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Crossed (Collected Editions) #6
Crossed Vol. 6
Extreme horror for desperate survivors in a world overrun by psychopaths (think The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre), as written by best-selling authors Garth Ennis, Simon Spurrier, and David Lapham!
In a volume that spans several eras of Crossed infection, we join three prolific writers each telling a tale set in the horrifying misery of the world during the plague. Simon Spurrier puts us in the mind of a unique Crossed relationship, one which sees lovers from two different worlds as they are driven apart by infection. David Lapham continues fan favorite Crossed Psychopath survivor, Amanda’s tale as she fights with the rising insanity in her own mind and a group of lunatic scavengers in “The Livers.” And series creator Garth Ennis returns to tell a story so big that it re-defines the way you will see the Crossed. In “The Fatal Englishman” the biggest question in the Crossed universe is answered…how it all begins. Go where other horror survival stories fear to tread and enter the grueling world of the Crossed! Trade collects issues #19-28 of the Crossed Badlands series.
In a volume that spans several eras of Crossed infection, we join three prolific writers each telling a tale set in the horrifying misery of the world during the plague. Simon Spurrier puts us in the mind of a unique Crossed relationship, one which sees lovers from two different worlds as they are driven apart by infection. David Lapham continues fan favorite Crossed Psychopath survivor, Amanda’s tale as she fights with the rising insanity in her own mind and a group of lunatic scavengers in “The Livers.” And series creator Garth Ennis returns to tell a story so big that it re-defines the way you will see the Crossed. In “The Fatal Englishman” the biggest question in the Crossed universe is answered…how it all begins. Go where other horror survival stories fear to tread and enter the grueling world of the Crossed! Trade collects issues #19-28 of the Crossed Badlands series.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2013
2 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
About the author
Garth Ennis
2,622 books3,173 followersEnnis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
January 21, 2021
The world has gone to pot, overrun by the unnamed caused, contaminated cannibalistic sexually violent obsessed Crossed, this volume continues the theme of looking at the outlier survivors, starting a with a doomed police-gangster romance; a group of survivors who had to actually become crazy to survive; and the top drawer Garth Ennis four-parter that sees four soldiers, an Englishman, and Irishman, a Scot and a Welshman on a mission to the save Great Britain giving the writer an opportune moment to talk up the ills of Empire, religion and belief in general - a masterpiece in real talk! 8 out of 12 overall.
October 10, 2017
Ennis' "The Fatal Englishman" storyline was excellent and Spurrier's one was original and not so bad at all.
Sadly after a real good one tale in previous volume, Lapham is back to his usual average grotesque/extreme gore-porn.
Artworks were just over the top and a few disturbing scenes really made me feel sick, Sometimes you find some really good stories hidden and buried under all the ultra-violence in Crossed series: Garth Ennis' one here was a real gem for me.
September 18, 2017
I cannot conceive of any reason why a graphic novel fan would pick the sixth volume of the CROSSED series up without having read the previous volumes - or at least sampled the initial Ennis created collection. As such, everyone who reads this knows exactly what they are in for - namely, depraved and deplorable acts of sadistic violence, mayhem and murder by the bucket load, and panel after panel of gore-saturated depravity.
The third in the BADLANDS series, Crossed: Volume 6 tells three new stories of people attempting to survive in the post-Crossed world. The first, by Simon Spurrier is an overly wordy, lacklustre story of doomed love; the second by regular series contributor David Lapham, brings back an all too rare surviving character and probably best balances character development with the requisite violence and nastiness; and the last by series creator Garth Ennis starts brilliantly but ultimately gets bogged down in boring religious debates between two of the main characters.
The artwork across all three stories is quality, however, with Raúlo Cáceres and Miguel Ruiz delivering the goods on almost every page.
At this point, I'm just about done with this series. The lack of any spark of hope for any character we follow has finally begun to drain my enthusiasm. And there really is only so many holes the Crossed can utilise to gory effect before I yawn and flick the page without registering anything beyond mild appreciation for the artist's choice of perspective.
4 stars for the artwork and 2 for the stories equal out to ...
3 Overly Verbose Pontifications on the Evil Inherent Within Religion for Crossed: Volume 6.
The third in the BADLANDS series, Crossed: Volume 6 tells three new stories of people attempting to survive in the post-Crossed world. The first, by Simon Spurrier is an overly wordy, lacklustre story of doomed love; the second by regular series contributor David Lapham, brings back an all too rare surviving character and probably best balances character development with the requisite violence and nastiness; and the last by series creator Garth Ennis starts brilliantly but ultimately gets bogged down in boring religious debates between two of the main characters.
