Bless IDW. A publisher known for acquiring fan favorite film and TV properties and producing spinoff comics for them, IDW has given us some truly impressive tie-in books over the years. Among the various spinoffs they’ve produced are such titles as Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Orphan Black, Silent Hill, Transformers and The X-Files.

Starting in 2012, IDW begin publishing a line of books based on James O’Barr‘s cult comic book The Crow. Much like the Kitchen Sink Press Crow comics of the 90s, IDW‘s various Crow mini-series each focused on a different undead character looking for vengeance from beyond the grave, tapping into the film adaptation‘s mythology surrounding the titular bird’s penchant for bringing wronged people back to the land of the living to “put the wrong things right.”

In 2014, IDW placed The Crow into their first crossover featuring the character in The X-Files: Conspiracy. The multi-title tale, which brought together such other disparate properties as Ghostbusters, Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, featured an investigation by X-Files heroes Mulder and Scully which eventually led them into crossing paths with a Crow-resurrected policeman. Now, after last year‘s mini-series The Crow: Memento Mori, IDW is bringing the character into a brand new crossover, this time with Tim Seeley‘s killer of slashers character Cassie Hack in The Crow: Hack/Slash.

Boasting a script penned by Seeley and suitably dark, sleek artwork by Seeley and Jim Terry, the first issue of this crossover opens with a brutal double murder which introduces us to Angeles, a young woman who’s just been murdered alongside her lover Lilith and is next in line to be resurrected by the crow. Some time later, Cassie and her masked, hulking partner in crime Vlad arrive in San Francisco, investigating the gruesome killings of five Police Academy students who have had their eyes scooped out by their murderer. The two meet a young drug addict with some knowledge of the area and the recent murders, and take her in for the evening. When she wanders off to a nearby church to atone for some unnamed sin, the newly Crow-ified Angeles arrives and kills the woman in the most merciful way she could provide, vaguely referencing the role the woman played in the deaths of she and her partner.

Cassie and Vlad arrive and see the dead woman, then quickly size Angeles up as one of the undead slashers they’ve dealt with so many times in the past. A battle ensues amongst the three, which ends with Vlad knocked unconscious and Cassie hanging onto the ledge of the church roof for dear life. At the last moment, Cassie is rescued by an unexpected savior – another undead, crow-resurrected avenger, this one male (and looking more than a little like O’Barr’s Eric from the original Crow comic book). The issue ends with far more questions than answers, leaving one to hope that the remaining three issues of this mini-series will thoroughly explain the events of this initial issue while telling an entertaining tale along the way.

As a crossover between two tonally distinct properties, The Crow: Hack/Slash #1 is mostly a success. While the story is told almost entirely from Cassie and Vlad’s point of view, there is enough post-mortem angst and bloodthirsty vengeance on display with Angeles to make this feel like a true enough Crow tale. That said, the comic leans heavily into being more of a Hack/Slash story throughout, and it’s surprising to see just how comfortably Angeles fits into the mold of the usual slashers that Cassie and Vlad have to contend with.

Some neat touches are added to the Crow character here as well. Angeles appears to have an affliction dictated by her relationship with her crow, which finds her coughing up feathers when distressed (it isn’t nearly as silly on the page as it sounds here). In addition, Angeles employs a set of razor-sharp golden talons to attack her victims with, allowing her to better scoop out their eyes. The final fun touch in this introductory issue is the revelation that there are two Crows walking the same streets in this story. This writer might have hesitated to note that, given that it’s a last minute reveal, except that the issue displays the second Crow right on its cover, so…

Ultimately, this crossover comic starts strong and shows a lot of promise. It honors both of its properties, while finding an entertaining way to embroil them in the same tale. If you’re a fan of either O’Barr’s creation or Seeley’s killer of killers, hit your local comic shop ASAP and snag a copy before issue #2 hits on July 31st.