Customer Reviews

The Crow, Book 1: Vengeance

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Here we have a retelling of The Crow. The concept is pretty much the same, and a lot of the same characters remain, but Eric's back story has been completely altered in how the events went down. There's no problem there, the new origin is interesting, however the act of taking revenge on the men who killed Eric and his fiancée happens so fact and furious, it almost loses its impact. It doesn't have the weight the initial story did. Some people might prefer that approach too. The good thing is after he is done enacting revenge the story continues unlike the original.

Another character is introduced only known as Walker (he's an Indian, not a Texas ranger). His background is never really given, but he's similar to The Crow in that he communicates with a wolf that follows him on his quests the way Eric talks to a crow. Eric is about settling old scores while Walker kills murderers, which in a sense makes him like The Punisher and a hypocrite.

The biggest improvement on this version is the artwork, which is always interesting to look at and the colors are very muted and subdued which sets up a good tone for this type of story. It consistently reminded me of a well lit film noir. The thing I didn't care for was some of the dialog, primarily the cops. It's like they took every sentence out of the book of tough cop talk clichés. Just a minor complaint.

The ending wasn't the best but there is a follow up book which will hopefully open new story lines and keep things moving. If you're looking for a good take on The Crow, I'm sure you could do worse. Overall, it's about the same quality as the original, however I find this one more interesting since it continues on and doesn't come to a screeching halt after he's done avenging his love.

The Crow: Vengeance collects issues 1 - 3, 5 and 6 of Todd McFarlane's Crow comic series. It follows Eric Draven, star of the original graphic novel and film, through his revenge and then further.

Jon J Muth does a great job of writing this, and the artists, Jamie Tolagston and Paul Lee, also have talent. Unfortunately, the idea behind the series was not so good, and eventually the series was cancelled, after issue 10.

Book, II, "Evil Beyond Reach", is also available now.