

- Azrael has defeated Bane and is taking him back to Gotham in a helicopter piloted by Nomoz.
- Bane tries to convince Azreal they are similar, should work together.
- As the copter lands, the quake hits. Bane escapes and Azrael chases him. Bane still trying convince Azreal to partner up. Azrael refuses, and explains to Bane that he is nothing like him while they fight.
- Jean-Paul beats Bane, then takes him back to custody.
- new


Part 4: Hour of the Quake

#40 - Part 4: Hour of the Quake



- Batman asks a favor of Azrael; to check on senator Halivan (one of the few senators would argue for Gotham emergency funding) in Washington, D.C.
- Oracle says the senator will be at a Nicholas Scratch (rockstar, was nerd but got some super powers from astrological thing. His minions dress like devils, and he seems to know too much?) concert.
- Azrael sneaks backstage.
- Scratch has setup a death trap for Halivan. Before the concert Scratch convinces Halivan to meet some people about an arms deal. Halivan is ambushed by men in devil masks.
- Azrael arrives and protects Halivan. Halivan is angry and demands an explaination, Scratch tells him to chill and follow to his dressing room, then, he strangles the senator to death.


...A Man of Wealth and Taste...

#47 - ...A Man of Wealth and Taste...



- Scratch’s henchmen enter and tell him about Azrael.
- Azrael listened to Scratch's plans and he decided to stop him from doing more harm.
- Scratch frames Azrael for the senators murder - no one will take the word of a costumed freak over a renowned superstar. Scratch cries for help and a couple of security guards arrived at his dressing room to find Scratch and Azrael standing near the senator's dead body.
- They fight and Azrael escapes, but the incident is all over the news. Scratch is happy with things are going, he is plotting something big against Gotham.
- Batman shows up and tell Valley burn the costume, Azrael shouldn't exist anymore. He is mad, Azrael failed to protect the senator, and now his framing puts all their identities at risk. Batman says without the senator, it means the end for Gotham.
- Jean-Paul feels like Batman is right, but he has one thing to do before Azrael is done. Azrael had listened to Scratch's plans and decides to stop him from doing more harm.


Scratching The Surface

#48 - Scratching The Surface



- Nicholas Scratch bribes some senators to vote against the reconstruction funding for Gotham.
- Jean-Paul gets info from Oracle about a congressman who was also directly involved in the Gotham case.
- Nicholas Scratch is on a TV broadcast and says Gotham is an evil city at its core and that the country would wasting money if they decided to rebuild it, they should lie the city die.
- Meanwhile Azrael finds the congressman he is looking for and saves him from a bomb.
- Batman asks why Valley disobeyed his orders. Valley explained that he overheard Scratch's plans and so he had to act. Batman is surprisingly proud, not mad, Batman tells him that the congressman he saved, voted for Gotham's reconstruction (although he was outvoted). Batman says they still work together and with a handshake, Jean-Paul is once again part of the bat-family.


Gotham City Must Die!

#49 - Gotham City Must Die!



- Batman asks Azrael to take down Scratch and gives him new costume (framed for murder in old on).
- Oracle helps Azrael find Curt Lade, Scratch’s former officemate.
- Meanwhile, Scratch sends his men to silence Lade.
- Azrael wears his old costume finds Lade and asks him about Scratch, but they’re attacked by some local villagers (think Azrael is murderer) and then by Scratch's minions. They fight, Azreal gets knocked out, house gets set on fire. Azreal gets up and saves Lade then the dumb villagers.
- Lade disappears before Azreal can question him. Azrael costume is ruined in the fire, but Scratch’s men think Azrael died.
- Valley puts on the new costume he got from Bruce Wayne, says farewell to the old Azrael and welcome the new one.


Resurrection

#50 - Resurrection



- Jean Paul Valley is in the new Azreal costume from Bruce, but his special Azrael abilities are not triggered by it like the old costume.
- Azrael finds Lade hiding in nearby church. They discuss about Nicholas Scratch's past and Azrael learns about his possible location, a lakehouse by Bludhaven.
- Meanwhile, Scratch's minions car breaks down, they take it as a sign and decide to make sure that their job is done and go back to make sure to kill any survivors.
- Azreal walks outside, Scratch's demons arrive, but Azrael has no power to fight them.
- Suddenly he is struck by lightning and his powers activate and he fights them off.
- Azrael goes to find Scratch, but only finds a note addressed to him telling him that Scratch is heading to Gotham.


