Customer Reviews

The Crow

5 star:		(100)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I can't help but think of the irony I found when I first read this graphic novel. I was experiencing the break up of a two year relationship with somebody I felt I loved very deeply at the time. While that doesn't compare to the kind of loss depicted in this book it was a loss I seriously felt. Maybe this made The Crow a more important book to me, but I feel that my situation only served to enhance my experience with the book. Not augment it. In other words The Crow is a seriously thought-provoking graphic novel that delves into levels of despair that I have yet seen from any other book of this kind.

The first thing some of you might think of is how can a comic book be regarded that seriously? First off the graphic storytelling is very different from what you would find in a super hero comic. Where those sorts of books focus on the action and events this book focuses much of its time on emotional reflection. Sure there is action and boughts of cool poses and such, but that's not the main point of the story.

As other reviewers have mentioned this story is essentially themed with the gothic, post modern, angst-ridden atmosphere. That includes death and the undead as well philosophies and poetry that are familiar in this genre. If any book puts you in the depths of the gothic and post modern counterculture this is the one, but don't let that fool you into thinking this work is pretentious like a kid in black eyeliner telling you that you don't understand pain. This is an intense piece of literary work.

The story revolves around Eric Draven, who was killed a year ago along with his fiance, coming back from the dead to avenge her death. He is literally unstoppable. I know... this sounds a LOT like some testosterone overdosed comic you would find with Marvel or Image, but keep in mind the true focus of the story is in the emotional reflection portrayed. This book does include instances of drug use, rape, vulgarity, and ultra-violence. This stuff might sound off-putting for some, but this content only serves to further the book's illustration of its dystopic theme. Not glorify it.

The artwork is all in black and white, and it is breathtaking. I think this is James O'Barr's (writer and artist) first work, and you can actually see the evolution of the art from great to fantastic in this series. The book also collects some color prints as well so it's not all colorless. The scripting is deep and filled with potential catch phrases for the goth elite, or better still for wayward philosophers. Almost every line Eric says has a deeper meaning than the words said.

The one true weakness in the book is that if you look at the plot itself, and mark the book's course of events, it's rather boring. Eric finds his victim. Victim tries to kill Eric. Eric reminds victim who he is and why he's there. Eric kills victim. Rinse and repeat. Part of this can be blamed on the fact this graphic novel collects six issues of the original Crow comic series and what you are seeing is separate issues that happen to have the same theme. Either way it's what you read between the lines that makes the difference. Focus on just the events and you miss the real story.

The Crow is not for everyone. Although I would call it recommended reading for ALL literary minded and philosophically minded folk. Of course the Goth and Emo kids who don't already know about this book will go bat-crazy over it. The rest of you can still really enjoy this dark and deep piece of visual and literary art even if you not into that scene.

It seems ordinary. Your basic plot of love-stronger-than-death: a newlywed couple are brutally killed by a bunch of stoned thugs, and a year later, the man returns from the dead, invincible and really angry. Scratch around fifty thousand thugs. The end, right?

Except it's so much more than that. One thing you will notice at once is the highly stylized artwork. Sure, now it may not look so original (given the 50,000,000 imitators) but you've got to remember how old it is. The one thing that stands out is the eyes - there are scenes where Eric (the avenger) stands in a relaxed or otherwise "normal" fashion, but his eyes look alive, burning with indescribable hate. He also is quite literary, often quoting books, poetry and the Bible, adding to the atmosphere. Though you may be shocked at the vast amounts of violence the Crow perpetrates, by the chapter "The Atrocity Exhibition", which fully explains what happened to him and his beloved, you'll be firmly on his side. There is absolutely no way to feel sorry for any of Eric's victims. The action is interrupted frequently by long stretches showing Eric's flashbacks or just his grief, which is intense. Some of the images of Eric crying and cursing God and everything are so disturbing they're unforgettable.

