Azrael #33 : Epipheny Writer : Dennis O'Neil Penciller : Roger Robinson Inker : James Pascoe Colourist : Demetrius Bassoukos Seperations : Prismacolour Letter : Ken Bruzenak Assistant Editor : Chuck Kim Editor : Archie Goodwin

Azrael defeats the werewolf and follows the werewolf to the Nadir's factory. Hiram is transformed into an octopus creature by his son Otto and captures Azrael. When Otto removes Azrael's mask to see what is underneath Azrael gropes for a weapon and finds a beaker of chemicals. Azrael smashes the beaker against the octopus and everyone is coated with chemicals. Azrael is released and he begins to hallucinate that he is an angel. When the chemical's effect wears off Azrael finds the octopus attacking him, he swiftly beats it and finds Otto to have mutated into some sort of mutated baby. Looking to make the change into an angel permanent Azrael takes more chemicals, but this time hallucinates that he is a techno organic demon. Glinda arrives to tell him that both sides of him are present within him and that it is up to him to choose.

Review :

This issue sported a minor improvement in the art, but there was still a disapointing art level. The cover was striking, perfectly encapsulating the emotion of Azraels transformation into an angel. It is a far better piece of art than the interior, proving along with issue #31 that this team is capable of producing spectacular images. The transformation into angel and demon was highly symbolic of Azrael's duality and confusion, with Glinda providing extra illumination on the subject as an intersting twist on the narrators role, being both a part of and apart from the story. Glinda does this by referring to it as his [Azrael's] drama. This story is definately strongest in it's assesment of Azrael's nature.

Rant :

I loved the stained glass window cover, possibly one of the best covers in ages. The exprssive narration was spoiled only by the rather flat colouring something that was pretty dissapointing considering Demitrious' previous colouring for this team and outstanding work during Barry's run. Overall this story was pretty damn good.