Garth Ennis’ Crossed
This week I wanted to do something a little bit different, so I thought I’d do a review for a comic that has continually been on my must read list for the past year, give or take.
I know some people will say hey this isn’t a crime comic but rather horror. Yes it is BUT it’s one motherfucker of a brutal comic. It’s even more so than a lot of crime comics out there. Garth Ennis doesn’t pull any punches and neither does Jacen Burrows on the artwork.
The comic is called Crossed and is definitely for mature readers and people not easily offended…. And even though I’m not easily offended and can handle the craziest of scenarios, this book usually does a number on me every time I read it….
On quite a few occasions I had the shakes afterwards. If you’re married and have kids, this book makes you stressed and makes you live and deal with choices that are the worst that you can imagine….You breathe a sigh of relief when you’re done, thinking thank god this isn’t real.
Whether you have a family of your own or not, if you’re some jaded motherfucker that is unaffected by this book, seek help immediately…
I think that says a lot not just about Garth Ennis’ amazing script but when coupled with a brilliant artist like Jacen Burrows the outcome is usually spectacular in scope, both in the storytelling and emotional involvement. He (Jacen Burrows) is doing incredible work on this book. Absolutely no line he draws is wasted or used for pure flash or embellishment.
So what’s it about?
The story is an end of the world scenario where the survivors who have remained uninfected by a plague are trying to retain their humanity in the process while in the face of The Crossed.
We begin in a diner where a man enters covered in blood and reeking foul while his face is covered in pustules and sores in the form of a cross. From there the story takes off into high gear and shows some of the most insane levels of carnage ever put to paper.
The origin of the virus /plague is unknown both to us and the characters in the story. Once someone becomes infected, they become pure evil and all sense of decency and good in each of them vanishes. That’s the only explanation that I can give….
All of our darker sides that we keep in control on a normal basis have now risen to the surface and the infected relish on not only killing whomever they can get their hands on but usually raping, sodomizing and literally tearing apart said victim.
The sex and age of the victim never comes into play, they treat children the same way they would adults. This is one of the hardest aspects about the book and it’s story. Seeing a little child being torn apart while their parents are being sodomised and watching this happen to their children is beyond inhuman.
I do feel it’s necessary to further the story along and to truly put it in your face like this so that you have no choice but to deal with the imagery.
There’s one scene in particular that demonstrated that while the Crossed may be savage and cruel they are far from stupid. In fact they are quite cunning in their ingenuity. While the main characters are observing the Crossed destroying a town they find a group with their backs turned, jerking off into a bowl. The kicker of the scene is that inside the bowl they had placed a bunch of bullets that they would use to wound and infect at least one member of the survivors. To me that is incredibly insidious and devious.
It’s a gruesome story and at times incredibly hard to read but the emotions and stories of the various characters are so well thought out, drawn and paced that anyone who loves an end of world/apocalypse scenario will completely go bananas for this book.
You can definitely feel the walls closing in on the characters and the end is coming whether they want to deal with the events that have marked them all forever or not.
Sometimes after I’ve finished the book, I usually go back and reread the book again within a few minutes. Without a doubt Garth’s Punisher MAX
So far there’s been 8 issues of incredible insanity and while I own all of the floppies, I look forward to seeing the collected version and possibly all of the extras that might be included in that edition. I can’t recommend Crossed highly enough…BUT like Isaid be prepared for the ride of your life and trust me, after reading this book you’ll appreciate everything you have in life.
Unfortunately a lot of people won’t read or even know about this gem of a book because it’s published by Avatar, which is a shame indeed.
On a side note:
Avatar, over the last 10 years (give or take) have shown they’re into publishing unique and edgey creator owned work by the likes of Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis and Christos Gage. This Company has impressed me with their quality of books, the artwork inside, the writing and kickass coloring. Avatar deserves higher recognition because of how far they’ve come while improving every facet of their Company.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
About Richard Serrao
