#talilhy

I ain’t being coy, I’m talking about Talilhy.

If @vulture-venom wants a special thanks credit for what I’m about to do then he can have one. I wouldn’t be integrating Talilhy into the story without hearing your points. Or maybe it wasn’t even you and my notoriously-awful memory is making me think it was you who I heard of the ship from. In that case then, uh, if you’re reading this, sorry to waste your time…

Issue 6 is being worked on.

Proposing my rare pair to you all… Talilhy. I have so many thoughts about them.

They’re both highly intelligent women who were raised in these strange “secret societies” (the League, the Order), denied power and wronged by the men who posses it. I think they’d have so much to show each other, to experience together, especially considering Lilhy’s lack of socialization. It’d also be interesting to see Talia with another woman because that would be the first relationship she really has agency over, no concerns about an heir, or Lilhy’s strength, no ties to Ra’s. Talia extends to Lilhy a sort of kindness and freedom in unapologetically embracing womanhood that she had never experienced before while in the Order. And Lilhy, due to her inexperience, would not see Talia from a lustful perspective the way previous partners had (hello Bane). She would fall for Talia because of her intellect, her compassion towards Lilhy, her strength and competence. She would fall for her reluctantly, having never explored the idea of same sex romance or romance to begin with, and Lilhy’s relationships in canon are.. oddly written to begin with.

Azrael #8

By Vera

At this point I’m considering using these columns to expand on previous Azrael takes since no one actually submits any questions so this column is getting to be worthless. Or maybe I’ll just only do these at the end of every story, I don’t yet know. There is, however, exciting news to those who actually follow these things. Azrael Annual 1 has been fully written for weeks, and will be released in between issues 9 and 10 (Finally some Ludovic and LeHah up in here). Though, I will warn all of you, I have made a change possibly so egregious, so heretical, that all of you might unfollow me for saying it out loud to begin with. I have changed JPV from enjoying The Beatles to enjoying The Bee Gees. Yes, I went there. I simply do not like enough songs from The Beatles to justify including them in the story. Meanwhile I adore the Brothers Gibb, and always have since childhood. They were a core part of my early taste, alongside such names like Bob Marley, Stanley Clarke, and the monastic choir of the holy mountain Athos. Like most of the changes that I make, it’s almost entirely author appeal, shit I wanted to put in because I think it fits. Things like Lilhy being decently flat, killing off Ra’s, (His killer’s identity will be revealed near issue 40), putting references to Power Rangers in the names of the henchmen, changing the Gray Abbott’s race, making Lilhy more of a dry bitch, padding out the word counts, integrating Talilhy because I suddenly decided to change Lilhy’s character in such a way that her arc changes entirely because of a ship, putting most scenes of Fallen Angel during nighttime, and all that jazz. There’s also a particular gigantic plot change which I’m especially anticipated to get to, but it will not be revealed until Angel In Hiding. It needs time to marinate in the biological soup before emerging in all its glory and beauty (There will be several hints about it in Demon Time).

As a reminder, here’s the rest of the planned schedule for the original 28-issue Kitson era.

Azrael #9: Azrael On The Run

Azrael Annual 1: Azrael Year One

Azrael #10: Underworld Unknown

Azrael #11-12: Azrael Rising

Azrael #13-14: Demon Time

Azrael #15-16: Contagion

(Yes, I am condensing Contagion into two issues. Pray for me, I implore thee. There will also be no adaptation of Legacy, Contagion will be self-contained. Pretty much focused on mostly Azrael and Catwoman.)

Azrael Annual 2: Legends Of The Ancient Earth

Azrael #17-18: Angel In Flames

(I have decided to make Dr. Orchid a Scientology official, and also cut the story down to make more room for the next two arcs of the original 28-issue Kitson era)

Azrael #19-22: Angel In Hiding

(The first truly major alteration to O’Neil’s original narrative as well as being extended for the sake of adding more plot)

Azrael #23-26: Angel At War

(Extended by another issue to add more tension and a bit of a turning point for Lilhy, as well as expanding the backstory of Dumas and his mother, whom I have given the name Fiamma.)

