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geekwayne's review
4.0
The Crow: Curare is based on a newspaper article that Crow creator James O'Barr read and deals with an obsessed cop and the brutal murder of a young girl. The cop can't shake the case and wants to solve it, even if it ruins his personal life.
Joe Salk is a good cop. He's got a wife and a couple kids. When he is pulled into the brutal murder of a young girl, he gets in over his head. he becomes obsessed with the case to the point where he frightens his children and his wife eventually leaves him. This doesn't stop him. He pores over the evidence looking for answers. Then, in true Crow fashion, he gets help in an unusual form. The young girl, and her strange pet crow, assist him in finding her murderer and bringing him to justice.
This is the complete 3 issue series, written by O'Barr and illustrated by Antoine Dode. The illustrations are splashed on the page in a frantic style which seems to match the thinking of Joe Salk as he tries to track the killer. It's a dark story, but a good one.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Joe Salk is a good cop. He's got a wife and a couple kids. When he is pulled into the brutal murder of a young girl, he gets in over his head. he becomes obsessed with the case to the point where he frightens his children and his wife eventually leaves him. This doesn't stop him. He pores over the evidence looking for answers. Then, in true Crow fashion, he gets help in an unusual form. The young girl, and her strange pet crow, assist him in finding her murderer and bringing him to justice.
This is the complete 3 issue series, written by O'Barr and illustrated by Antoine Dode. The illustrations are splashed on the page in a frantic style which seems to match the thinking of Joe Salk as he tries to track the killer. It's a dark story, but a good one.
I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
adelavmb's review
4.0
I read this book at the beggining of October, completely forgot to review it, and each time I remembered I just didn't have the time to sit down and remember how I felt when I read it.
So I will keep this to the point, a much shorter review than I'm used to, but here you go...
Joe Salk used to be a very good police officer of Detroit, until he couldn't solve the case of a little girl's murder. He becomes so obsessed with it, he gives up on everything, haunted that the killer managed to escape and is probably stil free. In fact, he actually sees, or at least he believes he sees the girl's ghost, who is trying to help him solve the case so they can both have peace.
The art is very dark, fitting the story beautifully. It will make you emotional for sure, and you will hate the murderer more and more with each page, especially since this is the story of way too many children, whose killers may or may have not been caught.
So I will keep this to the point, a much shorter review than I'm used to, but here you go...
Joe Salk used to be a very good police officer of Detroit, until he couldn't solve the case of a little girl's murder. He becomes so obsessed with it, he gives up on everything, haunted that the killer managed to escape and is probably stil free. In fact, he actually sees, or at least he believes he sees the girl's ghost, who is trying to help him solve the case so they can both have peace.
The art is very dark, fitting the story beautifully. It will make you emotional for sure, and you will hate the murderer more and more with each page, especially since this is the story of way too many children, whose killers may or may have not been caught.
aashkevr's review
4.0
Thank you so much Netgalley for providing me with an electronic copy of this graphic novel to read in exchange for an honest review.
This was fabulous.
It was James O'Barr and The Crow, so fabulous is to be expected. But still.
The story was beautiful. Some of the phrasing was gorgeous enough for poetry. Such careful crafting is rare in a graphic novel, which tend to rely on visuals for conveying emotion.
I was drowning in the experience of this story. The artwork was evocative, the language was moving and the content was rich.
This is the story of a little girl who was brutally assaulted and murdered, and the cop who tries to bring her killer to justice. Haunted for years by the ghost of the child he has failed, he falls into a depressed obsession that threatens all aspects of his life.
The little girl needs justice, and he is her instrument. It's an interesting take on the 'normal' Crow dynamic, because the need for vengeance/justice is being felt by someone other than the dead. The two share the experience, and provide comfort, but also pain, for each other.
A wonderful example of what graphic novels can be. Deep, evocative, powerful- not just pictures and words, but story enhanced and furthered by art.
This was fabulous.
It was James O'Barr and The Crow, so fabulous is to be expected. But still.
The story was beautiful. Some of the phrasing was gorgeous enough for poetry. Such careful crafting is rare in a graphic novel, which tend to rely on visuals for conveying emotion.
I was drowning in the experience of this story. The artwork was evocative, the language was moving and the content was rich.
This is the story of a little girl who was brutally assaulted and murdered, and the cop who tries to bring her killer to justice. Haunted for years by the ghost of the child he has failed, he falls into a depressed obsession that threatens all aspects of his life.
The little girl needs justice, and he is her instrument. It's an interesting take on the 'normal' Crow dynamic, because the need for vengeance/justice is being felt by someone other than the dead. The two share the experience, and provide comfort, but also pain, for each other.
A wonderful example of what graphic novels can be. Deep, evocative, powerful- not just pictures and words, but story enhanced and furthered by art.
bloodravenlib's review
3.0
I posted my review of this on my personal blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Click or copy the link to your browser to read the review.
Link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/10/booknote-crow-curare.html
Link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/10/booknote-crow-curare.html
angel_kiiss's review
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Comes with a classic O’Barr content warning as he once again finds inspiration form real true-crime stories.