The artwork across all three stories is quality, however, with Raúlo Cáceres and Miguel Ruiz delivering the goods on almost every page.
At this point, I'm just about done with this series. The lack of any spark of hope for any character we follow has finally begun to drain my enthusiasm. And there really is only so many holes the Crossed can utilise to gory effect before I yawn and flick the page without registering anything beyond mild appreciation for the artist's choice of perspective.
4 stars for the artwork and 2 for the stories equal out to ...
3 Overly Verbose Pontifications on the Evil Inherent Within Religion for Crossed: Volume 6.
May 30, 2017
This volume wasn't quite up to the level of past Crossed volumes, mainly due to the middle storyline. There are three storylines in this volume.
In the first, we have 4 British soldiers making their way across Britain on one final mission: to end the Crossed infection by killing off most of humanity with chemical weapons. Classic Garth Ennis in this one.
The second arc was my least favorite of the series so far. Amanda turns up from the Psychopath story arc, but she's not the Amanda we knew. She's mentally damaged, and she meets another group of mentally damaged survivors. This arc was a little silly to me, as the new survivors are basically roleplaying their lives. One is a cowboy, one a caveman, one a knight. Then when they evade a Crossed attack they choose new characters. It just didn't fit in well with the other Crossed stories so far.
The final arc tells the story of a parole officer and the convict she fell in love with...or did she? Some cool revelations in this one, plus we get to see a Crossed that's just slightly more sane than the ones we've seen before.
The art is still above average and fits the story well, and there's plenty of gore and violence although as expected it's starting to become less shocking as the story moves along.
Not bad, but the first real bump in the road.
In the first, we have 4 British soldiers making their way across Britain on one final mission: to end the Crossed infection by killing off most of humanity with chemical weapons. Classic Garth Ennis in this one.
The second arc was my least favorite of the series so far. Amanda turns up from the Psychopath story arc, but she's not the Amanda we knew. She's mentally damaged, and she meets another group of mentally damaged survivors. This arc was a little silly to me, as the new survivors are basically roleplaying their lives. One is a cowboy, one a caveman, one a knight. Then when they evade a Crossed attack they choose new characters. It just didn't fit in well with the other Crossed stories so far.
The final arc tells the story of a parole officer and the convict she fell in love with...or did she? Some cool revelations in this one, plus we get to see a Crossed that's just slightly more sane than the ones we've seen before.
The art is still above average and fits the story well, and there's plenty of gore and violence although as expected it's starting to become less shocking as the story moves along.
Not bad, but the first real bump in the road.
February 15, 2017
It's unusual to find true romance in a book like this, but this story has it in a series of flashbacks. It's about a female cop who barricades herself inside her office and awaits the arrival of her former lover, now infected, while recalling the events of their affair.
An older character is revisited. Amanda is from the group that met the psycho who started killing them one by one and wanted to feed her a severed breast. At that time she escaped by severing one of her wrists on her bonds.
Garth Ennis story! Hurrah! We join four brits armed to the teeth. They come acroos a group of kids with one adult guardian, a priest. They try to disguise themselves to pass off as crossed when a large group of infected go past, but the four brits know this never works. They unload on the crossed and head of together toward the Ministry of Defence biological and chemical warfare center. Their intention is to release every virus in an attempt to wipe out the crossed.
An older character is revisited. Amanda is from the group that met the psycho who started killing them one by one and wanted to feed her a severed breast. At that time she escaped by severing one of her wrists on her bonds.
Garth Ennis story! Hurrah! We join four brits armed to the teeth. They come acroos a group of kids with one adult guardian, a priest. They try to disguise themselves to pass off as crossed when a large group of infected go past, but the four brits know this never works. They unload on the crossed and head of together toward the Ministry of Defence biological and chemical warfare center. Their intention is to release every virus in an attempt to wipe out the crossed.
November 15, 2013
Ennis seems to take a backseat to Simon Spurrier in this one, and it is pure horror-porn through and through. One disgusting survival scenario after another, and the survivors go down fast and furious. Plenty of gore and nudity, and heaps of murder with a dash of torture, this one misses the mark and falls a bit short of the bar set by volume 1. Good for a fan, but not one I would start with. But I think I will end with it. For those who really want to keep reading, check out the webcomic (www.crossedcomic.com). You're welcome.
