they've given (as far as I know) about Azrael's future is basically "There will be a 3-part mini-series called 'Death's Dark Knight' from March through May" and they just dodge everything else...