Review: Crossed, Vol. 1

Crossed, Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bruh.

This was so messed up, and the payoff wasn't totally worth it.

It's revolting, vulgar, and depicts the absolute lowest scum of humanity, with murder, rape, vile language and all kinds of sadistic versions of these things.

The idea is that there's a virus infecting people and turning them all into the lowest form of humanity. No explanation is ever given as to how the virus came about, why it has such an effect, and basically it just seems like an excuse for Ennis to write some more disturbing, f**ked-up things. He seems fascinated with the most depraved acts of humankind. It's so messed up that it's like a horrific car crash you can't look away from.

There are some really clever moments in the writing (the 'salt incident' early on was a favourite) and it raises some really interesting moral questions, but ultimately the series was too short (only 9 issues) to properly explore the themes and ideas. There seemed to be not a lot of purpose to it all, and it's ultimately just a depressing mess.

Characters were done pretty well, though. Some really great moments when we got to know each of them, and I did find myself invested in each of their stories.

I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but I'm glad I did. There are some interesting ideas in amongst it, but not enough exploration of these things to justify the intensity and depravity of the violence. I wanted more of a payoff and the ending was too ambiguous for my tastes.

Fans of The Boys will enjoy the sadistic streak and the similar artwork, but I found the story wasn't quite as solid.

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