James O'Barr (born January 1, 1960) is an American graphic artist, best known as the creator of the comic book series The Crow.
Early life
O'Barr, an orphan, was raised in the foster care system. He studied Renaissance sculpture, live models and photographic still lifes.
Career
In 1978, O'Barr's fiancée, Beverly, was killed by a drunk driver, and he enlisted in the Marines in an effort to cope with the loss. He was stationed in Germany and illustrated combat manuals for the military. While living in Berlin in 1981, O'Barr began work on The Crow as a means of dealing with his personal tragedy. O'Barr was further inspired by a Detroit newspaper account of the murder of a young couple over a $20 engagement ring. After his discharge from the Marines, O'Barr continued his painting and illustration as well as doing various odd jobs, including working for a Detroit body shop. The Crow sat on a shelf for seven years, but at last someone wanted to publish it: Gary Reed of Caliber Press. In The Crow, the protagonist and his fiancée are murdered by a gang of criminals. He then returns from the dead to hunt their killers.
O'Barr's own hope that his project would result in a personal catharsis went unfulfilled, he told an interviewer in 1994, saying, "[A]s I drew each page, it made me more self-destructive, if anything....There is pure anger on each page". The Crow has sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide.
In the 1990s O'Barr was affiliated with the experimental metal band Trust Obey, which was signed briefly to Trent Reznor's Nothing label before the band was dropped. Trust Obey released the album Fear and Bullets: Music to Accompany The Crow in 1993. The album was packaged with a special edition of The Crow graphic novel.
The Crow was adapted into a successful film of the same name in 1994, but it resulted in further tragedy. Brandon Lee, who played the main character, was accidentally shot and killed during filming, survived by his then-fiancée Eliza Hutton. O’Barr has been named as a consultant on the reboot.
After the success of the 1994 movie The Crow, O'Barr began planning a post-apocalyptic graphic novel series entitled Gothik. The series was based on The Wizard of Oz and featured "Jonny Z" from his short story "Frame 137" as the main character.
In January 2013 Motionworks Entertainment released O'Barr's western comic, Sundown, which served as their debut motion comic. It is available on iPhone and iPad.
In November 2014, O'Barr appeared at the Wizard World Tulsa Comic Con and admitted that he is helping write the script for the new reboot of The Crow, along with screenwriter Cliff Dorfman.
Awards
O'Barr was the second American to be awarded the "Storyteller Award" by the International Comic Festival held annually in Angoulême, France.
Personal life
As of the mid-2000s, O'Barr resides in Dallas with his daughter.
Bibliography
References
External links
- James O'Barr at the Internet Movie Database
- James O'Barr at ComicBookDB.com
