The Crow: Skinning the Wolves

The Crow - IDW #2

by James O'Barr

In this all-new tale James O'Barr and artist Jim Terry craft a harrowing story set in a concentration camp in 1945 Europe. The night train is being unloaded. And one of the passengers is making a return visit…

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 4, 2013

About the author

James O'Barr is an accomplished artist and writer, best known for creating The Crow.

In 1978, O'Barr's fiancée, Beverly, was killed by a drunk driver, and he joined the Marines in an effort to cope with the loss. He was stationed in Germany and illustrated combat manuals for the military. While living in Berlin in 1981, O'Barr began work on The Crow as a means of dealing with his personal tragedy. O'Barr was further inspired by a Detroit newspaper account of the murder of a young couple over a $20 engagement ring. After his discharge from the Marines, O'Barr continued his painting and illustration as well as doing lots of odd jobs, including working for a Detroit body shop. The Crow sat on a shelf for seven years, but at last someone wanted to publish it: Gary Reed of Caliber Press. In The Crow, the protagonist and his fiancée are murdered by a gang of criminals. He then returns from the dead to hunt their killers.

O'Barr's own hope that his project would result in a personal catharsis went unfulfilled, he told an interviewer in 1994, saying, "[A]s I drew each page, it made me more self-destructive, if anything....There is pure anger on each page". The Crow has sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide.

The book was adapted into a successful film of the same name in 1994, but it resulted in further tragedy. Brandon Lee, who played the main character, was accidentally shot and killed during filming.

O'Barr was the second American to be awarded the "Storyteller Award" by the International Comic Festival held annually in Angoulême, France.

Reviews

[Bryham Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Por primera vez puedo decir, al menos, de un comic de esta saga, que visualmente me fascinó. Detallado, oscuro, visceral y el diseño del cuervo... ¡Me aterró! Creo que es el más siniestro que he visto hasta ahora. Tiene un aspecto raquítico y enfermo (sientes que se cae a pedazos), una apariencia muy acorde a lo que se espera de un sometido a las duras condiciones de los campos de concentraciones nazis, justamente el periodo en qué toma lugar. Sus expresiones, su accionar sádico y, por momentos, maniaco, salpicado por intervalos de melancolía, me recordaron muy gratamente a uno de mis villanos favoritos de la filmografía de Rob Zombie, me refiero a Doom-Head (interpretado por Richard Drake).

Mientras avanzaba en la historia, no podía, sino pensar cuan increíble sería algún día llevar este enfoque del personaje a la gran pantalla. Con el debido respeto que merecen las interpretaciones clásicas de Brandon Lee y Eric Mabius (y la futura de Bill Skarsgård). Creo que viene siendo tiempo de dar a conocer el resto del potencial de esta franquicia al público que no lee comics, dejar descansar la historia de Eric Draven y arriesgarse a poner el foco en un atormentado distinto que ofrezca escenarios y facetas distintas. Quizás más "sucias", con protagónicos menos estetizados pero más siniestros. Viene a mi mente esa sublime y terrorífica escena de introducción que ofrece Rob Zombie a un Doom-Head sádico que nos llena de suspenso a cada paso lento que da y nos hace sentir lástima por quienes estén en su camino. ¿No sería fascinante ver algo así para The Crow? Nada en el concepto base del personaje lo impide.


El comic esta divido en tres partes, se me fueron rapidísimo. La historia no es precisamente la más compleja ni genial, pero lo compensa con creces en sus puntos altos.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so glad to see more of O'Barr's work in this one. I especially loved reading the introduction to learn of how Terry came to help him complete this series. Some of the images were enough to make me cringe, so that tells you how awesome the artwork is. The story itself is engrossing. The crow itself isn't as prevalent in this story, which was a nice break from the overabundance of it talking throughout the many other series I've read so far. To end it, the addition of the art commentary at the end was a nice touch.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read things set during WW2 and with the varying quality of the extended Crow universe I wasn't really sure what to expect from this, but it was written by O'Barr so I thought I might as well give it a try. Unfortunately he falls into the same pitfall that I feel many writers do when writing fiction about WW2 which is that he just relies on the feelings of anger and sadness that the Nazis are going to pull out of most readers and doesn't actually spend any time setting things up or fleshing out any of the characters to the extent that he should. The third volume was pretty good when the Crow guy actually ended up having his showdown with the head Nazi guy, but the first few issues just felt like a paint by numbers WW2 story that had none of the emotion of the original Crow.

