THE CROW: PESTILENCE #1 Review

Will this limited series be a must have for Crow fans? Read on to find out.

The official description from IDW:

Juarez, Mexico. A young boxer, Salvador, refuses to take a fall, but has no problem taking a vicious drug gang’s pay-off. When they take their lethal revenge on the Salvador and his family, he returns as THE CROW, in search of vengeance…and forgiveness.

The Crow in my opinion is one of the best revenge stories ever written, with the cult film adaptation starring Brandon Lee still being one of my favourite films. In saying that I’ve never really branched out to the other characters resurrected by the Crow as despite the terrible film sequels Eric Draven is the only Crow I’ve ever known, and the only one I’ve read in comics. Salvador is however a terrific character with his characteristics being shown perfectly throughout this issue.

Frank Bill‘s script is truly amazing, with it having the same kind of overtone as the original tale whilst being it’s own unique entity. The way that Bill builds the Salvador character, with the question of whether he’d put his pride above his families safety adding a lot of tension. He also gave a lot of drama and emotion as well, with the inevitable death of Salvador being very powerful. Despite all this it’d be Salvador as the Crow that I’d love the most, with this quite and vengeful character adding the kind of mysterious tone that a Crow comic needs.

Drew Moss art had me in a bit of a dilemma, as I really disliked it at the start of the issue finding it a little too rough and untidy. My opinion did however drastically change as with the progression of the story the roughness of Moss’ started to have a purpose with it giving the kind of gritty tone that elevates the issue into the dark and mysterious tone that the Crow franchise is known for. Despite all this Moss also created explosive layouts and alongside the action it added a lot of excitement to Bill’s story.

The Crow: Pestilence is proving to be a fitting addition to the Crow franchise with Salvador proving to be a fitting successor to the previous Crow’s. Highly recommended.