Azrael Annual #3

Part of DC's 1997 Pulp Heroes event, this annual drops Azrael into a hardboiled world of shadows and intrigue — and the cover by Glen Orbik makes that tonal shift feel completely earned. Rendered in a lush, painted pulp style, the image presents Azrael in his red armored costume crouching warily alongside a mysterious, glamorous woman in a wide-brimmed hat, while an unconscious figure lies in the foreground — the tagline promising "The Cat and the Angel: Dangerous Partners for the World's Deadliest Prize!" Inside, Dennis O'Neil writes with Jim Aparo and James Hodgkins handling the art, a creative team well-suited to this kind of atmospheric, suspense-detective storytelling.