The Crow

Review: The Crow: The Lazarus Heart

2008-06-02T18:53:17Z

Title: The Crow: The Lazarus Heart
Author: Poppy Z Brite
Publisher: HarperEntertainment 1998
Rating: Three out of five.

I’m a big fan of Poppy Z Brite. I admit it. If there are writers out there who inspire me to write, she’s one of them. I happen to be a fan of The Crow as well and, like many kids back in the mid 90s, first heard about the comic book character after watching the movie with ill-fated Brandon Lee in it.

So, of course, it was impossible for me to resist picking up this book. Poppy Z’s prose is lush, dark and evocative, bringing New Orleans to life with words that taste like the sound of their colours. She’s big on descriptions and you can almost imagine that you are walking those rain-soaked streets with her characters.

In typical Poppy Z style, I don’t think there’s a single straight character in this entire novel. We follow the story of photographer Jared Poe, who is murdered while on death row. He’s in the lock-up because he was convicted of brutally murdering his lover, Benjamin. The crow brings him back from the dead to avenge Benny but, for some reason, the bird is unable to lead Jared directly to the man responsible for all the trouble and he spends his time getting even with the cops and the district attorney who had him convicted.

Jared is aided by Lucrece – Benny’s twin sister. In my opinion, she is one of the stronger characters in the story and I found Poppy Z’s telling of the twin’s past to be another tale in itself.

The antagonist, the man who calls himself by the names of rivers, is utterly relentless and chilling. Poppy had me spellbound by the serial killer’s twisted subjective reality where he single-handedly wages a genocidal war against the New Orleans GLBIT community. It’s sick. It’s disgusting. And, it’s utterly fascinating in the same way that you can’t help but look at the scene of a motor vehicle accident while you drive past.

Why she still bothered sketching out the character of the police detective assigned to investigate the murders is beyond me. Detective Frank Gray (also gay) plays a minor role in the story but, in my opinion, bogs down the plot because he serves no real purpose other than to add his memories to the story of the serial killer’s murders.

It’s the plot of this novel that disappointed me the most. I enjoyed Poppy’s style of writing. I loved some of her characters, especially Lucrece. I felt that there was all this build-up to hunting down the killer but when it came to the final climax, it was anything but that. And, for fear of spoiling it for you, the ending was too obvious. I immediately knew what was going to happen after certain events transpired. The storyline is murky and I feel that Poppy is being too clever with her words, dwelling in her characters’ memories rather than having the story unfold and move forward. I enjoyed the back-story but that was about it. I liked the way that Poppy writes a non-linear tale with stories within stories but it lost its impact with a weak ending.

The other thing that bugs me is that there are parts of this that are too derivative of Exquisite Corpse with its obsessive treatment of the goings on of a serial killer’s mind. I still enjoyed this grisly vivisection of the details, but if you’ve read the book, you’ll recognise some of the themes that reoccur.

That being said, The Lazarus Heart still makes for entertaining reading, especially for die-hard Poppy fans.

widescreen desktop backgrounds for grabs

2008-04-19T02:04:25Z

hope you guys like them :-)

they're simple but i had fun making them and thought maybe a few people would like to see them.
enjoy! :-D

Movie; the crow (1), 68 icons

2008-04-12T01:50:25Z

Find them all here!

_the_crow @ 2008-03-23T22:44:00

2008-03-24T02:45:58Z

who has crow tattoos? i'm planning on getting my 3rd with my sister when she turns 18 in 2 months and the tattoo itch has me wanting to see other people's work. :-)

(x-posted)

Crow Icons

2007-05-19T17:49:49Z

Hey guys!

I bring you icons! The Crow icons! : D

Please comment and credit if nabbing :D Hope ya likey!

Teasers:

~~ Clickie clickie for the rest ~~

tamakin_arts :: tamakin_arts :: tamakin_arts

Crow Icons

2007-03-02T11:56:18Z

Hee! I decided to make some Crow icons.

Please let me know if you like these, i aint done the crow before, so im not sure how many peeps will like em. Im sorry theres only a few, but if theyre liked ill make more in the near future : )

Comment n credit and all that jazz if using : D

Teaser:

~~ Click here for the rest ~~

A James O'Barr sighting

2007-02-23T22:26:13Z

Art Love Magic is having their first Live Art Show "Reach", held at the South Side on Lamar, in the Janette Kennedy Gallery in Dallas. The show is 7:00-11:00pm this Saturday the 24th. Creative mediums include jewelry, sculptures, painters, Digital Artists and Comic Book Illustrators. There will be Spoken Word and Musical performances throughout the evening and beer and wine will be available for purchase. Admission is free, but there is a $5.00 suggested donation.

Artists' work is currently on display through the rest of the week. If you cannot make it to the show you are welcome to visit the gallery during open hours, 10-5.

For more info on this event go to http://www.artlovemagic.com

Icons

2006-11-12T03:17:39Z

The Crow icons at thesunmachine.

_the_crow @ 2006-10-29T16:52:00

2006-10-29T21:53:32Z

I sincerely apologize for promoting here, but it's related to The Crow so it's not off topic.

