Start in July writer David Hine will be taking over the Azrael title from Fabian Nicieza. Newsarama has posted a really great interview with David to talk about Detective Comics and his new duties on Azrael.

Newsarama: David, we talked recently about how the themes in your Arkham and Detective stories over the last year fit with your style of writing. What appeals to you as a writer about the story of Azrael?

David Hine: He’s another crazy character. I keep writing books centered on certifiable lunatics. Honestly I don’t actively go searching for these gigs. When I started to read up on the character and I saw that the Suit of Sorrows has the unavoidable side effect of driving the wearer crazy I thought “uh oh, another crazy lead character.” I don’t want to get pigeonholed, but I admit to a fascination with characters who have trouble holding onto their sanity.

Michael Lane is very different to Jeremiah Arkham of course. You get the feeling that Arkham was born crazy and has been trying to keep a grip on his sanity all his life, while Michael Lane starts out as a very stable, strong-willed person, who has gone through a series of traumatic events, including the deaths of many of his closest family. Becoming the new Azrael looked like a way to find a new purpose and redeem himself, but his role has turned out to be much more complex and ambiguous than he expected. What’s also appealing is that, even though he’s ostensibly part of a group, The Order of Purity, he’s still an outsider and I do like those marginal characters.

Nrama: You obviously had a lot of knowledge about Jeremy Arkham as you wrote his story over the last year. Have you done a lot of research on Azrael, or were you pretty familiar with the character? What kind of research have you done and will we see any elements of it in the story you're writing?

Hine: When Mike Marts offered me this series I didn’t know a hell of a lot about the character. I think the last time I read the book some minor league artist called Joe Quesada was drawing it I’ve read and re-read all the material featuring the Michael Lane character – the Battle for the Cowl mini-series, a couple of Batman and Detective Annuals and of course all the issues of Batman that featured Michael Lane as one of Dr Hurt’s replacement Batmen. I also had all of Fabian Nicieza’s scripts up to issue 9. I’ve been working on the story for a while now and Fabian was months ahead with his scripts, so I knew where the story was heading. I’ve also contacted Fabian about some of his intentions for the character.

There’s a fascinating flash-forward in the first issue of the current series, where Azrael apparently dies at his own hand. Fabian threw that in right from the start and that future event is hanging over the entire series. I will be getting to that scene eventually. I want to respect what Fabian was doing with the story and the character. He set up some fascinating possibilities and I don’t want to abandon any of those sub-plots. So for the readers who may have been worried that the death scene would never be explained – have no fear, all will be revealed.

I’ve restricted myself to the Michael Lane version of the character for now. I’m aware of the previous incarnation of Jean-Paul Valley of course, but I don’t want to overcomplicate things – at least, not yet. For the moment I’m exploring the way Michael Lane’s sanity becomes increasingly fragile, the longer he wears The Suit of Sorrows.

For the full interview click here...

(Source - Newsarama)