Bloodborne, Vol. 3: A Song of Crows

Bloodborne #9-12

by Aleš Kot, Piotr Kowalski (Illustrator)

Discover the story of Eileen the Crow in the continuing series spinning out of Fromsoftware/Hidetaka Miyazaki’s critically acclaimed Bloodborne videogame.

The City of Yarnham is buried in snow.

Eileen the Crow buries the Hunters. But one eludes her. Poisoned and overcome with beastly senses, he prowls Yarnham causing misery and havoc. Meanwhile the bodies mount, reality shakes, and strange things are amiss in Byrgenwerth. On the hunt for the Hunter, Eileen struggles with her own sanity and the disturbing change that a glimpse beyond reality brings.

Blood and death pervade Yarnham and those who travel in its wake. Follow the quest of Eileen as she looks to uncover the truth of the city, and her inner turmoil.

“The horror is evident through each frame, and the writing is engaging.” – The Pull List

Collects Bloodborne #9-12.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Video Games, Fiction, Comics Manga

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2019

About the author

Aleš Kot is a post-Chernobyl, pre-revolution, Czech-born, California-based writer/producer who started in graphic novels and now makes films, television, and an occasional novella.

A. believe in art and community.
A. doesn't believe in borders nor cops.
A. believes in love, which they know is a very Libra answer. And what about it?

Reviews

[Petrik]

ARC provided by the publisher—Titan Comics—in exchange for an honest review.

Mini-review

1.5/5 stars

Unlike the previous volumes in Bloodborne graphic novel adaptations, volume 3: A Song of Crows was hugely disappointing. Or, to be more precise, this is definitely not for me. There is nothing wrong with the artwork and atmosphere handled in this volume, but other than that, the story was simply too confusing, experimental, and bizarre for me to enjoy. Eileen the Crow is one of my favorite characters from Bloodborne, and I was hoping this volume would give more insight and characterizations into Eileen. But nope, all I got is a stream of consciousness about dreaming and waking. I am a bit sad about my experience with reading Bloodborne graphic novel adaptations. Considering how much I LOVE Bloodborne and FromSoftware games, it seems like, so far, there's nothing impressive or amazing about the adaptations other than the artwork.

You can find the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel

Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!

My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Amanda, Annabeth, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Ellis, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lana, Leigh, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Mike, Miracle, Nanette, Neeraja, Nicholas, Reno, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Xero, Wendy, Wick, Zoe.

[Gianfranco Mancini]

A creepy, disturbing, waking nightmare.



Having never played the videogame who inspired this comic-book, I feel sometimes like missing something, but I'm totally digging this fantasy-horror series, like something out from atmospheric black metal album.



Loved it.

[Brandon Baker]

This was really unique, trippy/dreamlike. Again, I wish it was more concise. No real plot, just vibes. Vague vibes.

[Viggo]

I love the minimalistic storytelling in the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. Especially Bloodborne; I agree with everyone who calls it the greatest Lovecraftian horror story ever told, and it’s a story that’s so minimalistically told that you basically have to watch hours of YouTube videos to get it. But that’s the charm of the game. Which poses a problem with telling Bloodborne stories in a different medium, because the moment you actually start telling the reader a comprehensible story rather than leaving disjointed puzzle pieces that might or might not fit together, it breaks the promise of how this narrative world works.

Which is why I loved this instalment of the Bloodborne graphic novels, because the story is so freaking incomprehensible, yet somehow it is emotionally and thematically cohesive enough that I felt thoroughly affected by it by the end. If you’ve dug into the lore of the game, you have a bit of help understanding what might be going on, though honestly it didn’t make it much more comprehensible for me. The whole thing reads like a hallucinatory nightmare where you’re not sure what anything really means. Everything is left for you to interpret.

But. The character we follow does get some sort of arc. I can’t say I understand it completely, other than having some vague interpretations of what it means. But the writers and the artist manage to create an emotional resonance regardless. Even if I’m not sure what exactly the character comes to learn or realise, I somehow feel a sense of melancholic peace at the end anyway. And all the pieces of the puzzle are there, you just don’t get much help assembling them. But I think that’s a fascinating and beautiful kind of storytelling, when the fractured narrative has a cohesive emotional throughline.

And the art is just stunning. Especially some of the scenes where the character goes through a kind of transformation that is mentioned in the game but which we never got to learn much about. Not that it is explained in any way here; it is simply shown—and it’s a trippy but powerful combination of art, storytelling, and implications to be interpreted by the reader.