Miracle Run

#51 - Miracle Run



- A couple, Mitzi and Benny, are trapped in the upper floor of a building and Calibax is waiting for her below. Benny (who is an asshole) decided to goes down, thinking Calibax was gone. When he stepped down, Calibax appeared and killed him.

- Meanwhile, Nicholas Scratch hypnotizes some Marshals to take him to Gotham to deliver a message.
- Azrael is watching Scratch from afar when a woman (Jasper Fredang) asks him to take her to Gotham to look for her daughter. Azrael reluctantly agrees. They sneak onto the Marshall’s boat. When the boat reaches Gotham, Scratch and the marshal stepped are suddenly attacked by thugs. Azreal stops them while Scratch runs away. Then Azrael and Mrs. Fredang start looking for her daughter.

- Calibax finds up to Mitzi. She screams for help. Azrael and Mrs. Fredang hear her and Azrael fights Calibax, knocking him off the building, apparently killing him.

- Ms. Fredang arrives, she reproaches Mitzi for all the worry she caused and fires a gunshot at Mitzi, but intentionally misses. Mrs. Fredang say she just had to get it out of her system and then the two of them hug each other.


Devil Down Below

#52 - Devil Down Below



- Joker is upset because he can't cause chaos when its already chaos. Also, he feels abandoned and forgotten by Batman and so he decides to do something to get the Dark Knight's attention.
- Meanwhile; Azrael starts looking for Calibax's body and finds out that the mutant might have survived the fall.
- Batman finds Azrael and tells him that he is going to take down The Joker. Azrael tries to explain Batman that Scratch and Calibax are roaming free, but Batman says Joker is a greater threat. Azrael is not sure if he is up to the job of stopping the clown.
- Joker visits an orphanage and offers the kids some jelly beans. Somehow the kids are part of Joker's evil plan.
- Azrael walks the streets, suddenly a woman calls him "Batman" and gives him a message from the Joker that he would be waiting him at Forest Park. Azrael goes to find the Joker.
- The Joker is at a park with a child in a deathtrap, a glass cage meant to kill Batman by throwing blades, shooting bullets, ect.
- Azrael turns up and Joker is offended he’s not Batman's. Joker threatens to kill the kid, so Azrael surrenders.
- Joker’s henchmen to put Azrael in disused a sewer pipe and attempt to seal it, but Azrael manages to escape and take the henchmen down. He frees the kid but the Joker escapes. Azrael apologizes for failing, but Batman says he didn't fail because he saved a kid's life.


Jellybean Deathtrap

#53 - Jellybean Deathtrap



_"There is a new assassin in Gotham City that kills his victims by slitting their throats with sharp blades attached to tap-dance shoes."_

- Azrael is looking for Scratch, the Joker and Calibax to no avail.
- He found an old man lying in the street and takes him to building where a family, a man and his daughter were sheltering. Turns out the old man is the man's father, and he has been left in the street to die after they ran low on food. Azrael gives them his last rations and promises to return with food.
- Azrael heads towards Oracle's place for info. On the way, he saves a boy from drowning in a river. However, when Azrael they are attacked by the gang the boy is part of, the boy also attacks him - saying everyone needed a gang to survive in No Man's Land. After Azrael fights off the gang, the boy apologies and offers him some food.
- They head to the family's house to drop off the food, but along the when they find the old man, now dead in the street, his throat cut with surgical precision. The boy tells Azrael they've found bodies like this before. They give the food to the man and his daughter, and Azrael heads to Oracle.
- Elsewhere, Death Dancer strikes again, killing a sick woman, to her son's relief. The killer believes this is a mercy killing; he ends their suffering.
- Azrael arrived at Oracle's, they meet in person for the first time and eat beans. Oracle and Azrael chat and decide from that point on they would be like brother and sister to each other (no more flirting). Oracle sheds a couple tears of happiness, joy has become a rare emotion in No Man's Land.
- Death Dancer witnesses Oracle, crying and wheelchair bound, and decides she must be put out of her misery.


