James O'Barr

LOCATION: Booth 1321

James O’Barr is the award-winning creator of The Crow, and writer of two hit series currently from IDW Publishing, entitled Curare and Skinning the Wolves.

He likes to lament that he was born in a trailer in Detroit just in time to see Marilyn Monroe and John Kennedy die, but claims no responsibility for either. He spent his first seven years in an orphanage and foster care where he spent most of his time drawing. When he was adopted he brought along his crayons and has been using them ever since.

While stationed in Berlin, in the late 70’s he created The Crow as an attempt to deal with the death of his fiancé at the hands of a drunk driver. It took nearly ten years to finish and no publisher was interested in it (“too gloomy, too confusing..”) until, on a whim, Caliber published the first issue in 1989. It is currently the best-selling independent black-and-white graphic novel of all time at over one million copies sold.

In 1993 his book was adapted into the cult film of the same name starring Brandon Lee. He would like you to know that nearly all of the money made from the film was donated to children’s charities and he had nothing to do with the subsequent 3 sequels or TV show, but he is currently a consultant on the new Crow movie that went into production in 2014.

He has worked for every major publisher. In Italy,1995, he won the Academy Award of Comics, the Yellow Kid award for best storyteller.

Recently returned from a record-breaking signing tour for the Italian Edition of The Crow, his most recent book is a the new sketchbook from Eva Ink Publishing James O’Barr: Uncoffined.

Creator of “The Crow,” James O’Barr’s newest book, The Crow: Curare, is one of the most well reviewed new books of 2013, along with his writing on The Crow: Skinning the Wolves, from IDW. The recent release of the original “Crow” graphic novel in Italy this year, broke sales records for the publisher during his country-spanning Italian tour with capacity only crowds in Sicily, Naples, Rome, Bologna and Milan.

While in the US, new generations of Crow fans ensure that the graphic novel is still one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, and has never gone out of print. O’Barr won the Yellow Kid Award (pretty much the Academy Award in comics) in 1995 for Best Storyteller.

James is also, much to the relief of fans, the consultant on the upcoming “The Crow” movie to start filming in 2014, starring Luke Evans in the title role. His new (and first ever) sketchbook “James O’Barr: Uncoffined” is jumping off the shelves and may only be available soon at his convention signings. Q and A’s with James are sought after world-wide, most recently in the Middle East, Chile, Peru, and venues all over the United States.