[Lukas Sumper]

It stayed true to the eileen the crow from the game and storywise was more akin to the first volume of this series.I did like it but overall it ended up being a mixed bag, one of the things that really did not click is the art. Let me clarify the art is not bad. It worked for the previous volumes , but for what they tried to do here it was underwhelming, too basic, this needed to be surrealistic to the max. David Mack or dave mckean come to mind, and that is not a jab at the artist, but some stories need the right art to go along with it.
A missed opportunity in my view.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars

[Willow]

The artwork is absolutely stunning and deserves all the praise, but unfortunately the storyline fell flat for me and didn't quite deliver.

[Pardis Ahmadi]

I think there are more parts of this comic coming up. so far it looks okay. i actually would really like a story about Father Gascoigne and Henryk

[Jane Vellichor]

Art - pretty
Story - trippy

[Urbon Adamsson]

(When is this?)

(When Am I?)

Best volume so far, by far.

Although the narrative is very poetic, very philosophic... so it won't please everyone.

Those looking for something more straightforward and linear, won't enjoy this as much.

The art is absolutely amazing and it captures well the essence of this universe.

I got used to the coloring by now.

[Allen McLean]

Review This is a review of the entire Bloodborne series by Ales Kot and has been shared on the Goodreads pages for the other volumes.
...
Ending of the hunt, \ madness obtained from paleblood, \ insights from gods' dreams.
#HAIKUPRAJNA - Bloodborne Comic Book Review Analysis and Summary 20220614
...
At the time of writing, there are four “Bloodborne” volumes written by Ales Kot, with more written by Cullen Bunn coming in 2022. These limited series are for fans of Bloodborne’s lore and premise. What I found the most interesting was how insight into From Software’s worldbuilding provides a better experience for the reader while those ignorant of this lore might be irritated by the writing style, which I enjoyed because the opposite (madness-causing insight versus the ignorance of an unending dream) is a thematic component of the story in the video game. “Paleblood” serves as Bloodborne’s macguffin, or the idea of a goal.

“There must be more than the hunt.”

Each story follows a different character living in the world of Yarhman, brought to life by the art team’s amazing work across the whole series; “The Death of Sleep” was about a Paleblood child with a hunter who knew Durja and the Powder Kegs; “The Healing Thirst” displayed a member of the Healing Church being science bros with a love-mad scientist; “A Song of Crows” told the story of Eileen the crow; and “The Veil, Torn Asunder” dealt with a soldier suffering from war PTSD, showing that the madness of insight was a universal affliction in the world of Yarhman.

“When they say healing… they mean burning… us alive.”

An important aspect of the disease inflicting the city is how the beasts were all once human, where characters grow to realize they may be “undeserving of the hunt”. The unafflicted believed that people were transforming into beasts, but the protagonists’ individual descents into madness reveal to them (and us readers) that the insight was turning them into godlike beings, which enforces one of my favorite literary themes of death being a good--an idea that drove mad the living Yarhmanites who clung to the desirables of life. Perhaps the best part of these Bloodborne side stories is how this information is revealed to almost everyone in Yarhman, but they are all unable to convey this to each other until after they transform into monsters. For these characters, going mad was equivalent to obtaining insight about the hunt and the Paleblood, as one began to see monstrous gods fighting one another throughout Yarhman. In true fashion, the more insight one acquired, the more monsters one saw.

“... but nobody taught me how to grieve without killing myself...”

The four comic book stories set within Bloodborne’s world are all about the personal struggles of individuals living in Yarhman, their own issues and trauma, and how they manage to cope until the end of the hunters’ dream.

Thank you for reading,

Allen W. McLean
...
PS Update 20221031
Happy Halloween!

Here is a list of spooky reads that I have reviewed:

. Black Cat (2019) : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022...

. Frankenstein : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022...

. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022...

. The Legend of Sleepy Hallow : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022...

. Howl's Moving Castle : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021...

The Wendigo : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021...

Bloodborne comics : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022...

Coraline : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021...

Beowulf : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020...

The Island of Doctor Moreau : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2020...

Check out some stories that I have written for and around Inktober and Halloween:

Sprout : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2021...

Ado the Owl : https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022...

Fishing for Caribou : https://read.amazon.ca/kp/embed?asin=...