In a way, this book portrays a chapter of musical history. O'Barr (the author) had been listening to a great deal of music before writing it, and it shows - Eric often quotes the band Joy Division (the book is also dedicated to JD's singer, who killed himself) and many of the prefaces/notes/expositions contain quotes from The Cure. Also, Eric himself is modeled after the singers Iggy Pop and Ian Curtis, and many of the chapter titles are names of various songs.

Despite the vast amounts of action and violence, you are as a reader never allowed to forget Eric's motivation. The theme of love always comes back, and it's soul-wrenching to watch Eric try to fight his alternating memories of happiness and pain. In Eric's world, there is only good or bad, black or white, purity and love or hatred and brutality, and the dialogue and the obvious passion of the book's author makes all of it come alive. By the end, you really grow to hope that the Crow can somehow find his inner peace. You should read this book at least once.

The "Revenge" story has been told many times, from many perspectives, and with varying success. Most have been less than enjoyable, with bad plots and characterizations. Some have been masterful, such as (in my opinion) Kill Bill and Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.

James O'barr's The Crow, however, is easily the best "revenge" story I have ever had the privilege to read. Eric feels like a real person, not some bland characterization. You feel how much he loves Shelly, and you see his innate goodness. You even can't help but understand his rage during his highly ethically questionable killing spree.

O'barr weaves a vivid, powerful story here of love lost and rage unquenched as he follows Eric, a man who returns from the dead to avenge his and his lover's gruesome murders. During the whole ordeal, there are glimpses of Eric's true humanity and kindness, and one gets the sense that he must purposefully sublimate this side of himself in order for his soul to gain peace.

This tale is a gritty masterpiece, and easily one of the best graphic novels ever produced. I heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys comic books, and if you feel that comics are low-brow, I encourage you to take a look at this.

You might just change your mind.

One of my all time favorite movies. I had not read the graphic novel until I bought it from here. It's a marvelous, moving tale of how love conquers all, even if it means returning from the dead to do it.

Forget the movie. You must read the comic that inspired it. Eric is a man who was killed while his girlfriend is raped and murdered. Not in that order, either. It seems that such an injustice cannot live on, and Eric returns from the dead angry, heartbroken, violent and invincible. He takes savage revenge on those who tore his life apart, all the while reliving, through flashbacks, the good times he had with his true love, which both angers and motivates him. A love story and a violent bloodbath of revenge. I do not know what happened to O'barr to inspire this, but it is one of the most finely drawn comics, and heartbreaking stories ever. It gives us the hope that perhaps death is not final, and that God does correct the wrongs in life, in the form of a crow.

I enjoyed the movie "the Crow", but, I do not think it did justice to the beautifully painful story that James O'Barr has written. The story gives the reader the background that is most times found lacking in a script. O'Barr writes to create an environment of which the reader becomes a part. I could feel the love, the pain, the sorrow and the anger leaping from the pages. A writer should be able to bring laughter as well as tears to the reader and O'Barr has done that most definitely. I recommend to anyone who has seen the movie to read the book to experience the true story and a writing style that has all but disappeared. I gave this book a 10 because not only was the story line incredible; the pictures enhanced the full meaning with a great force without taking anything away from the story

During the time that James O' Barr wrote this his mental space was probably not too far removed from the screenwriters of "Death Wish" or the Comte De Lautreamont while composing "Maldoror". One might even safely say that this despairing, vengeful, and elegantly dirty piece of work combines the psyche of the two in a strange way.

A lot has changed since I first read this graphic novel at the age of 13. And since I first saw the movie at that same age. I recognize the limitations of both the story itself and the concept of "justice" presented therein. At the same time, one cannot deny the furious mastery and synthesis of literature, poetry, urban street life, and almost admire his willingness to consider violence as a form of purification for ultimate evil.

