As Malkovich said in "In the Line of Fire," "The Irony is so thick you could choke on it."
Knightfall/Knightsend wanted to bring Azrael in as a Batman even darker than Bruce to show how it doesn't work. Or show how Bruce not letting bad guys die makes him "cool."
(Then Batman turned into the Scary Batgod that lives in Bruce Wayne's head. Making him twice as dark as Azrael.)
Then Jason shows up as a mix of the Punisher and Spider-Man (Deadpool?). And they even show him as effective. Black Mask tells Batman "He's done more to hurt me in six weeks than you ever did in six months."
And Jason being so popular as a dark character they have to make him villainous?
And this is from the company that gave us IDENTITY CRISIS. IC said (strongly hinted) that the Satellite Era Justice League willingness to alter the minds of villains makes them MORE MORAL than Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Who aren't willing to tamper with villains' minds.
This isn't Dan DiDio hating us. It's something else. But I'm not sure what.