Web sites, magazines and Crow Fans across the world touted 1999 as ‘The Year of The Crow,’ but 1999 wasn’t the bed of roses it was made out to be. Certainly, things have happened for the benefit of Crow Fans, Salvation finally came through and the franchise has had another chance to live and breathe again. However, 1999 became a year in which The Crow was cancelled in nearly every medium. So begins, 1999…

The December of 1998 saw the end of Kitchen Sink comics, where projects that were so close to being published never made it. Crow Fans were about to delight to the uncovered Crow pages of the original comics in one hardcover and a new beginning was set for Kitchen Sink. The Crow, by Kitchen Sink, never saw the light of 1999, as these projects were shelved. But more about them tomorrow. Things weren’t totally wrong, some Fans cringed and some fans enjoyed the idea of Image comics picking up the rights to The Crow and being able to publish comics and develop action figures. Die-hard fans felt that Todd McFarlane (the man who picked up the Crow rights for his company) would publicise The Crow just for his commercial benefit, like the Spawn comics under his name. This would almost ring true later in 1999. Rumours swirled about the release of the new comics, most claimed the comics were based on the hit television show ‘The Crow: Stairway to Heaven,’ but the comics focused on a merging of the Eric Draven Crow and the movie version. Fans took to the series, the first issue had two variant covers which sold out in the space of a day. The dark colouring and familiar story saw fans enjoying the run, though there was a sales decrease. The comic began to lose the interest of the fans at large and Todd McFarlane’s ‘Goth loving’ phase was over, as low sales and disinterest by Todd himself saw the demise of the title in November. Todd axed the comics just after the San Diego Comic Con.

Back to January, and Stairway to Heaven grew a Crow fan base large enough to match that of the movies. And what killed off this series? On June 3^rd, Universal pulled the plug on Stairway to Heaven, people claiming that on April 20^th, when two students shot their way through their school in Colorado, Universal began to pluck the more violent shows out of their slate. Other rumours were of financial difficulties, but what ever you believe, the decision was made from a higher source than the producers of the show.

"This is the post I have never wanted to write. I was told this morning that Universal has decided not to continue the series.

I'm sure it boils down to financial issues, not creative ones." – Bryce Zabel

Incidentally, at the San Diego comic con, producer Ed Pressman told audiences that he was trying to buy the rights back from Universal and start again with other backers. But would this work? The actors were gone and so were the sets. Bryce Zabel shot down the rumours claiming he hadn’t heard anything of this. Possibly, this rumour can be stored with the ‘female Crow’ and ‘Crow through history’ ideas. Time will tell.

Two down, one to go. Once again, in January, reports flew in of a director and actors for the new movie, which was beginning to shoot only one month away! Fan reaction around the world (and until this, there hadn’t been much communication through web sites or magazines) buzzed, who was Eric Mabius? Many hired out his old movies to take a look at the new Crow, but most people still ask the same question they do today – ‘when is Rob Zombie’s 2037 coming out?’ People hung onto their seats for a October 31^st 1999 release, but this was not to be. Salvation was pushed back further and further, despite the movie being finished in mid year. Even today the movie is being pushed back. James O’Barr has claimed he loves the movie and preview audiences seemed to enjoy it. But all we regular Crow Fans can do is wait.