Source: CBR
Here’s a interview with Fabian Nicieza the writer for the new “Azrael” on going starting in October with Michael Washington Lane as Azrael. Before you check out the on-going you may want to read the AZRAEL DEATHS DARK KNIGHT #1 mini that started the relaunch.
Here’s a few excerpts
CBR: Was the plan all along to have you write an Azrael series coming out of “Battle of the Cowl,” or did the spin-off come about later in the game?
FABIAN NICIEZA: The spin-off came a little bit later in the game, but not the bottom of the ninth inning. I was finishing up my highly-acclaimed, award-winning run on “Robin” – okay, it was just a little acclaimed and won no awards, but it sounds better whenever you put that in front of a title – anyway, editor Mike Marts had been percolating the Suit of Sorrows concept as a new take on Azrael for a while and thought that the Gotham-in-turmoil-no-Batman aspect to “Battle for the Cowl” would serve as the perfect opportunity to introduce a sword-wielding, possibly religious zealot vigilante.
Mike Siglain is the one who brought up the idea of using Lane, the third Batman from Grant Morrison’s recent issues and the second he said it, we all knew it was the right choice. And I knew that even though I didn’t think of myself as an Azrael guy, I wanted to write this character in that suit forced to wrestle with the very difficult concepts of faith and justice. And knowing he had a future that was “written in stone” because of “Batman” #666 made it all the more exciting. Now we all know no future comic book story is ever really “real,” but in this case, it gives a great brooding, nihilistic end-goal we can use as a guidepost.
What do we need to know about Michael Washington Lane? How does he differ in character from Jean-Paul Valley? Any similarities?
Lane is an emotionally, psychologically and physically scarred man. He has lost nearly everything in his life that has ever mattered to him – his family, his job, his faith – and we show that even what did matter to him was always approached in a questionable fashion. He has a strong desire to “do the right thing,” but is often very uncertain about how to go about first identifying what the right thing is, and then how to go about doing it. Half the time he just wings it, the other half he is scarily resolute in his decision-making. It’s fun to write someone decisions run the gamut of extremes from absolute certainty to “what the hell.”
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This post was written by Lobo on August 24, 2009
