AUTHOR'S NOTE

'The Crow' was originally a graphic novel (or comic book) by James O'Barr. It was adapted into a film which was followed by two sequels. There have been comic and novel spin-offs and a TV series based on the first film. There is also plenty of 'Crow' fan fiction on the internet. The following quote from the original film sums up the 'Crow' mythos:

"People once believed that when someone dies a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back - to put the wrong things right."

In short, 'The Crow' is about vengeance. The protagonists of 'Crow' stories are characters able to return from death in order to right injustices done to themselves and to loved ones who shared their fate - by hunting down the perpetrators and making them pay in blood. I know, this sounds miles away from 'Les Miserables' which is all about redemption. However, although both 'Les Miserables' and 'The Crow' take us to worlds of suffering on an almost incomprehensible level, they carry the same basic message in slightly different ways: that love can be strong enough to outlast death and negate evil.

N.B. Mandatory disclaimer. We know where 'Les Miserables' came from. You now know where 'The Crow' came from too. Jehan Prouvaire's poem in Chapter 3 comes straight from Norman Denny's 1976 translation of the novel 'Les Miserables', as published by Puffin Classics.