One of the more unique aspects of The Crow: Hauntis is the addition of poetic verses utilised as bookends applied in every segment. The Bookends themselves are a combination of an image and a verse, numbered 1.1 through to 3.2. Bookender, tWISTEd sPINe, gives us the low down on the bookending process.

My first introduction to Hauntis was this VERY short video Acid had thrown together. The name Hauntis hit the screen and vanished almost before you could read it. I watched it over and over and over again. I later told him that the movie was fuckin' cool, but maybe he could have the name on the screen just a little longer, it was hard to read and I had to keep replaying it until I finally caught it. I don't remember his exact response, but it can be summed up like, "Yeah, that's how I wanted it." I've been hooked on Hauntis ever since, and knew I had to be a part of it, no matter how small.

That's how Acid has created this thing, on pure creative instinct, and it shows through on every page. The whole "green" glow look of the book was something that he started with and clung to, and its perfect. So what does this have to do with the poetical bookends that I contribute to the beginning and end of each segment? Well, its all about the atmosphere that has been created. Anytime someone can take a 2D medium, and punch depth into it, give it a feel like Acid has done, it makes my job of writing supportive poetry that much easier. The thing about Hauntis, you don't forget. You see an image from the book, and you just will not forget it, that spooky green-grunge look and the black lines that etch the emotion of the main character, all that stays with you long after you read the pages. My poetry feeds on what has been created.

My PROCESS: People have asked me before, so I'll just lay it down here. When Acid finishes up a segment, he drops me a line, filled with random insults and cuss words, and somewhere at the bottom is a link to the goods. That's when I grin and know its time to paint some words. I will go through the entire segment once without writing anything down, just enjoy the scenery and story, the character interaction. I'm just a reader at this stage. The next time through is when I start taking note of key elements... parts that I will want to highlight in the poetry, and perhaps even taking down some lines of dialogue that are especially cool. I always like to have lines right from the book appear in the poetry, it's a wonderful way to tie it together and give the whole thing a sense of continuity and purpose. The final phase is pure adrenaline for me. Open up a fresh document, kick on some wicked loud NIN or Deftones and start letting the words hit the screen. After the initial free-flow of creative writing, I go back through and edit it all to hell, rearrange the line breaks and cut out the unneeded verbs that always pollute a first draft. I will usually let it sit for awhile after that, and by 'awhile' I mean a few days. Its always a good idea to sit on something before sending it off. Then, when you look at it again, fresh and separated from creating it, you may catch some things you did not before. Its better to do that than catch it when its up and published and you can't do a fuckin' thing to fix it.

So that's it. The long drawn out version of how I have written the poetical bookends for Hauntis. Hope there were some things of interest here, and go read the comic again...