Azrael: Agent of the Bat #85

Azrael cuts a striking figure atop a rooftop pipe structure in this February 2002 DC release, his crimson-and-gold armored costume and dramatic swept cape silhouetted against an enormous full moon. The cover by penciler Scott McDaniel and inker Sergio Cariello frames the moment with real grandeur — scattered papers whipping through the night air add a kinetic energy to an already commanding pose. With Dennis O'Neil writing and Cariello on interior art, issue #85 of Agent of the Bat looks like a compelling chapter in Jean-Paul Valley's ongoing saga as Gotham's watchful sentinel.