REINTERPRITATION OF THE ROMANIC HERO IN THE GRAPHIC NOVEL “THE CROW” BY JAMES O'BARR

Abstract

The article examines the comic book series “The Crow” by the American comics artist J. O’Barr, which was later compiled into a graphic novel. The aim of the study was to analyze the protagonist of the novel through the lens of Romanticism and the characteristic features of the Romantic hero, including exceptionality, rebellion, loneliness, alienation from society, the opposition of the mundane and the fantastic, the struggle between good and evil, among others, and thus to determine how the Romantic hero is reinterpreted in contemporary literature, particularly in the graphic novel. It is concluded that the protagonist of the graphic novel “The Crow” embodies many traits of the Romantic hero, which are combined with those of the Romantic villain. The central role of night as a symbol of death and a gateway to the fantastic, which also continues the ideas of Romanticism, is demonstrated, along with the role of music and painting as means capable of expressing what is inaccessible to language, and the significance of the image of the crow as a mediator between life and death. The factors identified, together with a number of parallels with the works of canonical Romantic authors, lead to the conclusion that “The Crow” develops and reinterprets the Romantic tradition, and that its protagonist can be regarded as a Romantic antihero, since he is neither fully a Romantic hero nor entirely a Romantic villain.