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first time reading any of The Crow comics—I am a longtime fan of the movie and the novels. 

A story of revenge and liberation from a concentration camp, the narrative follows Maudlin Treacle as he returns from the dead to exact justice.

Beautiful artwork, but the story was a bit thin. Seeing more backstory to the main character would have helped. Still, it was good. You can't go wrong with taking out Nazis.

[B.L. Aldrich · Rating 2 out of 5]

More spoils of Dragoncon. Meh. The artwork is beautiful. Evocative and skillfully executed. The story was tissue paper thin. I picked it up because it was James O'Barr, the original author, who did the writing. I was woefully disappointed. For me, using the Crow trope in a period piece had the potential to offer some interesting depth, and provide an interesting lens for yet another Holocaust story. At it's best, historical fiction/ fantasy/ and science fiction all do just that: distance something just enough to allow readers to have a slightly more objective view of it. Heck, that's what the original Crow did for the author. Gave him a lens with which to channel a personal tragedy. But with this piece, that just didn't happen. Instead, it's a prettily drawn, cliché revenge piece with a scattering of pretty sentences at the end: the only section in which I recognized this was by the writer of the original Crow. Massive disappointment here.

[A.L. Bellettiere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like The Crow Death and Rebirth was a lot like Dead Time for me in that I had a hard time following it, although I was aware of the story and its plot, Skinning The Wolves makes up for that. Maybe what helped my experience is what James himself said was greatly evident, the ultra violent aspects. I actually loved the fact that they didn't use the typical Crow face design although the rottenness of his face makes up for that. He also doesn't have a name, unless I missed it but I think he represents all the possible atrocities during that time. Which is why, come the end, he is not satisfied at all. The art was a great companion to the story. I actually look at this story much like how Tarantino did Once Upon a time in Hollywood, as sort of a love letter to Sharon Tate with a more preferred ending. This was what a lot of tbr Holocaust victims might, MIGHT have wanted in retribution. Being older myself and being cognizant of thr Holocaust, this story was great.

[Arun Divakar · Rating 2 out of 5]

All that it contained was a detailed and illustrated manual of "How to kill the Nazis" ! I have seen only the movie version of The Crow and it was a childhood favorite. The one part that stood out was the presence of emotional longing of which there is zero in this book. The art work is mind blowing though but that is perhaps the only attractive factor.

Not something I would recommend although I really want to read the original version.

[Edward Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Crow, the spirit of retribution that brings forth a revenant to gain vengeance on those who brutally ended their lives is known to many but why and what brings these people back. In Skinning the Wolves, an unnamed man is brought back to avenge not only the wrongs cast against him but the pains put upon those who share the same fate in an unknown concentration camp sometime during the Second Great War. His revenge is brutal and those who he saves are left with not only the memories of the vicious assault he laid upon the Nazi but what they would have to do to survive thereafter.

Not as cohesive as the other stories of the Crow that O'Barr has been a part of (this was his return to the fold after years of letting others work on the titular character) but still an interesting view into the darkness that drives the creatures to tie off those loose ends.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a number of volumes of the Crow, and enjoy them overall, though often they are not quite as good as that first one. In my opinion, this was one of the better ones. It still has the level of ultraviolence that other Crow books have, but I found it was easier to side with him when he was killing Nazis, including the particularly reprehensible leader of the concentration camp. I was a tad confused at the beginning, since I had no idea who the characters were, but it developed as the book went through flashbacks, and made sense by the end. While it wasn't terribly long, it was one of the better Crow stories I have read, and is worth a look.

[Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia de venganza en un campo de concentración. No hay mucha historia más allá del conflicto central de todos los relatos de The Crow. Nazis super malos, un campeón entre las víctimas y una victoria amarga que no compensa el horror de los campos. No hay mucho más. Lo mejor de todo son las ilustraciones.

[Sasha Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like to read about getting revenge and liberating concentration camps then this is the book for you. Not as good as other crow comics, but it's a fun and action packed read. I didn't get attached to the main character like I did reading other crow comics, but overall I enjoyed this comic.