Azrael #27-28: Angel Insane

(I’ve elected to swap out the useless Charles ‘character’ for a more reptilian Killer Croc, and added a witch-hatted Scarecrow to troll Azrael after the Joker has his fun.)

Azrael Annual 3: Pulp Heroes

There’s the plan, anyway. And now onto the questions!

1. Which penciller of Azrael 1995 was your personal favourite?

(Barry Kitson, David Ammerman, James Pascoe, Tom Grindberg, Jim Aparo, Doug Braithwaite, Roger Robinson, Vincent Giarrano, Joe Quesada, Ron Wagner, Sergio Cariello)

2. Are my Azrael takes really any controversial?

Is that all? I think that’s all.

NEXT ISSUE: Azrael returns to the home of his hostess alongside his two companions, Lilhy orders someone’s death and it actually happens this time, Rollo unfortunately makes another appearance, Talia continues to mostly appease everyone effortlessly, the spark of affection between two women continues to precariously but steadily grow into a flame, and the broken angel physically abandons those around him.

With love and writing from a broken bed,

Azrael #7

By Vera

Is Azrael a hero? Well now, that’s a very complex question, isn’t it? One that I think can be answered in any way and still be true. Jean-Paul Valley is a man who tries constantly to live up to the heroic ideals set out for him by Bruce Wayne throughout his life, and is constantly falling short of those ideals through no fault of his own. He’s branded as a failure in KnightsEnd, is left homeless on the streets and then uprooted and planted into an entirely new world as well as the secrets of his own birth and genetic makeup. He’s framed by Nicolas Scratch twice over, and loses his favour with Batman for the eighty-eighth time. He’s possessed-ish by the saint’s spirit and compelled to go insane once more, leading him to burn bridge after bridge with everyone around him and be left with nothing. But at the end of the day, he still tries his absolute best to be a hero and finds occasional success, and that obviously counts for quite a lot. When he is fully in the moment, he is a hero. When he is unsure of himself, (which is just as much of the time), he fails at heroism. His morality is another matter entirely, with Azrael being a personality willing to take lives, but the human aspect compelling him to reign in those instincts and impulses keeps him in check. Batman is a hero, while Azbat is a failed hero. Azbat failed, and he failed hard at several key points, but he was never a villain, but a tragic hero. Azrael is not a hero in a vacuum, but Azrael with a set of lived experiences is a figure who attempts to be a hero and his life is a lix of failing miserably and succeeding at not betraying his morality while taking down the big evil bad guy in the last few pages. That is why I classify Azrael as a hero. Because that’s what he works to be, and he works harder than most at being a proper hero.

On a lighter note, question time for the readers! Yaaayyyy!! (Whoo!!)

1. In an Azrael world with more fantastical elements, who would the elves be? We only had humans, dwarves, angels, and demons in canon, after all. (The aliens are unconfirmed)

2. Do you think Talia liked Lilhy in a lavender manner in canon?

NEXT ISSUE: Learning the truth of the secrets behind his parentage and his birth, Azrael continues his blind and destructive rage, which damages his own soul as well as severely endangering the lives of those around him. As his single-minded and psychotic fury rages onwards, only Sister Lilhy and Brian Bryan can convince him to ease his inclination to violence and return some level of stability to his mind and body. Meanwhile, an unfortunate mistake leads to an attempted escape being foiled by a hail of military-grade bullets and missiles, and the immediate future of the three positively upstanding individuals whom we have been following are left up to chance and the will of those who brought them down. All of this is continued in AZRAEL #8! Still from me, adapted from the original eighth issue by Dennis O’Neil, Barry Kitson, Scot Eaton, James Pascoe, and Curt Shoultz.

Doing this instead of caring about my precious grades,