To be honest, I wanted the little girl to be the Crow and inflict her own revenge, not be fridged for the detective. But it ended up being a very beautiful story. I liked that the girl got to exact some of her own revenge in the end, so I’m not as mad about the lack of real “Crow”.
To be honest, I wanted the little girl to be the Crow and inflict her own revenge, not be fridged for the detective. But it ended up being a very beautiful story. I liked that the girl got to exact some of her own revenge in the end, so I’m not as mad about the lack of real “Crow”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Medical content and Violence
lukegoldstein's review
4.0
I’m a longtime fan of the Crow phenomenon and the universe of stories that flowed out of it. I still remember seeing the original film with Brandon Lee in the theater and reflecting how tragedy found a way to tie together reality and fiction in one story. From then on I read and watched whatever I could get my hands on that bore the name of The Crow. Admittedly not all of it was amazingly worthwhile (if you’ve seen the straight-to-DVD flick, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, you know very well what I mean), but in the printed world of the graphic novels the stories rang much more true to the original by James O’Barr. They were darker, edgier and poised themselves on the ledge between pain and perseverance, where the depths you were shown made you want to look away at times, yet you yearned to watch the violators get their due. They were stories of redemption and punishment and they never failed.
It’s been a while since we have seen a new story and Curare isn’t just a random addition to the fold. It comes from the mind of O’Barr, not a hired gun by the studios mad to pump out something for the sake of keeping the franchise alive. It also changes the game in terms of how the Crow operates. Those who’ve been through the volumes of stories are used to the crow bringing someone back from the dead in a physical form in order to exact their vengeance, but in Curare what’s brought back is only the ghost of a small girl who was brutally raped and killed, left in a field to rot alone. An unlucky detective pulls the short straw that night and finds himself drawn into a case that haunts himself, engulfs him and eventually breaks him down until there is almost nothing left.
The little girl follows him through his trial until the time is right to help him take the final step towards ending not only her pain, but his own. There is only the briefest of impressions of the infamous painted face donned by all the previous travelers back from the land of the dead. This story is purely about justice and the lengths some people will go in order to find it.
If you came upon this graphic novel after only watching the first Crow film, it is likely to be jarring in it’s darkness and brutality, but for those who are not strangers to the other tales from O’Barr, his tone is familiar and relished. The artwork from Antoine Dode layers nicely over the dark story, giving a roughness, an unfinished edge to the characters that makes them even angrier. Dode makes solid choices about what to include in the frame and what to leave to your imagination, allowing you to create something even worse. But once you’ve settled in, he will hit you with an image you just might wish you hadn’t seen, something which sets the rest of the story on it’s back.
The Crow: Curare is a really nice addition to the franchise and universe of the Crow and old fans should flock to it, while new fans may find themselves impressed with the no-holds-barred brashness of the content, something which is lacking in today’s hyper-colored comic book world.
It’s been a while since we have seen a new story and Curare isn’t just a random addition to the fold. It comes from the mind of O’Barr, not a hired gun by the studios mad to pump out something for the sake of keeping the franchise alive. It also changes the game in terms of how the Crow operates. Those who’ve been through the volumes of stories are used to the crow bringing someone back from the dead in a physical form in order to exact their vengeance, but in Curare what’s brought back is only the ghost of a small girl who was brutally raped and killed, left in a field to rot alone. An unlucky detective pulls the short straw that night and finds himself drawn into a case that haunts himself, engulfs him and eventually breaks him down until there is almost nothing left.
The little girl follows him through his trial until the time is right to help him take the final step towards ending not only her pain, but his own. There is only the briefest of impressions of the infamous painted face donned by all the previous travelers back from the land of the dead. This story is purely about justice and the lengths some people will go in order to find it.
If you came upon this graphic novel after only watching the first Crow film, it is likely to be jarring in it’s darkness and brutality, but for those who are not strangers to the other tales from O’Barr, his tone is familiar and relished. The artwork from Antoine Dode layers nicely over the dark story, giving a roughness, an unfinished edge to the characters that makes them even angrier. Dode makes solid choices about what to include in the frame and what to leave to your imagination, allowing you to create something even worse. But once you’ve settled in, he will hit you with an image you just might wish you hadn’t seen, something which sets the rest of the story on it’s back.
The Crow: Curare is a really nice addition to the franchise and universe of the Crow and old fans should flock to it, while new fans may find themselves impressed with the no-holds-barred brashness of the content, something which is lacking in today’s hyper-colored comic book world.
mordredrisika's review
3.0
Review originally posted: http://francesandlynne.wordpress.com/the-crow-curare/
“A life comes apart at the seams. He wants to blame the dead girl. But the stitching had become frayed long before that.”