Eric Draven is an average twentysomething with a beautiful wife, Shelly, who are brutally murdered in Detroit by a gang of drugdealing animals when their car malfunctions and they are stranded in an isolated area. The scene in the comic is so ruthless, so pitiless, so inhuman, that O' Barr successfully seduces any reader into buying, for a time, the "eye for an eye" philosophy. Perhaps what clinches our sympathy with the mysteriously resurrected Eric Draven (looking more like something straight from hell than any avenging angel) are the actions of "Funboy" (unfairly based on the dearly departed author Jim Carroll) upon his already dying wife. He emerges from the grave to right the heinous wrong visited upon himself and his beloved wife.

This really is different from the film, though I'd say that in some ways one works better than the other and vice versa. The Crow haunted Draven is far more pitiless, despairing and rageful than the innocent but supernaturally charged character portrayed by the late Brandon Lee. It is never quite explained what kind of divine force (and this would be a good question indeed) raises Eric from the dead to perform the actions he does. Either the Old Testament God at his worst or Zeus feeling really vindictive.

This is not just about revenge, though. This is a study in morality and the mystery of evil, the kind of evil which cannot account for itself because it has no answers for what it does. Funboy, who is a much more important character in the graphic novel than the film, spares himself a lot of pain by simply telling Eric: "I wish I could say I was sorry for what I done but I ain't. Man, I done worse!" Eric recognizes that there is a poison in Funboy which he himself does not really understand. He grants him a relatively painless and nonviolent death, though only with the promise that he'll bring the head honcho of the gang along so he can finish his quest. O' Barr leaves what he does to "T-Bird", the leader, to the imagination because it is so horrendous.

Eric is in the unique position of knowing there is a God and having been granted an opportunity for a "second chance" of sorts while also not comprehending how that same God could have allowed this wholesale slaughter of innocence. Christ's image is drawn beautifully as he weeps for Eric in his agony--even while he curses Him and any other Prime Mover that comes to mind. Throughout this work of art one gets the clear sense of an artist trying desperately to work out his own demons, to gain some understanding of a cosmos in which such abominations are allowed. And this is the real value of "The Crow": O' Barr is not trying to be clever, to be intellectual, or to show how well read he is. He is laying his then agonized heart out on the page. All of us can identify in some way, and those of us who don't will when they have a senseless tragedy of some sort strike. You simply cannot condemn Eric's actions very easily seeing the hand him and his fiancee have been dealt.

There's a little bohemian pretentiousness here, of course. Some of the dialogue is overly didactic and wordy. Does Eric really need to talk like a Shakespearean poet on *every* page? Also, Mr. O' Barr's view of the poor seems to be pretty negative on the whole. At the beginning of the comic, a thief is stealing a television from a home, and the dialogue is as follows: "These people make me sick..they can't feed they kids but they can afford they Toshiba". Really? I've spent a lot of time in low income areas and I've seen very few families in that situation prefer a Toshiba television to feeding their children.

Not to nitpick. This is a work of art from a true artist. And if it isn't for everybody, it should be.

This compliation of James O'barr's cult classic comic books moved me behond anything than i ever thought a comic could. The artwork is so beautiful in places and yet so raw and gritty and grainy in others, soft and hard, light and dark. Just amazing. The film was very good too i love them both but this book will always hold a place in my heart. For anyone thats ever had their heart broken and felt that pain this is a must read, it will move you like it moved me. buy it!!!

I will say that this is a work of art indeed.
This gloomy fairytale about revenge is the most
visual blessing of all time, and it's narrated
perfectly.
A must for all Crow fans.

I specially ordered this book from my local bookstore and received it two days later. When I got home, I opened it and began reading it. I took in all the love, loneliness, sadness, madness, and rage that James O'Barr put into it. He gave life to the characters. I couldn't put it down until I was finished. My eyes were wet with tears. The storyline is a sad and angry one, but isn't turned into a shoot-'em-up story like most people do. The character Eric Draven is given the most life, and with that life he exacts earned revenge amongst his and his fiances murderers. It was enthralling.