Also, ULTRAVIOLET is available to read on Kindle : https://read.amazon.ca/kp/embed?asin=...
An official announcement will be revealed soon.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

[Alec Lyons]

I enjoyed this bizarre dive into a splintered and spiralling journey of loss and grief of Eileen the Crow, and the madness that is all encompassing of their existence, and that of which is bound to Yharnam.

Beautiful panels of artwork that reflect a quiet and haunting existence, and the surreal eldritch-esque borne psychosis, this time partners very well with the writing which weaves reflection of a psyche that has been torn from trauma and inevitability.

The strongest instalment yet, and feels the most organic, doing the world and atmosphere of Bloodborne justice, in a small and intimate setting.

[Executionereniak]

"Time is the deepest grave."

This was way more poetic than I'd ever imagine. An eerie atmosphere with a gorgeous artistic style and a moving story. Exquisite piece of art, this.

[MorZa]

A HUNTER MUST HUNT

[Will]

the most beautiful art ive ever seen but it’s paired with the most confusing, non-existent plot ever💔

[Sergio]

Cuándo es ahora ?

[Eleonora]

"My bones crack as I steel myself for the hunt. There is a hole at the center of the story. A parfume of my old land on the letter. My memory is not what it used to be. There is a hole at the center of my story. And time... time is the deepest grave of all."

Our dear friend Eileen is going through an existential crisis—indeed, a series of existential crises throughout this volume. But aren’t we all? And isn’t that the very same feeling and experience we have while playing Bloodborne?

"A hoonter must hoont." 🐦‍⬛

[John]

I always find it fascinating when "auteur" writers get a crack to do mainstream properties. Tom Scioli with Transformers/GI Joe, Michelle Fiffe on GI Joe and Dash Shaw with Clue.

This is a little more mainstream with a video game property, but instead of being a a cheap rip off--this book is weird. Like the Heavy Metal adaptation of 1941 WEIRD.

Piotr Kowalski kills it with the art and Kot tries interesting (if not entirely successful things)

[Erin]

Um...what?

[Caleb Likes Books]

This was super quick—pretty light on story, at least directly told, and heavier on the artwork. Only took me about half as long to read as Volumes 1&2. Unfortunately, I do think this is the weakest of the first three.

Of course, one thing I must absolutely praise here is the art. The art in all of these graphic novels has been great, but I especially appreciated the approach of it here. The atmosphere provided by the art has such a sense of gloom and melancholy that the other graphic novels didn’t quite have, in addition to some really strange visuals that feel much like the reader is experiencing the sense of madness which Bloodborne is built on. As a side note, I enjoyed the winter setting here, which is fairly unique from the video game. The writing itself also was done well; even though the story here is very cryptic, the sense of voice to the writing was unique compared to past entries, and really gave it its own feel.

The main issue with this graphic novel for me is just how cryptic and difficult to understand it is. There is a sense of flow to what happens, in a sense, but the writing and many of the scenes portrayed just don’t cohere into an understandable story. In a sense, I can appreciate this because that is kind of Bloodborne’s whole thing—it likes to be cryptic and difficult to gain true insight (pun intended) into what happens. But while the first two graphic novels told stories that were cryptic, they also at least presented a fairly straightforward narrative structure that makes some sense. This one comes across as very weird, nonlinear, and bizarre, which I’m sure was intentional, but as such it’s hard to know what exactly it’s trying to convey either in story or theme.

Overall I can appreciate this graphic novel for its artwork and unique approach, but ultimately it left me a little underwhelmed. I think it may have stepped a little too far into the cryptic storytelling direction that Bloodborne likes to play with, to the degree that it just doesn’t make for an understandable story.

Rating: 6.5/10

[Ryan McNie]

3 1/2 stars. Maybe 4? I'm not sure.

This is the first time a character from the game has appeared as a protagonist of one of these and I'm not sure if my lack of knowledge has affected my I interpretation but this was, pardon the ironic term, weird.

It took a couple of reads for me to comprehend what I think is happening in the story. It's not straightforward. You have to engage and work with the text and artwork and pay attention. It's almost like a riddle. I love what has been attempted here and if it wasn't for the fact that I feel like I might be missing something I think I would rate it more highly.

Similarly to the first volume this story is more artwork than text and it is the art that tells the majority of the story as well as setting the overall tone and feel. It's the first time things have got really trippy with there being no text at all in the third part.

All in all the story itself is pretty simple. But the way it is told is engaging and forced the reader to play an active role in unraveling it's meaning. This certainly won't be for everyone but I enjoyed this offering and will continue to enjoy the series and how different each story and volume are proving to be.

