AZRAEL

Ending his run on the book, Fabian Nicieza concludes the two-part story surrounding the eighth deadly sin, faith. That one idea is striking in its originality and simplicity, but this issue doesn’t follow up on the potential there because of the need to have the story completed in this issue. Azrael’s acceptance of his new role as the embodiment of the eighth deadly sin and his rejection of it is too quick. This seems like a story that was meant to be longer and more drawn out, but was rushed because of the creative team change. The idea of faith as a sin is introduced well in this issue, especially in the life of Michael Lane. Nicieza tries his best to present a complete picture of the good and bad sides of faith. First, the sinful side is shown with the argument for pure faith as a destructive, negative force on humanity. It’s been the cause of wars, bigotry, hatred, and more deaths than can be counted. Azrael being chosen as the embodiment of this sin makes sense since his entire

In some ways, “Azrael” #8 looks like a very amateurish comic. Ramon Bachs’ art is blocky and simplistic with messy colors, looking somewhat like something a teenager dashed off. The story jumps from scene to scene with no explanation or context as numerous subplots drift in and out of the book despite this being the first part of a new story arc. And, yet, there’s something very compelling about the comic — a strange energy that drives it and sucks you in. Maybe it’s just my admittedly small knowledge of Medieval literature, but “Azrael” #8 reads like an attempt to capture the parataxis technique used in stories from that time period. Instead of using syntax (cause and effect), parataxis is storytelling through a listing of events. Events happen and then something new happens and then something new happens and so on. It’s the endless series of ‘and then’ over and over again, which is the approach here. It could be sloppy storytelling with scene changes that just happen with no explan