The Crow
The Crow is a comic book character that first appeared in Caliber Presents #1
"People once believed that when you died, a crow took your soul to the land of the dead.....but sometimes, just sometimes, the crow could bring that soul back, to make the wrong things right..."
ORIGIN
[Comics] Eric was a man in love who lost his fiancee and his life to a gang of rapists in a random act of violence. On their way back from a romantic get-away, Eric's car breaks down on a deserted road. A car full of gang members stops not to help but to take advantage of the couple's misfortune. One of the most striking and powerful scenes in the book is of Eric lying incapicitated on the road struggling to hang on to life only to see his fiancee get raped and killed before his own life is extinguished. One of the killers rapes his fiancee after she is dead. He returns to the living world as the Crow, collecting artifacts of his love such as his engagement ring and exacting vengeance on the gang who killed his fiancee. Each of the men that were responsible for the death of his fiancee are killed in a different fassion, and the crow shows varying amounts of sympathy.
[Movie] Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee) was the lead guitar player and singer of a band named Hangman's Joke. He and his fiancé Shelly Webster were to be married on Halloween night. The night of Halloween eve (Devil’s night), thugs known as Fun Boy, T-Bird, Skank, and Tin-Tin came to Eric’s apartment to punish Shelly for overhearing too much information. Under the orders of the gangster Top Dollar. Eric walked in while they were raping her and tried to save her but got killed in the process when they threw him out of a sixteenth story window. A year later, the Crow brought Eric back to life to make things right.
This movie was made famous because of an immense misfortune. Brandon Lee, son of Kung-Fu master and martial art legend, was interpreting the role of Eric Draven (the Crow) and also was the fight choreographer. In his very short and rising career, this was Brandon’s big break. In a scene near the end, the character stands in front of an army of men firing repeatedly at him. One of the prop weapon's was faulty. The cap of a blank accidentally got lodged in his spine after penetrating his abdomen. The next day at 1:04 PM, Brandon died. His body was flown to Seattle to be buried beside his father (who also died while filming) in Lake View Cemetery. It is suggested that the movie would have been far less popular if Brandon Lee lived, as a result of all the media attention.
Powers
The Crow is essentially a supernatural being and his powers are more closely related to that of vengeful ghosts. They include but are not limited to:
- Enhanced Physical Abilities - Cat-like reflexes. Superhuman agility (ability to jump from building to building or rooftop to ground), and occassional strength as needed or possibly fueled by emotions (in one of the comics he is knocked down by a car and from underneath gets up to throw the car several meters!)
- Invunerability - Because the Crow is a spirity wrapped in corporeal form, normal weapons do not affect him to any great degree. If he is affected by damage, the wounds will vanish in seconds. The one exception to this is self harm. If the Crow chooses to damage himself, it will last (seemingly permanently). In the original series, he cut a crown of thorns into his bare chest, and slashed his own wrist several times.
- Psychometry - He is able to feel and see past experiences by the touch of an object.
- Empathy - He is able to feel the pain and other sensations of other people.
- Clairvoyance - He is able to see through the eyes of his "guide", a crow.
- Vengeful Purpose - He essentially can have any abilities needed to accomplish his goal of vengeance. However, once those goals are met, the Crow will lose his powers and his existence in the real world.
Comics vs. Movies (differences)
There are several differences between the movie, which is reviewed her, and the comic, which is supposed to be reviewed here.
- Top Dollar is not the main villain, nor the last to die, but is rather a lowly drug lord.
- The Crow knows from the beginning, the audience doesn't, but Eric does, of his purpose, where as in the movie it takes him awhile to realize and remember everything.
- In the movie, Eric was murdered for a purpose - to allow the Top Dollar gang to control the neighborhood.
In the comic, Eric died in a random act of violence as a gang decided to take advantage of a situation and rape his girlfriend while they were stuck on a deserted road. - In the comic, nothing is said of Eric losing his powers if his bird is killed or captured, and actually, in a deleted scene of the movie, we find his vulnerability came from his vengeance being carried out. In the original screenplay, which is much more faithful to the comic, the Skull Cowboy appears before him as he lay on Shelly's grave, and before he goes to the church to save Sarah, warns him that he has finished his business, and is vulnerable again.
- Eric has no last name in the comic though when Albecht went into the files about his murder, it was filed under "D". Eric's last name was first mentioned in the movie, then the TV series, and finally made a comic book appearance in The Crow/Razor Kill The Pain, which also marked the return of the Eric Draven character to comics.
- Eric is not a rock guitarist in the comic, no inferences are made about his career at all. Eric was not actually referred to as a musician until the 1999 Image comics series.
- The Skull Cowboy is one of Eric's brief mentor's in the comic, but is not in the movie, save for a deleted scene. Later in the TV series the Skull Cowboy made an appearance, but not as the skull faced creature he was in the books, but rather looked human in appearance, though the Skull Cowboy of the TV series was constantly seen with an article of jewelery that was covered in small skull totems
- The movie character 'Sarah' is known as Sherri, is much younger, and is much less involved in the plot.