Come join The Brandon Lee Movement on Livejournal and help get Brandon his long overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

theblm

Layout

2006-10-19T22:02:36Z

Overides

Let me know if you take it please.

_the_crow @ 2006-10-19T16:14:00

2006-10-19T20:14:51Z

Another new Crow piece...this time with a Halloween feel. In keeping with the Crow tradition...I give you...

"DEVIL'S NIGHT"

_the_crow @ 2006-10-18T13:05:00

2006-10-18T17:07:02Z

One of my latest pieces from "The Crow"...the flashback scene when Eric first enters his old apartment. The title comes directly from James O'Barr's graphic novel...

"Pain & Shadows"

_the_crow @ 2006-10-01T10:39:00

2006-10-01T14:40:39Z

whats the deal with the skull cowboy? i havent seen him in the crow movies AT ALL but yet he is in the comic and other things....
any help would be appriciated

Picture help

2006-08-11T20:29:58Z

Hi,
I've decided I want to get a large picture to put on my bedroom wall. I haven't got the cash to get a poster yet so I thought I'd look online. Haven't had much luck finding high res large pics though. Does anyone know anywhere to find some?

but any good close ups will do.

Cheers if anyone can offer any help :)

Edit: I put it on Photobucket now so I hope it works? Seemed to be showing up for me okay. If not, its the one in my icon. It only just occured to me that I could've said that in the first place. DUMMMB.

_the_crow @ 2006-07-18T13:35:00

2006-07-18T17:40:03Z

i made so avatars so i thought i'd share them...

if your going to use them i want credit for them

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

_the_crow @ 2006-07-17T19:22:00

2006-07-17T23:23:08Z

Click the banner and sign the petition!

hello

2006-07-17T04:00:13Z

hello everyone:)i'm new here so i thought i'd say hi.

i love the crow. it's the only movie that i can watch that makes me cry more than once through out the entire movie. i don't own it which sucks(being poor sucksx_x)

tomarrow i'm going to post a group of crow icons that i made. but for now i was wandering if anyone had The Crow on upload. if you do could you send me the link??(my email is murdermydolly1313@yahoo.com) i really want it to make tribute videos out of and to watch:)))if you could help me out i would be very gratefull!!!

Goodies

2006-07-03T02:50:28Z

I come bearing goodies. Three animated The Crow icons. Comment if taking and credit despairheart in userpics under comments or keywords. Also no hotlinking! Thanks!

Hey!

2006-06-22T07:02:58Z

So I have a question from the movie... does anybody know the tabs to the song Eric plays while he's sitting on the roof top *once right after the guy that owns the pawn shop gets killed and then again when he smashes the guitar* either one of those times would be great I'd love to be able to play that thanks in advance!

Introductions!

2006-06-07T13:21:11Z

Hey there guys. Just found this community myself, and I wanted to introduce myself. I would be Beethoven, a college student that (omg it's a shame) that just found out about The Crow somewhere around...I'd say August or September of last year. I had always heard of it, but never watched it. So now, I'm in love, especially with Brandon Lee. I even used him as my Halloween costume last year (the pics aren't uploaded, but I'll make sure to get them in here soon). I saw City of Angels over my Christmas break, and I hear tell that there are two more, though I've heard the fourth one sucks. If that's the one with Tara Reid in it, I saw part of it on Sci Fi last weekend and was highly disappointed...the Crow looks like a pop-goth Hot Topic wannabe...

Anyway. Hope to have many happy revenge times within. See you all soon!

_the_crow @ 2006-06-01T13:13:00

2006-06-01T17:16:14Z

Thought I'd share one of my latest paintings with some fellow Crow fans =:=}

The Crow: Droppings

2006-05-16T18:58:45Z

Allow me to preface this post by saying that I positively love both James O'Barr's graphic novel of The Crow, and even more so I love the first film starring Brandon Lee. I mean no disrespect toward the movie, the graphic novel, the creators, actors, or fans. . .

. . . but I wrote something of a parody of the Crow. Basically, it's about a guy who got really drunk one night and woke thinking he had died and had been back from the dead by the crow. He thens attempts a revenge streak on the people he figures must have killed him in a series of inept events the likes of which would rival a 1960's Batvillain for idiotic plans. There also several references to other films, TV shows, and stand up comics laced throughout the story (and if you have a lot of extra time you could try to identify them all in the comments area).

If you're interested in reading it, follow the link to The Crow: Droppings!

(And after you're done with that, if you're interested in reading my other crap which is original not parodying anything click here!)

_the_crow @ 2006-05-13T20:55:00

2006-05-16T01:04:03Z

just doin my part to keep this community alive.

2006-05-04T12:15:58Z

yep, thats me. standing ~~on top~~ beside the grave of the late, great brandon lee...and his even later and greater father, but he doesnt count in here...

i went to visit them when i was in seattle in january (i usually reside in australia), but upon arriving...realised id forgotten some flowers. i like to think they'll forgive me...

it was a really odd experience actually standing there though...

Yodles

2006-05-02T20:33:55Z

Am randomly new to this so hey people
Yes I of course love the Crow its a great film!!
Fav quote um....wud have to be "they'r al dead they just dont know it yet'
I havent watchd th film in ages so hopefully i got that right.

Not much happenin in this community like!