[টক দইয়ের চা · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5/5
Those who crave action-packed stories with characters like John Wick will love this narrative set in a Nazi concentration camp. It's a wild and gory ride that fans of the genre will definitely enjoy.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

James O’Barr & Jim Terry team up to make a Crow tale set in WW2. It reads like a hardboiled ‘Two Fisted Tales’ of old but with amped up brutality and gore that Terry vividly illustrates with vigor. Great read if you can track down a copy. IDW- when are we getting a reprint!?

[Kerry-Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was pretty weird AF but I liked it...

[Tia Garrigues · Rating 5 out of 5]

A WWII Crow story, where Nazis get their just desserts. Creepy and wonderful art, disturbing and delightful plot.

[Rainsadventure · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blood and guts were drawn beautifully but the story was short and hardly existed. This had potential but sidnt quite hit the mark.

[eighthsamurai · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Crow tale set in a concentration camp during WWII. This was dark, but was really good. Nice to see James O'Barr return to the character. Good story, good art as well.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place in an alternate reality that looks something like an even more extreme, grim and merciless version of Batman’s Arkham Asylum. Despite the cruel and unforgiving society they live in, Eric Draven and his fiancé Shelly fall madly in love and find comfort in each other’s arms. Eric and Shelly go for a peaceful, romantic drive down the open road one fine day, enjoying each other’s company when their car is suddenly pulled over by a violent gang of thugs. They drag the two out of the car and they force Eric to watch them torture his girlfriend to death before shooting him in the back of the head. Just like that, the two lovers are dead. On the anniversary of their deaths, Eric resurrects from the grave as a vengeful spirit and takes on the mantle of a supernatural avenger, tracking down the thugs that killed him and his bride-to-be one by one and slaughtering them without mercy.

The story begins with Eric violently interrogating a man named Mr. Jones, a thug with connections to the criminals that murdered him and Shelly. Here we get a taste of the protagonist’s cruelty and lust for vengeance. He’s not the sweet and compassionate man he used to be. He’s cruel, sadistic and enjoys the suffering of the people that wronged him. He’s no hero of justice and he doesn’t quite fit the definition of vigilante hero either, he’s just a heartbroken man fixated on personal revenge and he’s willing to throw away his humanity to get what he wants. The Crow does a great job of showing just how tragic and depressing revenge truly is. It’s not glorified or beautiful, but it can be dangerously satisfying, and that addiction to the pain can destroy a person from the inside.

That’s the gist of the plot. A man resurrects from the dead and hunts down the men that killed him and his girlfriend. It’s a very simplistic revenge story with a unique gothic-horror aesthetic. Eric often goes into insane ramblings where he randomly babbles out dark poetry and edgy quotes like Edgar Allan Poe hopped up on drugs, vengeance and a rockstar charisma. Speaking of Poe, this story is pretty much what you would get if John Wick was written by Edgar Allan Poe. The villains are fairly one-dimensional, but it suits the mood of the story. This is about a broken man lashing out at the world because he's unable to contain his grief. It captures how one truly feels toward people that steal everything that was once precious away from you. There's no mercy or sympathy, there’s no attempt to see eye to eye or try to understand why they did what they did, there’s only a spiral of despair, rage and a self-consuming lust to give them the punishment they deserve

The story feels more personal and intimate when you read it knowing that it’s loosely based on the author’s own experience and feelings of losing his significant other. You can feel his rage and despair pouring out from the writing and the bleak black and white pages smothered with rain, blood and grime. It also has an extremely good movie adaption featuring the late Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee. It’s rich with a gothic atmosphere and has that nostalgic 1980’s action hero that throws out cool one liners vibe. I heard it was recently released on Netflix and I would definitely recommend giving it a watch.

The original comic is a short and sweet self contained story, but there are quite a few spinoff stories where James collaborated with other authors to show off the dark avenger in action once more. In most of these stories, Eric resurrects other unfortunate souls that died tragic deaths and gives them the opportunity to avenge themselves like he once did. None of these stories are quite as good as the original in my opinion, but I thought they were worth mentioning for people that really want to see more from this cool character.

