Review: The Crow/Hack Slash #2

STORY

The second issue of the crossover between the Crow and Cassie Hack doesn’t have a “last episdoe”“ blurb that I find so useul in a comic series but it does has a short paragraph on each character to give you a basic understanding of just who they are before you get going on the book itself.

The story deals with both this newest Crow and Cassie trying to track down and defeat a renegade Crow, Angeles, who refusing to go back to the grave once her mission was completed has become a supernatural vigilante. Angeles was not satisfied with meerly seeking justice offered by the ressurection as a Crow and has gone on a full crusade agaisnt anyone whe presumes to be turning a blind eye to evil. An interesting premise if I do say so myself and not one I’ve seen explored before in the Crow’s mythology. The plot moves along briskly balancing just the right amount of storyy, exposition and action to maintain one’s interest throught. With her partner Vlad already seriously injured by Angeles we get some nice character moments with Cassie as she wrestles with her own prejudices concerning certain types of people and the realization that the monstrous Vlad is at heart even more human than her. Even Ageles describes Cassie as the monster Vlad should be. I’m not a follower of the series but this is an interesting path to take. I do know that Cassie’s own mother was a supernatural serial killer called The Lunch Lady so perhaps there is a fear that she might have a similar madness within herself. If this is so it makes Angeles a reflection of what Cassie might become if she isn’t care. Because Angeles is the most dangerous sort of villain, the one who thinks they are doing good.

The relationship between Cassie and the Crow is very antagonistic on her side while the Crow is patiently helpful. One thing that bugged me about this Crow was that he seems to be more or less a clone of the O’Barr original, complete with florid dialogue and postures that equal perfomance in nature. It is established in the issue that there have been many crows before (and several from previous comics are depicted) it was a bit of a let down that Seely didn’t choose to give this one his own personality even though I enjoyed this sometimes overly expository Eric Draven remake. A nice touch that I have seen used before with a Crow was the time displacement, some Crows come back years to centuries later after their demise. It made for some fun fish out of water moments and comical situations.

ART

Seely did the layouts for the issue and Terry did the finishes and coloring, The art is everything you’d expect if you are familiar with Seely’s work, good page flow and story telling, emotional faces, good angles and plenty of background details. Terry’s work over the breakdowns adds adds a little extra gritiness to the work as I remember Seely’s inks being cleaner. The colors are suitable and never meuuy but they are flat in an 80’s style sort of way.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Honestly this was much better than I expected. I’ve seen a few crossovers with the Crow over the years and most of them sucked so this was a pleasant surprise and worth checking out. 4 out of 5

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

THE CROW/HACK SLASH #2
Writer: Tim Seely
Art: Tim Seely, Jim Terry
Colors:Jim Terry