[Viktor Logi]

My second favorite so far!
What a feast for the eyes!

A real breeze to get through!
Primarily because it's extremely light on dialogue. And often dialogue that intentionally repeats itself.

I really enjoyed this volume centered around Eileen The Crow, who doesn't love Eileen, she looks badass!

The story is very interpretive, which is very fitting for Bloodborne. I would understand people not liking that but I really enjoyed the interpretive story told here.

Kowalski's art just continues to grow on me. I love it and feel I gave Lady of The Lanterns a bad wrap.

Every frame is beautiful! So many splash pages that look absolutely stunning.
Loved the snowy setting blended with the blood red moon. Rad stuff!

A small thing that I absolutely loved was the opening pages. With the Red moon cover art next to the snowy blue opening! Really cool contrast and immediately made me excited to read! What a way to start a book!

Also shout out to my boy, Rom! Love a surprise Rom appearance!

Really great! 4☆

[Nick Jones]

I know that I'm not alone in thinking that Crow Mom was one of the highlights of the video game Bloodborne, an interesting character in a game that had very few characters to speak of, much less interesting ones. So after enduring two prior volumes of this graphic novel series I was naively hoping that this one would be an improvement over Ales Kot's previous substandard writing quality, because Eileen could easily carry anyone, even a garbage writer like Kot, to a readable story. Instead, Kot vomits out an unintelligible, postmodern hipster hallucination that not only adds jack-all to the highlight character of the game, it actively tries to sabotage her with a story that is pure nonsense.

Why even publish these if you're not going to even try to make something halfway decent?

[Ƙʏᴙᴀ]

Bello, bello, bello! Questo terzo capitolo che ha come protagonista indiscussa Eileen il Corvo è di una bellezza incredibile. Le tavole, i colori e la narrazione affidata a momenti muti sono strepitosi e poetici, e per certi versi molto più simili all'essenza stessa di Bloodborne rispetto a quanto fatto nei precedenti capitoli.
Probabilmente chi non ha mai giocato il videogame avrà capito ben poco vedendo certi luoghi storici della trama principale, che qui vengono resi senza nessuna descrizione. Ma lasciandosi trasportare ci si può immergere ugualmente in questo mondo malato fatto di sangue, violenza e speranza.

Di tutto il gioco Eileen è sempre stata il mio npc preferito, la storia che ci racconta, il modo in cui combatte e il suo look mi hanno sempre affascinata. È stato molto interessante scoprire altri retroscena su di lei.

[Divuar]

The book is much more difficult to understand than the two which came out before it, but still it succeeds to capture bizarreness and grim mood of the original game.
Visually, it’s stunning, the colors are great and a Bloodborne fan would be happy to see some familiar game locations. Plot wise it is very vague yet eerie, it was hard for me to understand what the hell is actually happening in the story. I would say it reminded me of the famous Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum book, but Bloodborne: The Song of Crows is still much more straightforward and less experimental (but still pretty psychedelic).

[Oğuzhan Alpaslan]

Serinin sanatsal açıdan en güçlü kitabı olmuş, oyundan sonra favori karakterlerimden Eileen’in bir hikayesini okumak da güzel hissettirdi. Hikayesi pek dolu değil, kafa karıştırıcı ve anlatımı eksik, bu kafa karışıklığını da aslında Eileen ile birlikte yaşıyoruz, geçmişinden bazı ipuçları görsek de hikayeyi ne o anlıyor ne de biz… Zaten hikayenin daha ilk sayfasında kendisi de bunu söylüyor: “Ne kadar anlamaya çalışırsan çalış, hikayenin tümünü asla anlayamayacaksın”.

[Marc Cata Lan]

No, claro que no lo recomendaría. Si eres fan de la saga, quizás. Huye si te gusta que te cuenten cosas.

[Keef Davidson]

It's a nice little read. It's fast and reads like a poem. Overall, a quick little thing to enjoy with some cool artwork.

[D. Leek]

The plot is confusing, yet the vibes are immaculate. Unsettling, revolting, and extremely lovecraftian in its horror.

[Ondřej Trhoň]

Sem fanoušek fragmentárního spirálovitého narativu v mainstream komiks, byť trochu víc nějaké průhlednosti neuškodilo

[Charlie]

This was incredibly bizarre and I understood almost none of it, but I loved every single panel of it.