By d. emerson eddy — I firmly believe that Piotr Kowalski should be much more well known an artist. His work is stunning, mixing unique character design, a distinctive use of hatching, swirls, and solids for shadow, a frenetic scratchy line for outlines, and an interesting level of detail. His style is like a blend of Guy Davis and Jordi Bernet into one that is absolutely perfect for horror and the weird. It shines through in works that run the gamut from body horror (Come Into Me) to the cold, dark desolation of snowy vampires (the recent retelling of 30 Days of Night). Kowalski's art is a joy in any genre, though one work where I think he really knocked it out the park is Bloodborne – Volume Three: A Song of Crows with Aleš Kot, Brad Simpson, Aditya Bidikar, and Jim Campbell.

Set in the world of the video game, A Song of Crows follows Eileen the Crow, an NPC in Bloodborne, as she attempts to hunt a Hunter who has fallen and become blood drunk, wantonly leaving a trail of the dead. Maybe? The story delves deep into existential horror and metaphysical interpretations of events that often times we're not entirely sure what's going on. Time is repeating. Eileen is maybe hunting someone who died when she was a kid. It's very...scattered. Like a nightmare.

From the beginning of the series, Kot and Kowalski have engendered a story that works in further elaborations on the ludonarrative explanations for things like respawning in game, adding to the hallucinatory elements of the first two arcs, but it's with this arc that the boundaries of madness are pushed further and we see the possible effects of a life of death and rebirth on the psyche of the former hunter.

It allows and encourages a deep emphasis on the artwork from Kowalski and Brad Simpson, as the visuals here take an even greater load than before in carrying the weight of the story, rising to a chapter that is almost completely silent. Time is out of joint, reality is crumbling, so we get sequences repeating, sequences potentially out of order, and a bleed through of differing times and the monsters of the Bloodborne world broken down in fairly impressive nine (and more) panel grids. Simpson's colors raising the otherworldliness to another level with an emphasis on cool blues and greys, giving an atmosphere overall of a corpse.

I don't believe that there's a single line of dialogue through the arc, with Kot instead choosing to go internal into Eileen the Crow's thoughts, leading to rather disjointed narration, leaving questions about her mental state and the overall trustworthiness of the experience. The text in these narration boxes from Aditya Bidikar (with Jim Campbell in the first chapter) done in a cursive script that kind of slows you down further. (The 'r's kind of look like 'n's. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it makes you wonder if you read things right).

Although I do think that you'll get more out of the series if you've played the video game, you don't really have to know anything about it to enjoy the comic. The arcs themselves are also completely standalone, so it's no problem jumping into any of the collections. Bloodborne – Volume Three: A Song of Crows by Kot, Kowalski, Simpson, Bidikar, and Campbell feels like it's supposed to catch you off guard and keep you unsteady through the narrative. Confusion and uncertainty add to the horror and encourage you to pay attention to the artwork and to reward readers who take the time to read it again, much like doing multiple playthroughs of a video game.

Bloodborne, Volume Three - A Song of Crows

Bloodborne, Volume Three - A Song of Crows
Writer: Aleš Kot
Artist: Piotr Kowalski 
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterers: Aditya Bidikar & Jim Campbell
Publisher: Titan Comics
Discover the story of Eileen the Crow in the continuing series spinning out of Fromsoftware/Hidetaka Miyazaki’s critically acclaimed Bloodborne videogame.
The City of Yarnham is buried in snow.
Eileen the Crow buries the Hunters. But one eludes her. Poisoned and overcome with beastly senses, he prowls Yarnham causing misery and havoc. Meanwhile the bodies mount, reality shakes, and strange things are amiss in Byrgenwerth. On the hunt for the Hunter, Eileen struggles with her own sanity and the disturbing change that a glimpse beyond reality brings.
Blood and death pervade Yarnham and those who travel in its wake. Follow the quest of Eileen as she looks to uncover the truth of the city, and her inner turmoil.
Release Date: August 21, 2019
Price: $11.99
More Info: Bloodborne, Volume Three - A Song of Crows

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.