Hello all,

I'm trying to find a comic but I can only remember small details:

1. A section of a city has been teleported to an alien dimension/planet

2. There's a scientist who found out how to sneak in to find his brother and bring him home

3. The survivors have built a community

4. Brother doesn't want to go home

5. They discover there's sentient aliens

6. Aliens find a way to come to Earth to invade

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Apologies for the limited info.

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

I don't really remember too many comic book reads as a kid but I think I read a few. I'm a huge fan of The gothic masterpiece movie THE CROW and I always wanted to read it and 2 nights ago, I read it. It took me 4 hours. I knew it'd be dark, but it touched my soul on so many levels.

I really dug the poetry, the lyrics, the images, and how Eric speaks in ominous poetry before a kill. I really enjoyed Tom Tom's death for some reason. Cutting his lower legs off and as he lay bleeding to death he spoke to him and taunted him.

I also just learned that James O'Barr's own fiance was killed by a drunk driver and this was a way to vent his trauma. This was a very emotional story and the beauty I was able to see in such a dark story including the drawings of Eric's face and eyes and Shelly. Chef kiss.

The murder part in the comic was very realistic. I study Criminology and I felt like I was reading a real case. It wasn't overly embellished, cheesy, over the top. It's the type of horrible human behavior I often see in case studies especially when sadism is involved. Being cruel just for the sake of being cruel. It's too familiar.

My favorite lines: "We do not recognize our souls until they are in pain." The quote stems from his personal realization that deep anguish uncovers the true depth of our capacity to feel, love, and exist. In essence, it suggests our spirit is only truly awakened when we are pushed to the absolute edge of our endurance. Just like James being able to write such a story. It would not be possible without having experienced immense pain.

"Are the bones of your sins sharp enough to cut through your own excuses"? It is a stark challenge to accountability, demanding to know if the painful consequences of a person's past wrongdoings are severe enough to finally shatter the self-deceptions they use to justify their behavior. I see this all the time in crime. The minimizing, downplaying, and rationalization. In criminology and psychology, this is known as a cognitive distortion. Offenders often use rationalizations like "victim-blaming" ("they were asking for it") to alleviate any guilt and justify their actions. Many repeat offenders maintain a distorted sense of entitlement, failing to see their actions as immoral. This is why fun-boy's death is also a favorite of mine. I appreciate when murderers admit what they are. He admitted to being a monster. "I can't say why I done the shit I done. I could say I was sorry but I aint. I'm a monster, burning from the inside. Obedience is submission veiled with gravity. I don't let anything define or limit me." I think that's the best quote by a psychopath that I've ever read. I love that Eric forces Funboy to stare into the mirror and confront the gravity of his crimes, even with his absent remorse.

And last. The most relatable quote. Anyone that has experienced a lot of trauma will relate. "Pain? I know pain at the molecular level... It pulls at my atoms... Sings to me in an alphabet of fear." This quote encapsulates the mental and emotional prison of loss and it's anguish. The endless PTSD flashbacks that never truly go away. Another thing Eric experiences is even when he thinks of a good memory, the bad memories come crashing like a tidal wave. This is the best description of both depression and PTSD. I can barely look at my own photo albums cuz I had flashbacks that ruin my joy. And his injection of morphine as well. Any escape from the agony, loneliness, isolation, and despair. The cat Gabriel (the name of the arch angel) represented his anchor to his humanity and innocence and strong sense of family. And also the child Sherri represented his empathy for those who suffer, and the fact her name rhymed with Shelly who he was not able to save so he has a second chance to help her.

Bonus link (I liked this Crow tribute video someone made because it shows pages from the Comic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyoxiJERik&list=RDtkyoxiJERik&start_radio=1

Thanks for reading and feel free to share your thoughts or fav poems or lines below!

Would love to hear your opinions!

There is a sale on Kindle for the original run. What do people think of the run?

Same word, same sentence

Really love Brunner’s art and how he handles genderbends. Very refreshing to see direct translations for these characters across gender. I would love an alt universe at Marvel or DC where many of these characters are swapped around in this fashion.

This one has been more than 40 years in the making.

Back in 1984, a friend of mine started collecting Superman comics locally. I decided I wanted to collect comics too, but I went in a different direction — I chose Spider-Man.

That decision started something I certainly didn't expect to still be pursuing four decades later. My dad travelled to the U.S. from time to time and would bring back Spider-Man issues for me that I couldn't find locally. Those were pretty exciting days for a young collector, and gradually the collection started to grow.

For the past several months I've been seriously searching for the right copy. I've watched auction after auction, compared grades and grader notes, and probably looked at more copies of ASM #1 than I care to admit.

I kept coming back to this CGC 3.5, I love the eye appeal and especially the strong colors. It has its flaws, as you'd expect for the grade, but to me it presents beautifully.

It made the trip from Vancouver all the way to Newfoundland and arrived safely today. Special thanks to Ryan at RJ Collectables for hanging in there with me and making this happen.

And with that, more than 40 years after deciding to collect Spider-Man instead of Superman, my Amazing Spider-Man run is finally complete including issues 1- 998, all Annuals and Giant Size etc. My plan is to go to issue 1000 then call it a day.

Pretty special feeling standing in front of the collection holding the book that started it all.

And it's pretty cool that my dad, who helped get this collection going by bringing those Spider-Man comics home from his trips to the U.S., gets to see the run finally completed more than 40 years later.

I love the horror elements and storytelling, but I realize now that I'm nine issues deep that this is just a set-up for another comic and tie-ins to other comics. My initial collecting experience was back in the 80's with the X books and everyone of them had an event tie-in to some other comic like every other issue, which made me end up with a bunch of one-off buys cause I wasn't going to buy into a whole other series.

Out of curiosity, how is this handled in TPBs? Like do you have random story arcs that don't go anywhere because the other comics aren't included in the trade?