Azrael #2

The cover of this March 1995 issue — with pencils and inks by Barry Kitson and James Pascoe — sets a grim, urgent tone: Batman's cowled face looms in shadow at the left edge, his white eyes fixed on a blond figure engulfed in a roaring column of fire against Gotham's dark skyline. That prone, flame-wreathed figure gives the issue's story title, "Fallen Angel: 2 …Some Say in Ice…," an immediate, unsettling weight. Writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Barry Kitson were clearly committed to pushing Azrael's world into genuinely dark territory right from the series' earliest issues.