After returning to American soil, Azrael gradually rebuilds his relationship with Batman. Starting with issue #47, the series was retitled "Azrael: Agent of the Bat" and played a major role in the "No Man's Land" storyline. Starting with issue #50, he changes to a considerably different costume, and experiments with a few other costumes, even briefly returning to a version of his Batman-style costume from "Knightquest" and "KnightsEnd", before finally settling on his original costume in the final issues of the series. Azrael battles supposed hallucinations that are supposed to represent both his father and the creator of the order that spawned him, St. Dumas. Toward the end of the series, Azrael is plagued by apparently supernatural occurrences in the form of possible miracles. Azrael is seemingly killed in the series' final issue, shot with two specially-coated bullets while battling archenemies Nicholas Scratch and Carlton Lehah. However, his body is never recovered. He makes an appearance during "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?"; however, the story is out of continuity, or takes place on multiple different earths. The "Blackest Night" crossover features a resurrected Jean-Paul Valley, suggesting he did indeed die. Three annual editions of Azrael ("Azrael Annual") were also published, depicting other stories, such as the one of his father in "Azrael Annual" #1 (Year One). "Azrael: Death's Dark Knight" was a miniseries (written by Fabian Nicieza, with art by Frazer Irving, May - July 2009), taking place within the "" storyline, in which an African-American ex-cop named Michael Washington Lane is approached by a religious sect called the Order of Purity to claim the mantle of Azrael after the Order's most recent Azrael went mad and killed an undercover police officer. When he takes this opportunity to serve his ideal of justice, he is offered three items by the Order of Purity: The Suit of Sorrows, The Sword of Sin, and The Sword of Salvation. Lane initially is told very little by the members of the Order of Purity, beyond that the Order of Purity is a secret religious order which had splintered from the Order of St. Dumas, which itself had splintered from the Catholic Church during the Crusades. The Suit of Sorrows had been created by the Order of Purity to be used by their first Azrael, who had been intended as a rival to the Order of St. Dumas' enforcer of the same name.