{"id":7191,"date":"2011-08-26T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T06:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2011-08-28T11:21:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-28T11:21:17","slug":"the-crow-special-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2011\/08\/26\/the-crow-special-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crow Special Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy James O’Barr<\/strong> (Titan Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-85768-795-1<\/p>\n

In 1989 just as the independent comics boom was coming to a halt a troubled writer\/artist named James O’Barr re-interpreted the classic plot of revenge from beyond the grave to create a media sensation and work through a shattering personal trauma.<\/p>\n

Produced as an inspired form of art therapy following the killing of his lover by a drunk driver O’Barr’s cathartic and emotive spirit of revenge debuted in 1989 in black and white anthology comic Caliber Presents<\/strong> #1, before graduating to his own title. Due to the downturn in comics sales the proposed 5-issue limited series was cancelled before its conclusion and the feature moved to Tundra, where it was reconfigured and re-released in 1991 as three volumes ‘Pain and Fear’<\/em>, ‘Irony and Despair’<\/em> and the unseen double-length conclusion ‘Death’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When Kitchen Sink Press absorbed Tundra in 1993 the saga was combined into one graphic novel (with even more new material). The seemingly-cursed series caught the public imagination a year later when actor Brandon Lee died during the filming of a movie adaptation and the franchise has since generated 3 further celluloid sequels, a TV series, prose novels and The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams –<\/strong> a collection of short stories by fantasy novelists such as Gene Wolf and Alan Dean Foster.<\/p>\n

There were also numerous comics sequels by O’Barr and guest creators including The Crow\/Razor: Kill the Pain<\/em>, Dead Time<\/em>, Flesh and Blood<\/em>, Wild Justice<\/em> and Waking Nightmares<\/em> as well as a 10-issue ongoing series from Image Comics.<\/p>\n

A new movie remake is in production\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This long-awaited remastered Special Edition<\/strong> is probably the final word on the original tale: a graphic Director’s Cut which restores much intended material dropped during the 1989-1991 run due to space considerations, cost and, as stated in the author’s introduction, O’Barr’s then-lack of ability and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153limited visual vocabulary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

As well as restored and reconceived graphic narrative sequences, this mostly monochrome volume also includes a colour cover gallery section, illustrated poems by Rimbaud, Rose Fyleman and Baudelaire, loads of extra art, an appreciation by John Bergin and an Afterword<\/em> by A.A. Attanasio.<\/p>\n

‘Book One: Lament’<\/em> opens the ‘Pain and Fear’<\/em> segment with the Caliber Presents<\/strong> short ‘Inertia’<\/em> wherein a leather-clad Goth\/clown extracts some information from a very nasty street-thug, after which ‘Shattered in the Head’<\/em>, rendered in grey tones and washes, follows a tragic young man as he rides a very special train and sees something truly horrific\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Book One proper then describes ‘Pain’<\/em> as a melancholy figure prowls an empty, desolate house before going out hunting. Five names resound in his head, a handful of men he has plans for\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Meanwhile one of those unlucky targets is going about his unlawful business, killing for sheer entertainment. When confronted in ‘New Dawn Fades’<\/em> Tin Tin doesn’t even remember the clown with the crow on his shoulder\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Intercut with flashes of a grievous crime and atrocity inflicted on a loving young couple, the drama proceeds with ‘Shadowplay’<\/em> as rising criminal star Top Dollar receives a visitor who decimates his gang before ‘The Kill’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The vengeance taker is plagued by memories of his lost, perfect life in ‘The Anti-Architect Dreams’ <\/em>before proceeding ‘\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Like a Concave Scream’<\/em> with his hell-bent mission\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Second book ‘Fear’<\/em> briefly focuses on sadistic scumbag Tom Tom who is convinced to share valuable information with the implacable ghost in ‘Dead Souls’<\/em>. When he was alive the sensitive soul was called Eric and here he makes a slight detour in ‘Submission’<\/em> to reclaim the engagement ring taken from his ravaged love’s dead finger before making an ally in the police force and continuing his death march in ‘Elegy: Irony & Despair’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Another tender memory racks his conscience in ‘Atmosphere’<\/em> and the agonised angel finds time to save a little girl’s future before resuming his hellish campaign in ‘Velocity’<\/em> as the drug addicted, pain-immune Fun Boy is sent a message and becomes a living example for the remaining targets before we gain a further inkling into the role of the ever-present Crow in ‘Watching Forever’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘Book Three: Irony’<\/em> hints at the coming conclusion in ‘Immolation’<\/em> as Eric destroys the massed street-gangs employed by the harried targets as a final warning before some of the mysteries are revealed in a harrowing flashback ‘The Atrocity Exhibition: One Year Ago’<\/em> which opens ‘Book Four: Despair’<\/em>. Closely following is the secret of Eric’s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153survival\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in ‘Head Trauma’<\/em> leading to the inescapable ‘Crescendo’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The largest new segment ‘An August Noel’<\/em> precedes the beginning of the end and in ‘Angel, All Fire’<\/em> Eric makes his peace with life and dances one last ghastly pavane to his lost past before setting out for a gruesome ‘Hammer Party’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘Book Five: Death’<\/em> starts the final confrontation with last target T-Bird in ‘Gravity’<\/em> and, as another army of society’s worst dregs get in Eric’s way his bloody ‘Attrition’<\/em> at last begins to elicit some human response from the unrepentant monster. With bodies falling like red rain ‘Looking Down the Cross’<\/em> sees Eric become an unstoppable slaughter machine and ‘Steel Tide on an Asphalt Beach’<\/em> has the campaign of vengeance conclude the only way it could\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

After the denouement a new postscript ‘Sparkle Horse’<\/em> offers some long-needed healing to augment the gory closure before order is restored in the elegiac ‘Passover’<\/em> and ‘Coda’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Epic, simplistic, poetic and powerfully moving, this darkly uncompromising tale is a monolith of modern comics and this stellar compilation is the only way to truly experience it in all its gothic glory.<\/p>\n