Rating: 3.5/5 – The origins of the Crossed begins here.
by ComicSpectrum reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
It’s been a long long while since I’ve read an issue of Avatar’s Crossed. When the series first launched, I read the first storyline and had my fill. Take the Walking Dead, and then add ten times the violence, gore, and offensive situations and you have Crossed. It’s a story about society unraveling with everyone who’s “infected” acting on their most depraved and horrible desires. Because of the extreme graphic nature of the book, it wasn’t something I felt I needed to read on a monthly basis. Other writers have come and gone on the title since being created by Garth Ennis but with issue fifty of Crossed: Badlands, Ennis comes back to the world he created to tell the story of how it all began.
In this issue we’re introduced to what seems to be the first person infected. Not only that, but Ennis is introducing us to a bunch of characters that I’m sure we’ll see more of in this story arc. These characters include male and female fighter pilots, a prime minister and his security squad, and that mysterious “first infected” mentioned previously. Ennis balances out the story well, but leaves a lot of questions unanswered. As this is only the first part of a seven part story, that’s to be expected. What I didn’t expect was the lack of violence and gore. This issue, taking place before the Crossed have taken over, was surprisingly tame. I expect that to change as we head deeper into the this run.
Artist Christian Zanier does a fine job with the art. At times his characters can look different from one page to the next, but his art is able to tell the story and tell it well. It will be interesting to see how his art style fits the over the top violence that this book is known for, but for right now his art works. I’m happy to say that this issue surprised me in it’s ability to put story first, rather than the shock value of crazy grotesque situations. We’ll see if Ennis can make the origin of the Crossed compelling enough to bring me back for the next six installments. Based on this first part I’ll be along for the ride.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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