1999 began with a glimmer of hope for Crow Fans all over the world. Though the Kitchen Sink comics were cancelled, Image Comics had picked up the rights and were running along with a new comic project, Stairway to Heaven was running smoothly and Salvation looked to be on screens in October 31^st. So, where did it all go wrong? Did The Crow expand too fast for an audience that couldn’t take the impact, or are people just not interested as they once were? Here, we begin the journey into the past of The Crow...

By 1996, the hype for the first movie was slowly beginning to simmer, as the casual fans made way for the true, hard-core fans that we see today. Yet City of Angels failed to touch the hearts of the hard-core fans it was supposed to. With early reported disappointment from the producers and a negative fan reaction, The Crow was not the powerful franchise it once was, but still remained a vast audience of loyal viewers of the comics, first film and many Brandon Lee fans who felt that he was The Crow. The Crow can’t succeed with the competition it received from the fans wanting a figure like Brandon back in the title role, yet the fate of The Crow didn’t lie just with City of Angels. The comics at the time were published by a small company called ‘Kitchen Sink’ who produced mini-series by mini-series of The Crow, each unique in their own way, and fans found a true creative outlet for The Crow, rather than falling to the hype of City of Angels. Things were good, City of Angels still made good money, the comics sold well, merchandise was better than ever and the producers started talking of new projects for a third movie, such as a female Crow, or even a Crow series in history. The producers had earlier been asked to do a series based on the first movie, and felt that it would be a wrong thing to do, but this tone was soon lightened in early 1997. 

1997 saw things go smoothly for The Crow. There were no major upsets and the comics were selling fine. Though a musician who just returned from tour began writing a third Crow film, with his own brand of horror. This man was Rob Zombie. His story of a boy and his parents being killed by a Satanic priest in a wasteland future won the hearts of producers, but some thought otherwise. The movie, titled ‘The Crow: World of Gods and Monsters’ (later called ‘The Crow: 2037) touted a nameless bounty hunter Crow, wandering into town and eventually climaxing with a war between heaven and hell. 1998 put and end to that. In April 1998, the writer of the ‘Millennium’ and ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ writer Chip Johannessen wrote a script (from a story by co-producer Matt Greenberg) which turned the favour of the Crow producers and just when Rob Zombie was scouting for locations in Prague for 2037, the producers slit the throat of 2037. (They tried to kick Zombie into the project ‘Black Rider X,’ which was the same script, but using different names. Zombie has stated that won’t happen.)

"He (Rob Zombie) said that the whole thing was "a disaster"

And a small television series named The Crow: Stairway to Heaven began leaking teaser posters and pictures onto the Internet with a mixed fan reaction. Was Mark Dacascos going to be just a Brandon Lee wannabe? Was the series going to work? Thankfully, the preview screenings of the series met with a healthy fan reaction, mostly saying it was a lot like the ‘X-Files.’ The series sprung into televisions and the show built itself a massive fan base, and the ratings were looking good for the show. Producers were finally happy, they had a successful show, a soon to be made movie and the comics weren’t doing too badly.