Full Circle
The Good: I hate Cliff Richard's art. His over focus on shading makes everything look too static and just doesn't look good. That said, it actually looks good in this comic. I don't know if it's David Hine's direction or Tomeu Morey's colors but the art actually manages to suit the story.
We're entering what I consider Phase 3 of Azrael. Phase 1 was Fabian Nicizea's run which set up the crucifixion, Ra's Al Ghul, and Azrael's descent into madness. Phase 2 was The Killer of Saints, which changed the game. It took the build up and created a trigger to come from left field to set off the bomb, and Phase 3 with a new artist is the fallout. Michael Lane is feeling the effects of the first 13 issues in full force. The revelation of #13 is driving him mad and it's awesome.
Basically, a lot of things deal with the fallout from the shocking end of The Killer of Saints and the darkness is excellent. This isn't whiney emo moping or even understandable angst. This is complete madness, and you can feel it down in your soul.
The tie-in to Batman Incorporated is actually a brilliant third party element to this story and doesn't feel like an obligatory tie-in.
We're finally getting gratification and basically discover that the past 12 issues were one gigantic prologue to this moment which was teased back in #1.
The Bad: While the grainy art of Cliff RIchards exceeds all his previous work that I've seen, and suits the darker mood of the story, it still could be better.
The implications presented by Ra's Al Ghul bring up A LOT of confusing questions and seems to potentially contradict some previous stuff.
In Conclusion: 4/5
David Hine is still writing strong. I'm amazed by how fine I am with Cliff Richards art, and thought I liked the one-shot story movement of the first 9 issues, I'm really enjoying David Hine's story arc approach as gratification for all the previous teases. This is a fantastic issue for everyone who's been following Azrael, which is a fantastic title.