It’s tough when you inherit property you don’t want. It’s worse when there are terrible memories and scary monsters associated with that property. Anders Fager and Peter Bergting team up to create a unique graphic novel called “The Crows†which delves into this topic along with psychological horror.
Kim returns to her grandparents’ house in a rural Swedish village after her grandma dies. However, there are some creepy things going on around the house such as a large murder of crows flying around, a ton of post-it notes all over the walls and giant crow monsters that haunt Kim while she’s there.
The writing manages to keep the reader in suspense from beginning to end. It does the job of making the reader want to know exactly what is going on and what went on in Kim’s time in this house. However, Kim doesn’t seem like she’s too much bothered by anything going on. Yes, she is complaining about what happened with her family but the way she comes off seems like she should be a lot more bothered by it. It seems like she hates her family more than anything. The story is still compelling and the ending does give off some closure to all that has happened.
This is called a graphic novel, but it is not drawn like one. There are no panels except for one page and speech bubbles only appear occasionally. The majority of the comic is one large drawing, usually taking up two pages, with narration written over it. That doesn’t make it any more enjoyable than if it was written in the traditional sense. The artwork is steel super creepy with the majority of the artwork being of backgrounds than actual people and crows. The crow monsters themselves are creepy which is a plus. The humans, when there any, look fine but are overshadowed by everything else.
Despite minor problems with the story and art, “The Crows†offers writing that creates tension and artwork that brings out the creepiness of everything going on in the story. The ending may disappoint some but once you think about it makes sense and is deep in a way.
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