History Franchise / TheCrow

In the comic there is absolutely no exposition regarding exactly how Eric has returned from the grave - if that's even what actually happened. The mythology of the film franchise is so much better known than the ambiguity of the comic that there are plenty of people - plenty of fans, even - who just assume that "Eric is brought back from the dead by a mystical crow" is part of the original comic, when basically everything that happens in the comic is up for individual interpretation and never explicitly stated. (It should be noted that in interviews given in ''Comics Scene'' during the early 90s, as the first iteration of the comic was wrapping up, the author himself seemed to lean towards a supernatural explanation, though not quite in the way the film gives it.[[note]]Eric came back, O'Barr stated, because his love was so great that he could perform such sins in the name of vengeance without becoming guilty.[[/note]]

In the comic there is absolutely no exposition regarding exactly how Eric has returned from the grave - if that's even what actually happened. The mythology of the film franchise is so much better known than the ambiguity of the comic that there are plenty of people - plenty of fans, even - who just assume that "Eric is brought back from the dead by a mystical crow" is part of the original comic, when basically everything that happens in the comic is up for individual interpretation and never explicitly stated.

[[Literature/TheCrow The page for the novels can be viewed here]].

* ''The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams'' (1998) a short story/poem anthology

* ''The Crow: Wicked Prayer'' (2000) by Norman Partridge (the fourth film in the franchise was ''very loosely'' based on this novel

* ''The Crow: The Lazarus Heart'' (1998) by Poppy Z. Brite

* ''The Crow: Temple of Night'' (1999) by S.P. Somtow

A 1998 Canadian television series based on the concept -- ''The Crow: Stairway to Heaven'' -- lasted one season (22 episodes); while it garnered decent ratings, the show ended when Creator/{{Universal}} bought its production company, Creator/PolygramFilmedEntertainment. Universal eventually released the full series on DVD, [[http://www.hulu.com/the-crow-stairway-to-heaven Hulu]], and Netflix.

* RevenantZombie: The protagonists of series are classic revenants who are brought back to life by the title bird in order to seek justice for themselves and the people they loved. As long as the bird is alive, and as long as they remain focused on their quest for revenge and do not develop emotional ties to the living, they can heal any wound dealt them and cannot be killed. They also have the ability to cleanse others of whatever poison is in their systems, they can see through the eyes of the bird, and they have some measure of psychometric ability in regards to things that remind them of their former life and what happened to them, as well as the ability to transfer any memories they have by touch.

** Heck, Music/{{Evanescence}} even sampled the closing line ("People die, but real love is forever,") from the first ''The Crow'' movie in the GriefSong "Even in Death".

** Heck, Music/{{Evanescence}} even borrowed that closing line, "People die, but real love is forever," from the first ''The Crow'' movie in the GriefSong "Even in Death".

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Completely averted. Eric is never condemned in-story for his acts of revenge, and in fact the entire premise of the story rests on [[UnfortunateImplications the troubling stipulation that Eric actually must kill the villains in order to rejoin Shelly in Heaven]]. Strangely enough, the 1994 movie was marketed as a horror film (perhaps due to its "supernatural" content and nihilistic palette, and also because it happens to take place around Halloween), but the "monster" of the piece is actually completely sympathetic, and he does not experience a FaceHeelTurn even in the midst of his bloodiest rampages.

** It is clear though that not one of the Killers feel any remorse and, as the rings in the pawn shop show, have done it many other times. And some deaths, such as T-Bird's, are played as being quite horrific.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Myca, who's fond of using stolen eyeballs in rituals, has her eyes pecked out by the crow when she tries to take its power.

* CreepyChild: Carrie in ''Curare'', the ghost of a raped and murdered little girl. Actually, to have suffered such a violent assault and death, she's quite chipper for a ghost, but when Joe finds her murderer, she quite calmly requests that Joe decaptitate the man. And give her the head.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Completely averted. Eric is never condemned in-story for his acts of revenge, and in fact the entire premise of the story rests on [[UnfortunateImplications the troubling stipulation that Eric actually must kill the villains in order to rejoin Shelly in Heaven]]. Strangely enough, the 1994 movie was marketed as a horror film (perhaps due to its "supernatural" content and nihilistic palette, and also because it happens to take place around Halloween), but the "monster" of the piece is actually completely sympathetic, and he does not experience a FaceHeelTurn even in the midst of his bloodiest rampages. Joe in ''Curare'' also qualifies, since his killing Carrie's murderer allows him to put the "one case that he couldn't solve" to bed.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Myca, who's fond of using stolen eyeballs in rituals, has her eyes pecked out by the crow when she tries to take its power. Harold in ''Curare'', a serial rapist and murderer of little girls, takes trophies from his victims(usually their shoes or panties). When Joe kills him, Carrie's ghost demands a trophy of her own: his head.]]

* LooksLikeCesare: Eric. That said, at least in O'Barr's colored still art, it's never consistent as to whether Eric looks normal but with the black face paint, has his face painted white, or his skin is deathly pale all over. Carrie in ''Curare'' is pale and has very small(relative to her size) similar black streaks on her face.

