The Crow by J. O'Barr Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Crow
Book Review: A dark tale of man
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great piece of graphic art. I first read it when it was published 10+ years ago but never owned my own copy until now. For those that don't know, this is the original tale of Eric Draven, the character portrayed by the late Brandon Lee in the first movie, released 1993. It is a great tale of man as the dark beast. It tells tales of revenge, justice and suffering. This story is based in Detroit, hometown of the author James O'barr. The artwork is phenomenal as is the story. There are a lot of great song and poem references inside these beautifully drawn pages. The detail of people and places in this book is so accurate and well placed, it's scary. James made sure every street corner and store viewed by the reader were geographically correct to the Motor City. James' artwork is not that of the typical comic book artist. Most choose to alter reality and make their characters super built and super aesthetic. As James himself put it, "They remove their characters from reality and then others attempt to draw the characters and they draw them outside the spectrum of reality. So essentially the characters become twice removed from reality." Whereas James studied real life art such as that of Michealangelo and other Renassance artists so as he could learn to draw people as they truly are proportioned. I recommend this book to anyone who appreciates good story and excellent artwork. I give it 5 stars. Book Review: The Crow
Summary: 5 Stars
The Crow is the best comic book bar none. I love the story in the comic. It's about love and revenge. I would recomend this to almost anyone it just depends what kind of story ur looking for.Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I noticed some reviewers claiming this book accuses God of allowing evil things to happen. I don't agree with this. In fact, this comic has done the opposite. Eric Draven does not hate God for why this tragedy happened. Rather, he is so angry at the criminals, that he doesn't care if he goes to hell getting revenge. He's in alot of pain over what these creeps did to him and his wife. But I don't think Eric Draven (or the author J O'Barr for that matter) ever blamed God. After all, why did he paint "I know why Jesus Wept (expletive) on the Wall in blood after he told Funboy to overdose on heroin?" In the Bible, Jesus Wept is a poem. Jesus wept because of all the bad that happens alot in our world. Yeh, God obviously does allow this to stuff happen in the world. That doesn't mean we should hate God. He does work in mysterious ways, yeh?
Sorry, but I had to preach. Now, on with my review.
Even now, after 20 years in print, it's still one of the best adult comics I've read. The movie may lead the comic in special effects and action, but the comic leads the movie in how the story is told and ow the characters are developed.
For example, I liked the Funboy in the comic better than the Funboy in the movie. Eric Draven and Funboy's dialogue in the comic was great, and even gave Funboy some redeeming qualities. Funboy knows he's a monster and admits that he deserves to go the hell. He even tells Eric Draven he'll tell Lucifer to give him regards, and to kill (What's the main bd guys name again?) slowly. But I can see why the movie made Funboy a less sympathetic character than the comic.
The loss of Draven's wife is sad, and make the reader hate the bad guys. Eric Draven's flashbacks are well drawn and make th reader sympathetic for the good characters: Draven, his wife, the little girl Shellie, Shellie's mother, and the cop.
Well, that's about it. Great book.
Book Review: From Death comes LIFE
Summary: 5 Stars
What can you say about the Crow that hasn't already been said? Yes it is a "revenge tale". yawn. Yes the main character dies and comes back from the dead and exacts his revenge. Yes we all know that. Boring....
What can you thats seldom been said about the Crow? Well the author spent 10 years creating this masterpiece. From the get go it is obvious he was performing an exorcism on his soul which was in torment. Really you can only appreciate the depth and brevity of this work of sheer beauty if you have lost someone really close.
Here is a work of anger, despair, nihilism, pain, fear, the darkest recesses of the psyche; and yet, there is love. A love so deep it infects the pages, the ink drips with the pain and love of the artist.
Many graphic novels offer the reader an escape. You read about people in tights wearing their underwear on the outside, with special powers, saving the universe. While some are adult, and deal with everything from being poor to the perils of addiction.
This is what makes the Crow special. It combines both of these elements. Yet the Crow's sheer beauty in its artwork and exorcism of the writer's psyche make it a one off. There have been sequels and why not? But this is the original..EVERYTHING else pales before it.
"Death is here
Death is there
Death is busy everywhere"
---P Shelley
Book Review: A good story
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this book!
The main character, Eric is killed and then comes back to life for revenge on the people that killed him and raped his girlfriend, then also killed her.