The Crow: Curare by Antoine Dodé and James O’Barr
For many years now I have been a huge fan of anything to do with The Crow. It started when I caught The Crow: City of Angles on television, and then went and saw The Crow starring Brandon Lee. After I fell completely in love with the concepts and themes of the movies, I was able to get my hands on the graphic novel of The Crow with the art and story by James O’Barr, and I fell even more in love. So when I was browsing NetGalley, and saw a Crow themed graphic novel I had to click on it. It did take me a little longer to decide if I really wanted to read it, as there are some really bad interpretations of the mythos out there, but in the end I couldn’t resist. It was not until I was about to do the write up that I realized that James O’Barr had actually been involved with this project.
The story of The Crow: Curare is about Joe Salk, a retired Detroit police officer who cannot forget one case. He has let this case destroy his career, his family, and really his life. It is only when he is completely alone that the murdered little girl, empowered by the Crow, shows up in his house and helps him find her killer, and ultimately her vengeance.
It took me a little while to actually get into the story for this one, and part of that was the art work. While I tend to favor the “pretty” art in manga (specifically shojo ones) I do read a good number of American styled comics, but I found this rougher than those. However, once I became accustomed to the art, things were interesting.
This is not a very nice story though, not that Crow stories ever are, but this one is particularly dark. The fact that the Crow character in this comic is a little girl is a bit rough to deal with, when I am more used to a grown man playing the part. Also there are a lot of details about her murder that paired with her age makes the story very dark and rather graphic. For me, it was a little bit too close to some of the cases in my forensic research. If you are of a more sensitive disposition, I don’t think this story is for you.
I did like some of the references to the original comic of The Crow. Having lived near Detroit, and knowing that O’Barr lived and based The Crow on this city, made it interesting to return there. Also there was a beautiful white cat that was very reminiscent of Gabriel, the cat owned by Eric Draven in the original. I was not as fond of some of the changes to the original ideas, though. I found the fact that the little girl was actually a ghost, instead of reanimated or ambiguous like Eric had been, a bit weird. Also I’m not sure I am a huge fan of the crow (the bird) talking.
I found the main character, Salk, not particularly likeable, but he was sympathetic. He lives in a very rough city, and has seen some of the worst things humans are capable. However, he is flawed, and the loss of his family reflects that. While I admire his drive to find the killer of the little girl, he neglected his own daughters. In the end, when Salk finds the killer, there is a price to pay, but I think given the crime, it was probably worth it.
Final Verdict: A very dark addition to The Crow universe and not for the faint of heart, but worth a read for those who enjoy a story of vengeance.
“A life comes apart at the seams. He wants to blame the dead girl. But the stitching had become frayed long before that.”
The Crow: Curare by Antoine Dodé and James O’Barr
For many years now I have been a huge fan of anything to do with The Crow. It started when I caught The Crow: City of Angles on television, and then went and saw The Crow starring Brandon Lee. After I fell completely in love with the concepts and themes of the movies, I was able to get my hands on the graphic novel of The Crow with the art and story by James O’Barr, and I fell even more in love. So when I was browsing NetGalley, and saw a Crow themed graphic novel I had to click on it. It did take me a little longer to decide if I really wanted to read it, as there are some really bad interpretations of the mythos out there, but in the end I couldn’t resist. It was not until I was about to do the write up that I realized that James O’Barr had actually been involved with this project.
The story of The Crow: Curare is about Joe Salk, a retired Detroit police officer who cannot forget one case. He has let this case destroy his career, his family, and really his life. It is only when he is completely alone that the murdered little girl, empowered by the Crow, shows up in his house and helps him find her killer, and ultimately her vengeance.
It took me a little while to actually get into the story for this one, and part of that was the art work. While I tend to favor the “pretty” art in manga (specifically shojo ones) I do read a good number of American styled comics, but I found this rougher than those. However, once I became accustomed to the art, things were interesting.
This is not a very nice story though, not that Crow stories ever are, but this one is particularly dark. The fact that the Crow character in this comic is a little girl is a bit rough to deal with, when I am more used to a grown man playing the part. Also there are a lot of details about her murder that paired with her age makes the story very dark and rather graphic. For me, it was a little bit too close to some of the cases in my forensic research. If you are of a more sensitive disposition, I don’t think this story is for you.
I did like some of the references to the original comic of The Crow. Having lived near Detroit, and knowing that O’Barr lived and based The Crow on this city, made it interesting to return there. Also there was a beautiful white cat that was very reminiscent of Gabriel, the cat owned by Eric Draven in the original. I was not as fond of some of the changes to the original ideas, though. I found the fact that the little girl was actually a ghost, instead of reanimated or ambiguous like Eric had been, a bit weird. Also I’m not sure I am a huge fan of the crow (the bird) talking.
I found the main character, Salk, not particularly likeable, but he was sympathetic. He lives in a very rough city, and has seen some of the worst things humans are capable. However, he is flawed, and the loss of his family reflects that. While I admire his drive to find the killer of the little girl, he neglected his own daughters. In the end, when Salk finds the killer, there is a price to pay, but I think given the crime, it was probably worth it.
Final Verdict: A very dark addition to The Crow universe and not for the faint of heart, but worth a read for those who enjoy a story of vengeance.
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