When I was a younger lad and first getting into “adult” comic books, I read a little book called Preacher by some duo I’d never heard of. After reading it, the name Garth Ennis is one that I consistently trust to deliver disturbing, cringer worthy, and often polarizing story telling. Heck, I’ve seen articles where people refuse to read things by him anymore because it just gets to be too much. Well, for those uneasy with Ennis steadfast mantra of delivering some of the creepiest and, pardon the language, but most frakked up books available on the market., then stay away from Crossed – this one’s a doozy.
Crossed is a zombie story without actually be a zombie story. It fits in the same vein as a story like 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead, but only to the extent that there are deranged beings created by an unknown infection. Instead of being zombies though, these creatures are basically human. If you are infected by the Crossed plague, you basically resort to an insane primal being. Your instincts devolve, your need to shtup everything that moves in grotesque ways becomes the most prevalent, and you are not above extreme violence and cannibalism – even to those that have become like you. Where it came from? Nobody knows. But you don’t want to be near anyone who has been infected, or it’s already over.
The story follows 5 survivors of the initial outbreak as they try to adapt and survive in this new post-apocalyptic environment. Follow me beyond the cut to find out some of my thoughts Crossed, by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows. As a note, mild spoilers are discussed. Nothing that would ultimately ruin the overall story, but you should be warned regardless.
To say the story is deranged, violent, and horrifying is to put it lightly. As you can probably surmise for those that have read Garth Ennis’ other works, such as Preacher and the Boys, he does not shy away from some of the more extreme and graphic aspects of the story. For example, one of the recurring villains is a Crossed character named Horsecock. Why? Because he carries one around and beats people to death with it. There’s also a very graphic splash page rape scene. To be honest, after Preacher I’m not really shocked in the “oh my God, I can’t believe he wrote this” way, but I still get a bit wide eyed and shocked at moments like this.
The obvious depravity aside, Crossed is pretty great. The fact that it is a limited story like this helps it stay focused (and I don’t think I could see an on-going like this, that’d be too evil!) and the story flow is fantastic. Garth Ennis is a great story teller, sick and twisted nature and all. The characters are very endearing and it’s easy to get attached to the lead characters. It’s obvious showing of a good story teller when he can torture a character, drag them down into the dirt, and we as the reader feel the pain – especially in just 9.5 issues. That’s the case with Crossed. There are a lot of incredibly dark moments in this story, and I can see people being put off by it’s nature, but I really enjoyed even the darkest of moments. There is a lot of devastation to be had, but also retribution, and I find that the last issue really ties everything together as well as sets an oddly optimistic tone.
When you get down to it, though, Crossed is obviously a reflection on us. This is of course made painfully clear by the last issue, which features the juxtaposition of a final monologue and shots of death and people being killed. In a way, Ennis’ story is about how, in all actuality, the monsters of Crossed are horrifying but only in the way that now everyone is a Crossed. The monsters of Crossed do exist today, and one of the coolest things you can get out of a horror or science fiction story is a reflection of society. Crossed does just that.
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Of course, the ultimate hero of Crossed is Jacen Burrows. I’m familiar with his work based on the other Avatar books that I’ve read, but Burrows is a mad man genius. I’ve seen him draw some twisted visions under the pen of Warren Ellis, but if there is anyone who can effectively draw the terrifying worlds that Garth Ennis invents it’s Burrows. Crossed features some lush and 
warped splash pages (such as that rape scene I mentioned earlier), and without this kind of art to go with the madness of the story, the tale wouldn’t quite work. It’s quite clear that Burrows gets the vision behind Ennis’ words, and this is just much a tribute to Burrow’s skill as an artist as it is anything else. If you’re a fan of Jacen Burrows, you should get this for his art alone.
Crossed is, in the end, another great entry into Avatar’s library. I’m a big fan of the books that Avatar puts out, and Crossed is a great example why. If you’re a fan of more extreme comics than what is put out by the big two, or most companies in general, you’d enjoy Crossed. It is a rather graphic and violent read, but for horror fans it is an instant classic, and has all the makings of a best seller.
