Sirk TV Graphic Novel Review: THE CROW - MEMENTO MORI [IDW]

The aspect of the Crow was always originally through Eric Draven's perception of a rock star turned vigilante but the idea of other arenas turned into a sense of revenge are interesting fodder but every instance is its own. In "The Crow: Memento Mori" [Roberto Recchioni/IDW/112pgs], the action turns to Rome within the aspect of a religious school. It begins with a massacre during a parade which becomes a bloodbath through it seem conspiratorial means. One of the boys killed, who thought that he lived a pious life, ends up reborn with a thirst to kill those who have done wrong. His idea works on the basis that the girl that he connected with both on a platonic and later at a romantic level led him on the wrong path from God per se. However the story progresses it back to elements of the priesthood and a clergyman that led them astray but with his own ambition and sense of punishment. However the said girl who the boy initially casts as his downfall actually is the true light within the story because she reveals that the person that was teaching them is actually at fault. This texture works well within the story but it is placed with a Black Widow-type texture which definitely works for the story. A female Crow is a much more dynamic progression because it is the balance between emotion and vengeance and not a purely machismo intention. The art also reflects in this with a sense of skewed colors blended the blue and gray. The only setback within many of the panels is the dense progressions of dialogue which seems more of a diatribe than a sense of philosophy and takes away a little bit from the lurid imagery offered.B-

By Tim Wassberg