Crowbound #3: Little Girls Lost

Ava Lee is afraid and alone. Having been taken away from her mother without warning, her fate is unknown and her life is now in constant danger. As Rose desperately tries to close the distance, the memories of the Scarecrow Queen continue to force themselves to the surface.

This newest issue of Crowbound helps drive home its themes of abuse and violence. More specifically how they affect everyone no matter how old or young they are. It links mother and daughter, but more importantly humanity as well. Abuse of power and how fear can turn people into monsters. This is not a happy story about a hopeful world. Things are grim and it will be trying to see if our mother/daughter pair will make it out alive.

Jeff Lemire gets a bit more violent in this issue, with a depiction of a child being drowned that might be triggering for some. This is all seen through the eyes of Ava, who takes a majority of the focus in this issue. That’s good because it starts to set her on the road of being an actual character instead of the token “child who needs to be saved.” She has the same stubbornness as her mother, but with a childlike wonder that will no doubt be tested throughout the rest of the story.

Dustin Nguyen’s art in this issue can be alarming for those not used to him drawing these type of stories, but it matches the brutality of Lemire’s script perfectly. There are graphic depictions of death here that pull you in, with splashes of blood to help round it all out. Rose’s flashback is also particularly haunting as we see what happened to her grandmother when she was a little girl. There is also the ever-present Scarecrow Queen that looms over both Rose and the star.