- Officer Albrecht played just a fleeting role in the comics, the character the movie version is based on was an African-American police Captain Hook.
- The cat, Gabriel, belongs to a woman Tin Tin kills, in the comic.
- Devils night did not exist in the original comic. It was nothing more than hollywood adding unneccesary filler.
The Return of Eric Draven:
Eric Draven made his return to comics in the Kitchen Sink volume The Crow/Razor Kill The Pain, this marked Eric Draven's first return to comics since the original Crow comic/graphic novel. Eric would also again appear in Image Comics version of The Crow.
Other Movies and media:
The Crow City of Angels (1996):
When Ashe Corvin's son ran to investigate gunshots and inadvertently became an eyewitness to murder, Ashe and he were brutally murdered by a gang of killers who worked for LA crime boss Judah Earl. This was the only of the Crow sequels to be adapted into a comic book.
The Crow Salvation (2000):
Framed for the murder of his girlfriend, Alex Corvis was put to death in the electric chair but came back to get revenge as The Crow. Alex soon discovered from the person who was paid to lie on the stand about witnessing Alex commit the crime that the real killers were actually a group of crooked cops.
The Crow Wicked Prayer (2006):
Edward Furlong (Terminator 2 Judgment Day, American History X, Brain scan) starred in the fourth Crow film as Jimmy Cuervo, a man who along with his girlfriend were brutally murdered at the hands of a satanic cult.
The Crow Stairway to Heaven:
This television series had a one season run that lasted a total of 22 episodes, it starred Mark Dacascos as Eric Draven/The Crow and basically retold the events of the movie in it's first episode but rather then returning to his grave Eric stayed on Earth and became a crime fighter. The series also gave Shelly a much larger role, and featured other Crow characters such as Skull Cowboy and Talon as well as an episode based on The Crow Dead Time, depicting Eric and Shelly as reincarnations of Joshua and his wife from that graphic novel and Top Dollar and T-Bird's gang as reincarnations of the confederate soldiers who killed them. The series also expanded on Eric's past, revealing that he was an adopted Vietnam war orphan, and had a brother named Chris Draven. The series also offered the new concept of evil versions of a Crow called Snakes, who had Pythons as avatars rather then Crows. The series ended on a cliffhanger with Shelly jumping through a Crow shaped portal in the land of the dead at the close of it's final episode.
Episodes of The Crow Stairway to Heaven:
- The Soul Can't Rest
- Souled Out
- Get a Life
- Like it's 1999
- Voices
- Solitude's Revenge
- Double Take
- Give Me Death
- Before I Wake
- Death Wish
- Through a Dark Circle
- Disclosure
- The People VS. Eric Draven
- It's A Wonderful Death
- Birds of a Feather
- Never Say Die
- Lazarus Rising
- Closing Time
- Road Not Taken
- Brother's Keeper
- Dead To Rights
- Gathering Storm
A Murder of Crows: Other Crow Avatars
Eric Draven is not the only one brought back by the Crow
IRIS SHAW (From The Crow Flesh And Blood)
Iris Shaw worked for the Bureau of Land Management as a law enforcer. She was killed by terrorists along with her unborn child and was bought back by the Crow to hunt them down.
JOSHUA (From The Crow Dead Time)
Joshua is a Native American of the Crow Nation who became a farmer that adopted the ways of white. A group of Confederate soldiers killed him along with his wife and child and has being brought back to kill the soldiers that have reincarnated as biker gangs.
MICHAEL KORBY (From The Crow Wild Justice)
Michael and his wife were murdered by carjackers. He was brought back by two crows to avenge his wife and himself
MARK LEUNG (From The Crow, Waking Nightmares)
He and his wife were murdered by the Chinese Mafia. Instead of killing the ones who killed him, he rescues his twin daughters from slavery.
HANNAH FOSTER
Also known as Talon, Hannah Foster is a female Crow and friend of Eric Draven, she and her daughter were brutally murdered by a pedophile.
ASHE CORVIN
Ash was a garage mechanic who was murdered along with his son after his son inadvertantly witnessed a murder.
JIMMY CUERVO
Jimmy and his girlfriend were murdered by a Satanic cult who called themselves The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, Jimmy came back as The Crow and began to kill the cult members one by one
| Super Name: | The Crow |
| Real Name: | Eric Draven |
| Aliases: |
Eric Draven Joshua Iris Shaw Michael Korby Mark Leung Ashe Corvin William Blessing Jared Poe Amy Carlisle Stephen Lelliott Dan Cody Billy Max Alex Corvis Hannah Foster Talon Jimmy Cuervo The Crow The Killer Of Killer's The Avenger The Mime From Hell The Vigilante Blackfeather |
| Publisher: | Caliber Comics |
| Gender: | Male |
| Character Type: | Other |
| 1st Appearance: | Caliber Presents #1 |
| Appears in: | 35 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
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The Crow Wicked Prayer
Fourth film in The Crow series
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The Crow Salvation
Third installment in The Crow film series
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The Crow City of Angels
First Sequel to The Crow
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The Crow
Brandon Lee's last movie.
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