CROW, THE 129
in series like 52 (2006–7), have welcomed the return of the multiverse, reveling in,
rather than resisting, the dizzying complications and contradictions it brought back
into play.
Notably, Crisis motivated both DC and comics fandom to produce a series of pub-
lished guidebooks and annotations for the series, a practice regularly taken up ever since
(especially on the Internet) for any series with dense references to previous continuity.
On the heels of the last issue of the series, Wolfman and Pérez produced a History of
the DC Universe (2 issues, 1986, later reprinted in a single volume) that summed up the
streamlined continuity as narrated by Harbinger. With DC’s approval, in 1986 ICG
(Independent Comics Group) also published two comic books, written by Lou Mougin
and Mark Waid, that were extensive reference works for the series: Th e Offi cial Crisis on
Infi nite Earths Index and Th e Offi cial Crisis on Infi nite Earths Cross-Over Index. (Waid,
just beginning a prolifi c career writing and editing superhero comics, had already pro-
vided a detailed preview of the series in the fan magazine Amazing Heroes 66, in 1985.)
Th ese unashamedly scholarly resources were later incorporated into the 2005 Compen-
dium, which was included with the Absolute Edition of Crisis on Infi nite Earths, DC ’s
elaborately reproduced edition of the series.
Selected Bibliography: Klock, Geoff. How to Read Superhero Comics and Why.
New York: Continuum, 2003.
Corey K. Creekmur
CROW, THE. A graphic novel by artist and writer James O’Barr, Th e Crow is prob-
ably now best known as the basis for Alex Proyas’s 1994 fi lm starring Brandon Lee.
Originally published by Caliber Comics of Detroit in a comic book series, the book was
collected in three trade paperbacks by Tundra in Northampton, Massachusetts, and
then released as a graphic novel. Th e story is a revenge fantasy in which Eric Draven and
his new bride are killed in their Detroit apartment by a vicious gang of inner city crimi-
nals. Draven returns from death, accompanied by a spirit helper in the form of a crow,
to exact revenge. O’Barr conceived of the series after his fi ancée was killed by a drunk
driver. An orphan raised by adoptive, working-class parents, O’Barr exhibited artistic
talent at a young age, and was also an excellent student who attended Wayne State
University as a pre-med major. A voracious reader of everything from science fi ction
to symbolist poets, O’Barr also loved comics, and drew science fi ction and Conan-
inspired sword and sorcery comic stories before Th e Crow. Although O’Barr himself
was not inspired by it, the Goth subculture embraced his novel, both before and after it
was adapted into a fi lm. Cyberpunk science fi ction and screenplay writer John Shirley
brought the book to the attention of Hollywood. Subsequently, the tragic accidental
shooting death of Lee during the fi lming brought massive public attention to the fi lm,
which was relatively well-received by critics for what had been considered a cult fi lm.
Indeed, the visual inventiveness of the fi lm brought Proyas, an unknown at the time, to
Hollywood stardom.
