A New(?) Series from Image Comics Image comics have never appealed to me. Every time I walk into a comic shop and glance over at the Image section I see nothing but cover after cover of scantily clad women. Not that there's anything wrong with scantily clad women as such; and since Image's primary demographic is 10- 13 year old boys, I say more power to them. But I've been burned by Image before, and I'm very skeptical when I look over their wares. Image Comics' troubles are primarily Marvel Comics Fault. At Marvel the writer hands an outline to the artist and waits for the finished work to fill in the dialogue. This worked fine for a number of years until a new crop of artists came along in the 80's. You see, by doing that Marvel put all of the storytelling squarely on the shoulders of the artists while screaming "DEADLINE!" over their shoulders. This wasn't the way everyone wanted to work and consequently when Artist/Writer Todd McFarlane proposed creating his own comic book company, everyone left. Todd launched his greatest comic book, "Spawn" while the artists he brought with him each launched or promised new books. But the comics were delayed each month waiting for the artist to finish them, and the dialogue was usually stilted without a writer to back them up. Most of the issues started with promise of high returns for collectors and awesome artwork but ended in a fizzle as the artist either got bored with the book, or the public did. Granted, Image did a lot for the industry. Publishers who wanted successful comics would hire their best talent for the job, and coloring the comic became a three dimensional exercise using computers and such. Well here we are at the end of the 90's, and Image is still shlocking away with their excessive cleavage shots. But something caught my eye this week at the comic shop. A new title on the stands from Image. A title not so new to comic book and movie fans though... The Crow had been picked up by Image. Rather than their glitzy sleek covers with abundant cleavage we have a cover by the great Kent Williams; obviously attempting to appeal to a more adult audience. But the adult comics line-up doesn't end there. John J. Muth has penned the tale with Jamie Tolagson penciling and inking creating a Teddy Christiansen look. This isn't the first time James O'Barr's creation has been redone in comic books. Taking a cue from The Crow: City of Angels movie, most writers are penning stories about revenge and unrequited love involving new characters but following a similar formula as the original. I expected the same thing from Muth but was sadly disappointed. In O'Barr's original story Eric and Shelly are attacked and killed on a lonely road outside of Detroit. When Eric returns from the dead he goes on a killing spree in the name of his dead girlfriend. O'Barr wrote and drew some pretty heavy stuff over a number of years and created a true anti-hero. When New Line decided to bring The Crow to the screen they changed him a bit. First the murder takes place in Eric and Shellys apartment, and second Eric only kills those who killed him and Shelly. Muth begins with the cops coming to Eric and Shelly's door (at least irs assumed they're cops) following the murder. Eric has been thrown out the window while Shelly ties dead in her wedding dress. From here we begin a retelling of the O'Barr story which combines both the original comic and the movie. My question is: "Why bother?" Muth hints in an afterward at the end of the first issue that Eric's saga won't end when all the killers are dead... So why not begin his tale at the end of the original tale? As a fan of both the original comic book and the film I found myself correcting Muth's version of the story throughout the book. The first issue takes us up to Tin-Tin's death. Yawn! I only want to know who the two trenchcoated guys are, and maybe that's the point, but if it is you could find out who they are through flashbacks and good writing. I've had a lot of respect for Muth in the past, but I can't figure out a need for this rehashing. The Crow television series (and doesn't Mark Dacascos look eerily like Brandon Lee?) continues the Eric Draven storyline without retelling the tale; why can't Muth follow its example? Collectability: Well, it is Image. Which means it looks valuable but the market will most likely be saturated. The story is a miss if you're a fan of the original story (whether book or movie), and even the art isn't enough to keep me buying it. Two words: Skip it.# Muth hints ... that Eric's saga won't end when all the killers are dead.. So why not begin his tale at the end of the original tale? Back to Masters of Role Playing #7 Table of Contents Back to Masters of Role Playing List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Chalice Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com