Crossed Volume 1 Review: Unleashing the Unhinged in a Dark and Twisted World!

If you are a lover of graphic and gory gut-wrenching comics and haven’t heard of Crossed you are sorely missing out. Originally started in 2008 by writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, Punisher Max, Hitman, The Boys) and artist Jacen Burrows (303, Providence, Punisher: The Soviet). The pair delivered some intense previous works including a military miniseries of comics titled 303 and they collaborated on The Punisher miniseries titled The Soviet. All these works were intense, but nothing would prepare the masses for what would come with Crossed. 

This is one of the most controversial, yet popular comics released by Avatar Press. Crossed Volume 1 follows a simple storyline of survivors attempting to grasp at the straws of sanity in a new plague-ridden world. Such material has been covered before but not in this exact fashion. Like such popular comic book series as The Walking Dead but instead of mindless zombies wading the countryside and urban landscapes at every turn, we get The Crossed and their lust for sexual depravity beyond all limits of your imagination. 

The story begins in a diner in a small American town. A bizarre looking fellow enters the diner throwing down what looks like a part of bloodied human spinal column on the table. The diner owner, Jim, tells the guy to stop dicking around but the evil looking individual bites Jim’s nose clean off his face with sadistic glee. All hell literally breaks lose as people in the street are killed mercilessly. In some cases, they are sexually mutilated or molested during or after being killed.

We’re introduced to Cindy, Stan, Thomas, and Kelly. These are characters who become mainstays in the storyline until the conclusion. Cindy was working at the diner while Stan, a loner/drifter, just dropped in for a coffee. A massive nuclear explosion is triggered blinding Kelly amidst all the carnage. Cindy swoops in with a pickup truck with her young son Patrick and saves Stan, Thomas, and Kelly from the carnage on the streets. 

The group quickly leaves the city and eventually pick up more people along the way, including Geoff and Kitrich, who are mainstays in the series. We get some flashbacks and backstories/subplots thrown in to flesh everything out. It’s a tale of survival by any means necessary. Hard choices are made, mistakes cause death, or worse. People become numb to emotion and people are abandoned or left behind if they don’t measure up.

I’ve heard criticism on how the series lacks any real story and frankly I call bullshit. The story is about what it takes to survive and its highly character driven and emotional as it is scathing in the grotesque acts it features. I can honestly say a film adaptation would be highly sought-after. It’s said due to the explicit graphic sexual violence the translation to screen would be near impossible. The Korean film The Sadness (read review of The Sadness here) by director Rob Jabbaz (listen to interview with director Rob Jabbaz here) came the closest to depicting a similar type of scenario. The storyline in Volume 1 is very memorable with characters you care for and emotions run high so a direct adaptation is a must in my eyes.

The violence and cruelty are unprecedented in Crossed. The infected bare a red-like rash on their forehead and face in the shape of a cross. People turn into sexually violent predators who thrive on pain and sexual pleasure. In the book it is said The Crossed are the worst of the worst of human beings. They literally get off on their own pain as well. They sexually violate everyone, any breathing, living thing, and anyone for their sadistic pleasure. It’s their rite of passage and it is relentless until they are put down like sick dogs.

There are so many scenarios featuring gut wrenching emotional loss in Crossed. The violence is so over-the-top that it’s ludicrous and darkly comical, but Ennis is still able to make it emotionally charged. An exception might be a character who calls himself Horsecock. He literally wields a severed horse schlong as a weapon. Overall, I take a lot from this book: its memorable, emotional, shocking, and sometimes in a couple instances it had me cheering. I really don’t want to get into explaining the book and breaking down every detail on what happens in every part because that would be a synopsis and not a proper review. If you are curious about Crossed and love graphic horror and gore, then you’ll dig it but its not wall-to-wall splatter for the sake of splatter. There are plenty of violent and gruesome moments, but they go hand-in-hand with the story and characters.

Comic: Crossed Volume 1 Graphic Novel
Issue: Crossed #0, Crossed #1, Crossed #2, Crossed #3, Crossed #4, Crossed #5, Crossed #6, Crossed #7, Crossed #8, Crossed #9
Written by: Garth Ennis
Penciled by: Jacen Burrows
Inked by: Jacen Burrows
Coloured by: Juanmar
Edited by: William Christensen
Cover by: Jacen Burrows
Year: May 11, 2010

Published by: Avatar