Today would have been the 49th birthday of Brandon Lee, martial artist and actor best remembered for being the lead role in The Crow, a film which was marked with tragedy when Lee died of an accidental gunshot wound during filming. Lee was also the son of the legendary monarch of the martial arts, Bruce Lee.

Born on February 1, 1965 in Oakland, CA, Brandon Bruce Lee’s life has been wrapped in a sort of shrouded mysterious enigma ever since his fateful death back on March 31, 1993. Like his father, Brandon Lee died young, under unorthodox circumstances and was also on the precipice of super stardom as an actor and practitioner of the martial arts. That unfortunately never got attained for him and in the wake of his death, Brandon Lee didn’t become the kind of iconic almost mythical figure that his father became in the wake of his passing in 1973, but instead, the younger Lee became a sort of footnote to the whole Hollywood pool of unfortunate, work-related deaths. But make no mistake, Lee was on a path to put himself as a successor to some of the empire his father had built; films like Showdown in Little Tokyo and Rapid Fire were starting to put Lee in the driver’s seat as an action star of these kind of purposely bombastically cinema potboilers, where dialogue and narrative took a back seat to the stunning visuals of the martial arts on screen, and he seemed poised to become the next action star, like a Van Damme or Steven Seagal.

IDW Publishing has done a fine job since taking over the license for James O’Barr’s The Crow, with a bevy of new series based on the classic property. IDW has announced their next series for the goth spirit of vengeance with The Crow: Pestilence coming in 2014. The miniseries will be written by novelist Frank Bill (Donnybrook), and this will mark his first comic work. Art on the series will be provided by Drew Moss (The Colonized), with covers coming from The Crow creator O’Barr.

Pestilence takes the Crow down to Juarez, Mexico for another round of revenge, and that’s about all we know so far. We can assume some tragic figure is going to die tragically and then come back to life and kill a bunch of people as is par for the course with The Crow.

The folks over at Shock Till You Drop have debuted a Comic-Con exclusive teaser poster for Javier Gutierrez‘s reboot of Alex Proyas’ 1994 film The Crow. The poster features the art of James O’Barr, creator of 1989’s The Crow comic book.

Check out the poster here below.

As the poster declares, The Crow will begin shooting in 2014.

During the convention, STYD had a chance to speak to Gutierrez, who is directing the reboot for Relativity, and O’Barr, who reportedly recently came onto the project as a creative consultant. O’Barr’s involvement is definitely a good sign, considering how long the project has been in development hell. (You can look back in our archives to see how many directors, writers, and studios its been through already, as well as lawsuits and possible lead actors).

The Crow: Curare #1
Written by James O’Barr
Illustrated by Antoine Dodé
Colored by Antoine Dodé
Lettered by Shawn Lee
IDW Publishing
Release Date: June 12, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Crow creator James O’Barr makes a much-celebrated return to his beloved character with his latest paranormal crime drama The Crow: Curare #1 from IDW Publishing.

Thanks to the strength of the O’Barr’s writing and his tendency to NOT pull punches, dedicated fans of the The Crow tales will feel like they’ve been reunited with an old friend while readers new to the work will probably wonder if they’ve stumbled into a late-night cable series instead of a comic book.

O’Barr continues to deliver a surreal mix of plausible real-life horrors with supernatural vigilante justice in this launch. Down-on-his-luck detective Joe Salk is haunted, both figuratively and literally, by a case involving the brutal murder of a young girl. He becomes so consumed with trying to find justice for a victim that reminds him of his own children that he eventually causes his marriage and family life to crumble.

The Crow: Skinning The Wolves
Trade Paperback
The Crow created by James O’Barr
Story and Breakdown by James O’Barr
Story and Art by Jim Terry
Colors by Tom Ziuko
Color Assist by Jim Terry
Cover by James O’Barr
IDW Publishing
Release Date: June 5, 2013
Cover Price: $17.99

Every single one of us has felt the need for revenge at some time or another. What if that burning anger in your heart was enough to bring you back from the dead to exact your vengeance? Would you embrace it and the power that comes with it? The Crow: Skinning The Wolves is all about vengeance and justice, though it does lean a lot heavier towards vengeance more often in this story. Not that justice isn’t served. No, justice is served up steaming hot in the dead of winter, in a very sudden manner. But then, The Crow has always been about turning the tables on those that commit atrocities and embrace evil.

Ever since I first read the original story of The Crow by James O’Barr, I have been fascinated by the concept of a supernatural being that exists to deliver justice and bring a sense of peace to those who were wronged in life. With a familiar in the guise of a crow, these restless spirits are housed once again in the bodies they once inhabited. The crow leads them to their prey and grants them their un-life until they have completed their tasks that will allow them to find peace.