Step into the Light

#54 - Step into the Light



- Death Dancer kills a woman while her nephew watches. The boy then started to roam the streets of Gotham City with his sweater all covered in blood.
- Azrael question Barbara about the mysterious deaths. Barabara has no info, but suggests he check in with Dr. Thomkins. Azrael goes to her medical center in Crime Alley.
- As he is telling her about the recent deaths, a nurse brought in the boy covered in his aunts blood. He shows them where his aunt was killed. They encounter man nearby asking for help - his wife is trapped in rubber from a building collapse. Azrael pulls her from the rubble and works with Leslie to save the woman's life.
- Leslie tells Azrael about Alvin Kothers, a man she knew who studied medicine and dancing, two of the things that fit with the killer's M.O., and that he used to live her Barbara's place. Azrael hurries back to that area.
- Barbara is out for a stroll when she is attacked by the Death Dancer, but Azrael stops him.
- Azrael was injured in the fight so he went to Leslie's afterwards. After a few words of wisdom from Leslie, Azrael stayed at the medical center to help out (throughout this comic there is been the theme of Leslie disapproving of vigilante violence, and Azrael trying but often failing to avoid it).


Misery Dance

#55 - Misery Dance



- Somewhere in the city, a man is shot. Batgirl arrives, disarms the shooter and takes the injured man to Leslie's medical center. Batgirl leads Azrael to the site of the shooting, where they find the shooter and batgirl managers to knock his out with only minor injuries. Leslie is impressed by her control.
- Batman appears and gives them info on where to find scratch. Before leaving, Azrael promises Leslie that he won't use violence unless it is completely necessary. Azrael decides to get into the place as Jean-Paul while Batgirl remains outside.
- Inside, Jean-Paul sees Nicholas Scratch giving a speech about taking control of the city by force, using weapons he had hidden in the city. Jean-Paul is recognized as Azrael (same person as was shot earlier) and Scratch captures him.


The Night Foretold

#56 - The Night Foretold



- Jean Paul suggests to Scratch that it would send a stronger message if he killed him as Azrael instead of killing just a simple man. Scratch agrees.
- Meanwhile Batgirl goes around sneakily stealing most of the weapons from the group.
- At dawn, when Scratch says it’s time for Azrael’s execution, they put the cowl on him. Jean-Paul transforms into Azrael and breaks free from the ropes tying him up. Azrael and Batgirl take down Scratch and his henchmen, also convincing the crowd that Scratch is not the savior they were promised. After the fight, they take medical supplies from Scratch’s cache back to Leslie.
- Back at Leslie's, Jean-Paul confesses to her that he enjoyed the violence he used against Scratch and Leslie says it is only human to fall short of our best intentions. She then says, _“Come on, there are sick people who need our help...and take off that ridiculous costume.”_


Scratched Out

#57 - Scratched Out



- Azrael stops some guys from stealing from Leslie’s medical center, but is bummed because he feels like all does is violence. He mentions this to Leslie, who thanks him for all he’s done for her center. He is exhausted, and goes to find a place to sleep.
- Azrael thinks he sees his dead father in the corner of his eye, but when he turns around its gone.
- Jean-Paul sees someone running from the medical center. Thinking it was a thief, Azrael stops them. Turns out its Mitzi Fredang, the girl he helped some time ago. She said she was running from her (dead) murderous uncle. Mitzi told Jean-Paul that she was also looking for her mother, but that she lost track of her when her mother ran to the Gotham gas company building. Azrael goes into the building to search for her.
- Suddenly, the spirit of St. Dumas appears and tells Azrael that it was time for him to get away Gotham. In the end, Azrael tried to rationalize the situation and told St. Dumas that he was just an illusion from his mind, caused by exhaustion and hunger. Before leaving, St. Dumas told him where Mrs. Fredang was and also told him about a boat sunk nearby Dixon's Docks.
- Azrael find Mrs. Fredang and reunites her with Mitzi.
- After, Azrael find the boat St. Dumas told him about and starts sailing away from Gotham. In the middle of the way, Azrael had a change of heart and returns.
- He gave Mitzi and her mother the boat so they could leave the city. They sail away into the unusual fog. Suddenly, Mrs. Fredang says that Jerry is somewhere, very close to them.


