COMIC BOOK REVIEW: The Crow: Memento Mori #3 (Go To The Head Of The Class)

David sets off on a crusade to punish the mastermind responsible for the attack that killed him and Sarah, but the violent showdown will raise more questions than it lays to rest. The Crow will not stop until it has exacted its vengeance.

THE CROW: MEMENTO MORI #3
Writer: Roberto Recchioni
Artist: Werther Dell’edera
Colors: Giovanna Niro
Letters: Giovanni Marinovich
ALSO: A MURDER OF CROWS
Writer: Daniel De Filippis
Artist: Emanuele Ercolani
Letters: Giovanni Marinovich
Publisher: IDW Comics

What You Need to Know:

David Amadio has delivered a bloody retribution to the three terrorists of the drive-by attack that took his life and that of his fellow congregation. Finding and killing the perpetrators, hiding in a derelict building in Rome, he goes on to survive a desperate attempt by the last terrorist to take him out with a bomb strapped to himself. As the loss of his love Sarah and his previous life plays heavily on his mind, he remembers the teachings of Father Raphael, the priest who tutored him and Sarah in their religious instruction and he has decided to continue his quest by seeking out the mastermind who plotted the deaths of those that David is on a path to avenge.

What You’ll Find Out:

Opening with the image of a caveman looking at pictograms on a cave wall and the words of the 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and his work “The World as Will and Representation” David quotes the philosopher. This passage underpins David’s belief in his righteous crusade and his reason for his continued existence. Meanwhile, he travels on a crowded bus into the city and is spotted by an elderly lady, who inquires after him as she seems worried about his appearance. David replies cryptically that he’s never felt more alive…and leaves the bus

He walks with deliberation and purpose, as he goes on to muse that those he has already dispatched were nothing but pawns. He must now cut off the head of the organization and he plans to exact an even more bloody revenge on this man. Arriving at his destination he is stopped by a man at the door and begins to quote Revelations aloud, much to the chagrin of the man who stops him. As he grins maniacally David is pushed to the ground and he continues to quote scripture. Mistaking him for a drug addict the man continues to attack him but before he can kick him David goes on the offensive.

Breaking the doorkeeper’s ankle he walks calmly into the building and systematically dispenses with more of the occupants on his path to the mysterious leader as they come to see what all the noise is about, speaking more lines of Revelations as he goes. When one of the men is visibly shaken by his lack of reaction to being stabbed David answers with placid calmness…

He calmly strides down the corridor through a wave of henchmen as they attempt to stop him, cutting them down one by one. He cuts a bloody swathe through the gathered heavies in the way we know from many messengers of the Crow we have seen before.

Throwing an axe at a retreating man he begins to deliver the most memorable lines from the Book of Revelations, those that make mention of the Four Horsemen. Finally one shoots him with a gun and David reaches the part in his recitation that contains the Horseman who strikes the most fear into the hearts of men.

Noticing the silence around him David realizes there are no more distractions and heads up the stairs, his goal in sight. As he opens the door to meet the man who caused his death David seems unsurprised to see a very familiar face. That of Father Raphael, kneeling prone in prayer and having clearly flagellated his own back in religious self-discipline. Father Raphael however, is surprised and asks how it is possible that David is there. David smiles and replies…

Another short unconnected tale tells the story of a little girl ‘tricked’ into the home of a predatory man, before revealing herself to be a predator of predators, in the form of retribution for the deaths of countless children before her, before setting the ghost children free and telling her Murder of Crows that there is more to do.

What Just Happened?

The second story is more disturbing it seems this issue than the lead tale, as it deals with the horrific nature of a child killer. Though the seemingly innocent girl is at first drawn into his web, it is soon apparent that she is no victim. The tale is short and all too bitter as the ghost children are set free after she deals with the killer. The almost monochrome color palette does perfect justice to the setting and the subject matter. Daniel De Filippis tells a chilling tale of the loss of innocence and childhood, which somehow at the same time also manages to be reassuring, coupled with some bleak and menacing art by Emanuele Ercolani that evokes feelings of poetic justice in the nature of retribution.

The same goes for the prime story. Artist Werther Dell’edera is served well by the colors of Giovanna Niro here. And Roberto Recchioni crafts a skillful tale with little prose but has so much meaning. The use of quotes from Arthur Schopenhauer’s 1818 “The World as Will and Representation” is inspired. The central theme of the philosophical text is that of metaphysical, transcendental idealism and heavily follows the beliefs of Plato and Indian philosophy in which all the world is representational of a single Will and individual wills are simply phenomena. All of which heavily influences David’s reasons for his quest for revenge. Or so he believes. This coupled with his religious beliefs are simply the driving force keeping his mind focussed while the true motivation is the Crows path of deliverance. The path of destruction David wages is in keeping with true Crow mythos and as he lays waste to the villain’s henchmen we know what is to come.

Or do we? All until the bitter end and the revelation of the true nemesis and reason for the state David finds himself in. Last issue I truly believed David would dispense with the main villain AND Father Raphael as a side mission of personal vendetta based on his past dealings with the man. I did NOT anticipate the two would be the same person. David, however, seems to have known from the start.

Although not a lot of dialogue is spoken other than biblical and theological text, the narrative underpins the unfolding drama and the motives of the lead character, perhaps even the antithesis of the dark hero in the person of Father Raphael. Clearly in his zealous fervor to deliver his own brand of justice the mad priest has come upon the divine justice he so richly deserves.

Rating: 9.5/10

Final Thought: With the finale to come will Raphael feel he deserves such retribution or will he deny David’s will in the belief that he is righteous and David is an abomination of his God?