* RapeAsDrama: In both the comic and film, Shelly is gang-raped before she dies/is killed. In the film, Tin-tin even taunts Eric about this during their fight. In ''Curare'', the child Carrie was viciously raped(causing such trauma that the coroner says her internal organs ruptured and he can't even be sure if she was also sodomized) before being strangled to death.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Completely averted. Eric is never condemned in-story for his acts of revenge, and in fact the entire premise of the story rests on [[UnfortunateImplications the troubling stipulation that Eric actually must kill the villains in order to rejoin Shelly in Heaven]]. Strangely enough, the 1994 movie was marketed as a horror film (perhaps due to its "supernatural" content and nihilistic palette, and also because it happens to take place around Halloween), but the "monster" of the piece is actually completely sympathetic, and he does not experience a FaceHeelTurn even in the midst of his bloodiest rampages.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Myca, who's fond of using stolen eyeballs in rituals, has her eyes pecked out by the crow when she tries to take its power.]]

* LooksLikeCesare: Eric. That said, at least in O'Barr's colored still art, it's never consistent as to whether Eric looks normal but with the black face paint, has his face painted white, or his skin is deathly pale all over.

* RapeAsDrama: In both the comic and film, Shelly is gang-raped before she dies/is killed. In the film, Tin-tin even taunts Eric about this during their fight.

* LooksLikeCesare: Eric.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The protagonists could technically could be described as [[RevenantZombie Revenants]], spirits of vengeance driven to avenge their death and take revenge on those who did them harm during their mortal life.

* BackFromTheDead

* CrucifiedHeroShot: Eric.

* RapeAsDrama: In both the comic and film, Shelly is gang-raped before she dies/is killed.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill

* EyeScream: Top Dollar's sister/lover/advisor Myca has a vast collection of disembodied eyes in the movie. Which they ''eat''.
** Also, the interrogation of the tattoo shop owner in the second film.
*** Also a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

** Look at the picture from the comic above. When Eric was shot the first time, the ballistic shock from the bullet actually tore his face open, creating the cut across his nose and damaging his left eye enough to turn the iris white.
** Myca's eyes.

* RapeAsDrama: Poor Shelly.

[[quoteright:231:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_crow_7348.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:231:Love is forever.]]

* FollowTheLeader: Well, somewhat, anyway. The appearance of Eric Draven in the film was the inspiration for the gimmick change of {{professional wrestl|ing}}er Wrestling/{{Sting}} in 1997 from a happy-go-lucky, bleached-blonde uber-face to an enigmatic, trenchcoat-wearing, bat-wielding loner; allegedly, fellow wrestler Wrestling/ScottHall suggested the idea to him (which wouldn't have been surprising, as Hall was known to look to famous movies as inspirations for his in-ring gimmicks).[[note]]Hall's "Razor Ramon" persona was derived from ''Film/{{Scarface}}.''[[/note]]

-->-- ''Eric'', from the comic version

* RavensAndCrows

** This can be said for about ''all'' of the antagonists' deaths, mixed with DeathByIrony. In the first film, for example: Tin-Tin [[spoiler: [[KnifeNut is stabbed with his own knives]]]]. Funboy [[spoiler: is given a lethal injection of his drug of addiction, though given a more painless death in the comic.]] T-Bird, [[spoiler: [[StuffBlowingUp is incinerated by his own car full of explosives.]]]] And Skank [[TheBrute who has been taken so push of a pounding, especially from beatings and getting run over by cars,]] finally dies after a long fall from a several story building.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The protagonists could technically could be described as Revenants, spirits of vengeance driven to avenge their death and take revenge on those who did them harm during their mortal life.

* ''The Crow: Wicked Prayer'' (2005).

* FollowTheLeader: Well, somewhat, anyway. The appearance of Eric Draven in the film was the inspiration for the gimmick change of {{professional wrestl|ing}}er Wrestler/{{Sting}} in 1997 from a happy-go-lucky, bleached-blonde uber-face to an enigmatic, trenchcoat-wearing, bat-wielding loner; allegedly, fellow wrestler ScottHall suggested the idea to him (which wouldn't have been surprising, as Hall was known to look to famous movies as inspirations for his in-ring gimmicks).

For further information about the comic (and subsequent comics) and the film (and subsequent films), and tropes used therein, please go to the sub-pages for those works.

Please list tropes on the sub-pages for various works.

[[ComicBook/TheCrow The sub-page for the original comic and subsequent comic books can be viewed here]].

[[Film/TheCrow The sub-page for the film franchise can be viewed here]].

[[Literature/TheCrow The sub-page for the novels can be viewed here]].

[[Series/TheCrowStairwayToHeaven The sub-page for the television series can be viewed here]].

A franchise of comic books, films, novels and a television series based on a comic by James O'Barr that he wrote over several years but was first published in 1989. There is a basic formula - a protagonist who suffers wrongful death, usually along with one or more loved ones, comes back from the dead for a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and is guided by a spiritual entity in the form of a crow - but the finer details vary from text to text.

!! ''The Crow'' comic books include:

* ''The Crow'' (1999), Todd McFarlane (a 10-part "reboot" featuring the original character)

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!! The films in the ''Crow'' franchise to date are:

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!! Novels in ''The Crow'' franchise to date are:

''Series/TheCrowStairwayToHeaven'' also has its own sub-page.

A 1998 Canadian television series based on the concept -- ''The Crow: Stairway to Heaven'' -- lasted one season (22 episodes); while it garnered decent ratings, the show ended when Creator/{{Universal}} bought its production company, Creator/PolygramFilmedEntertainment. Universal eventually released the full series on DVD, [[http://www.hulu.com/the-crow-stairway-to-heaven Hulu]], and Netflix.

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!! ''The Crow'' franchise contains examples of the following tropes:

* ''The Crow: Salvation'' (2000).