Advance Review: A Mother’s Quest To Save Her Daughter Continues In ‘Crowbound’ #3

There is no power greater than a mother’s love of her children. When a child is threatened, a mother can perform extraordinary feats. It doesn’t hurt when the Scarecrow Queen’s power is coursing through her body.

Rose’s daughter Ava Lee has been taken from her in Crowbound. This third issue — and likely several future installments – focus on Rose’s quest to save the young girl. Why exactly the Factory Men have taken Ava Lee is murky, though even the best possible answers are terrifying. And so are the lengths that Rose will go to in order to save her.

Writer Jeff Lemire, a father himself, understands Rose’s drive. And he gives her some supernatural help in the form of the mysterious Scarecrow Queen. Lemire gives us a little of Rose’s backstory, including her first encounter with the Queen (terrifyingly brought to life by artist Dustin Nguyen).

We don’t see how that initial meeting played out, but we can guess that it wasn’t pleasant. And we have now seen the Queen come back multiple times to help Rose in impossible situations.

Lemire’s story still has us questioning nearly everything that is happening. But he and Nguyen keep the action moving to the point where we’re invested in the here and now and are willing to save the Q&A for later. It’s a sign of two veteran storytellers who understand their audience after years of working together on several projects.

As usual, Nguyen’s artwork is easy to follow, even when the situations themselves are vague. And his paintings include a welcome shift in color palette as the action moves to a coastline, giving more vibrancy to the back half of the issue. Is this a sign of cheerier things to come from Rose and Ava Lee? Don’t count on it anytime soon!

Crowbound #3 — written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, and lettered by Steve Wands — will be available on Wednesday in comic book stores and on digital platforms from Image Comics.