***

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[Wayne McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you think Nazis were evil and deserve to be killed in beautifully horrific ways, then this newest installment in The Crow series may be right up your alley.

A train pulls into a concentration camp and all of the prisoners are marched into the gates except one. A lone man stays on the train, and when he is prodded out, explodes in a level of violence that continues through all three issues of the comic represented here.

The camp's commandant is a cruel man who tempts prisoners with life if they can beat him at a game of chess. While this plays out, we see flashbacks of a similar scene indicating the trigger for the violence against the nazis.

James O'Barr returns for this story, and the Jim Terry artwork reaches a ghoulish level that reminded me of horror comics from the 1950s (and I mean that in the best possible way). You don't expect huge plots in one of these stories and this one is no different, but I seem to remember the stories having more sadness and pathos. It seems that the final message is that vengeance can never be quenched, and I found that particularly unsatisfying this time around.

[Alexander Nader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the original Crow. Yeah, I know, me and everybody else, right? I thought the original book was packed full of emotion and sorrow and longing, along with a bunch of bad guys getting mercilessly murdered. What more could a guy ask for?

Skinning the wolves is O'Barr's return to the Crow. What it has in abundance is beautifully illustrated acts of violence. If you want to see lot's of Nazi's killed super dead, then this is the book for you. The violence is spectacular and I really do enjoy the style of illustrating used.

As far as plot goes, it's a little thin and basically what you'd expect from a Crow title. Tragic death + brutal revenge = pretty much every Crow story O'Barr or otherwise. Something about this one didn't feel as personal as the original and while I can understand that they are different stories this one just didn't have the same pull for me.

Overall it was a fun read and I have no problems with it resting on my bookshelf right next to the original.

[Jessie Radford · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans who have read the original. This isn't exactly the same story from the first. To me this is a bit darker. The crow in this book looks nothing like the one in the first book, he came way before his time and had a rage that could not be satisfied. It makes me glad that when such tragedies were happening then, that maybe there was someone fighting for their justice. Great read, but very dark.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

El retorno de O'Barr a su célebre creación llega en alas de una miniserie filosa, muy sintonizada con la original y donde la implacable venganza toma escenario en un campo de concentración nazi. Sin descuidar el apartado emotivo de las otras miniseries (cosa que el autor siempre criticó), Skinning the Wolves retoma con éxito la premisa original gracias a su buen planteamiento, un elenco bien perfilado y la capacidad de emocionar que encumbró en su momento a la original.

[Coral Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly the worst Crow story I have read. This felt to be more of an indulgence in mindless violence than a true revenge story. There were some interesting moments that showed how clever and layered this story could have been but I'm afraid too much of the comic was dedicated to gruesome deaths rather than thoughtful philosophy. Not terrible but not great. I would recommend Curare over this to anyone interested in coming back to this character.

[Elh R' · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, I want to give it 3 1/2 stars, always is a pleasure to watch nazis die.

Now, getting to the review, the story is simple, like every other Crow comic, it is a tale of revenge, against nazis.
The art is very good, kind of caricature sometimes, grim, it suits the feeling of the story.

A good read, if you like to watch nazis die. A bad read, if you are a nazi pig, in this way, the Crow will come for you ...

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excited to see another O'barr written Crow coming, but was disappointed in the story. It is violent, indignantly righteous, brutal, and doesn't add anything at all to the body of art, philosophy, or memory of The Holocaust.

In 2013 we don't truly need another "Nazi's are evil" story. Braver would have been to set this at Bagram or Abu Grhaib.

[Matt Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just ok. More of a short story than anything else. Everything takes place in one night so it's very very compact as far as story and artwork. The premise is ok, just feels somehow not authentic. Maybe like the story was just too easy. A rehashed crow during wwii

[Trece · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excelente volver a leer una historia original de James O'barr y su dibujo, pero aun la mitologia del cuervo no profundiza mas de lo que se ha hecho ya.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soumrak bohů je opravdu povedený komiks a kdybych neznal první příběh, asi bych mu dal plný počet hvězd. Ale druhému pokračování podle mě něco chybí. Přesto určitě stojí za to mít tuhle pecku doma.

[Ian Heap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great. Well worth the punt on buying it.
Good artwork and I liked the extras at the back of the book. Some great artwork.