Ghosts

#58 - Ghosts



- Batman wanted Azrael to provide protection to Catwoman and guard Robinson park awaiting her return and Azrael agreed.
- Catwoman sneaks into Gotham by hijacking a helicopter, but the chopper crash lands and she is injure. She is followed Nastacio from the Hardcases, Inc. Azrael arrives and fights Nastacio while Catwoman escapes.
- Catwoman delivers the discs to Batman. Batman noticed that she was injured and told her to take care of herself.
- At Leslie's medical center, Jean-Paul arrived in a bad condition, but asks Leslie to first check on Nastacio, the man he was dragging.


Pilgrim's Return

#59 - Pilgrim's Return



- Batman tells Azrael and Batgirl evacuate all the people from Joker’s territory to the Blue Boys territory.
- Joker recruits a thug to dress up as him and wander the streets in order to learn about any unusual activity and distract Batman/GCPD.
- Azrael and Batgirl evacuate a place full of children but they don't notice that a little girl is left behind.
- Azrael and Batgirl move to evacuate the people in a collapsed building but they realize they are Joker's henchmen. Out of the shadows comes Joker and they attack Batgirl and Azrael. They quickly take him down, but then they realize that the man isn't the real Joker. They continue to evacuate the zone.
- Azrael and Batgirl think they are finished but they learn that a child was left in the danger zone. Meanwhile, Joker finds the girl and decides to use her as a hostage.
- Azrael and Batgirl find Joker and his group, but this time they think that it is another fake. Without any fear, Azrael rescues the girl and advises the clown to take off the makeup and the wig. Joker is shocked by Azrael's reactions and he forgets to tell his troops to attack the duo.
- Away from the danger zone, Azrael says he is thankful that they never encountered the real Joker.


Evacuation

#60 - Evacuation



- The Joker has kidnapped babies and was holding them somewhere in Gotham.
- Azrael and Batgirl go to the the Watchtower. On the way, Azrael talked to Batgirl and he realized that they had a lot of things in common, since they were raised to be perfect assassins. Azrael asked Batgirl to remove her mask and when she did, he told her that she had a nice face.
- When they arrived, Oracle told them that they were going to look for Joker and the kidnapped babies in CampLex. Before they left, Oracle gave them some Christmas presents. Azrael and Batgirl were surprised and didn't understand the meaning of it as they had never had a Christmas in their lives. Oracle got Batgirl a perfume and Azrael a harmonica.
- On their way to CampLex, Batgirl dances to Azrael’s harmonica. Azrael figured that it was her Christmas present for him and he felt sorry for not having something for her.
- They arrived at CampLex and fight off Luthor’s henchmen. Then Mercy approaches warning them to leave. Azrael notices there are baby dolls hanging from the camp Christmas tree and realizes they are booby traps by Joker. A second before the dolls exploded, Azrael shields Mercy and Batgirl with his own body. He suffers some nasty burns. When he was lying on the ground he noticed that something fell from the tree and grabbed it before the paramedics and took him to Leslie's medical center.
- When Jean-Paul regained consciousness, Leslie told him that his actions saved two people's lives. His hair was completely gone but his costume protected him from the explosion. Leslie gave him the ornament he grabbed from the tree and he realized that it was an angel figurine. Jean-Paul gave her the angel to Batgirl as a Christmas girl.


Presents of Mind

#61 - Presents of Mind



Follows Azrael, the alter ego of Jean-Paul Valley. Azrael debut in the Batman: Sword of Azrael miniseries and had a role in Knightfall, after which Azrael was given his own series. Starting with issue #47, the title was changed to Azrael: Agent of the Bat.


Azrael Volume 1 (1995 - 2004)

Comics