February 12, 2022
(Zero spoiler review) 2.5/5
For those of you who read my last Crossed review, you will remember me stating that I needed a break from this title. The flat, puerile writing, the ridiculous focus on gore porn over narrative, the obsession with consistently trying to outdo the previous issue via 'edginess' rather than competent and compelling storytelling had more than worn out its welcome. Thankfully, I managed to keep away from the title for a few months, almost relapsing a few weeks ago when I found myself reaching for this title. Yet it felt right when I pulled out Crossed 6 and started reading yesterday. Like enough time had passed between a messy break up, and you're now ready to move on and revisit what once was without the emotional baggage and pain dragging you down. And I must say, whilst reading Ennis' four issue story, I felt justified in my decision to let some time pass. Let the wounds heal. Then again, Ennis' writing was never the problem. He was always the sharpest storytelling knife in the Crossed drawer, which made me wish the man whom birthed the series, just wrote the entire thing himself. Even if we got less issues overall, at least the thing would be a singular vision from a talented man, and the overall quality would be much higher.
The true test would be the next story by David Lapham. David... fucking... Lapham. A man whom somehow, despite writing some of the most god awful, infantile nonsense to ever grace a page, was also somehow managed to give us Stray Bullets without feeling the need to delve into his very limited and very tropey back of childish tricks and limp story craft. And I must say, after the first issue of his arc, I was cautiously optimistic. Maybe, just maybe the man had decided to (or been told to) stop with the gore porn one-up-man-ship and actually write a story. But no, this is David fucking Lapham. This juvenile, hack man child said hold my beer, and proceeded to tick of every loathesome trick in his asinine playbook, and we got one of the most inconsistent and utterly stupid plots I have ever read. I hated it. I hated it for the garbage it was, and I hate that he continues to drag down the potential of this series. I would hesitate to hold Ennis accountable for Lapham's lack of intelligence, nouse or talent, but it is his series after all. I presume he has editorial oversight of writers given work on the project, as well as approval over whatever is published. If he thought this was acceptable to publish in his universe, than he is just as responsible and imbecilic as Lapham. Simon Spurrier's two issue story was forgettable, hackneyed dross, although to be honest, my ire was already up so high that it would have taken a story far beyond the ability of Simon Spurrier to calm me down. That said, I'm not at all being unfair to Spurrier to say his story was utter crap. He has just pissed me off less often and less vociferously than Lapham, so doesn't come in for as much criticism, although they were both woeful in every way. I feel sorry for the amazing artistic talents on this book having to spend weeks pencilling to the tune of such mediocrity. That said, page after page of gore gets old and unappealing very quickly, no matter how well done it is. If I didn't already own the entire series, I would absolutely have stopped reading this. I feel as though its only going to go one way, and its not towards a compelling, maturely written world. Just more blood and gore and violence and tits and swearing and sexual depravity. It takes a special type of no talent to turn me off from all those things in a zombie story. Bravo. 2.5/5
OmniBen.
For those of you who read my last Crossed review, you will remember me stating that I needed a break from this title. The flat, puerile writing, the ridiculous focus on gore porn over narrative, the obsession with consistently trying to outdo the previous issue via 'edginess' rather than competent and compelling storytelling had more than worn out its welcome. Thankfully, I managed to keep away from the title for a few months, almost relapsing a few weeks ago when I found myself reaching for this title. Yet it felt right when I pulled out Crossed 6 and started reading yesterday. Like enough time had passed between a messy break up, and you're now ready to move on and revisit what once was without the emotional baggage and pain dragging you down. And I must say, whilst reading Ennis' four issue story, I felt justified in my decision to let some time pass. Let the wounds heal. Then again, Ennis' writing was never the problem. He was always the sharpest storytelling knife in the Crossed drawer, which made me wish the man whom birthed the series, just wrote the entire thing himself. Even if we got less issues overall, at least the thing would be a singular vision from a talented man, and the overall quality would be much higher.
The true test would be the next story by David Lapham. David... fucking... Lapham. A man whom somehow, despite writing some of the most god awful, infantile nonsense to ever grace a page, was also somehow managed to give us Stray Bullets without feeling the need to delve into his very limited and very tropey back of childish tricks and limp story craft. And I must say, after the first issue of his arc, I was cautiously optimistic. Maybe, just maybe the man had decided to (or been told to) stop with the gore porn one-up-man-ship and actually write a story. But no, this is David fucking Lapham. This juvenile, hack man child said hold my beer, and proceeded to tick of every loathesome trick in his asinine playbook, and we got one of the most inconsistent and utterly stupid plots I have ever read. I hated it. I hated it for the garbage it was, and I hate that he continues to drag down the potential of this series. I would hesitate to hold Ennis accountable for Lapham's lack of intelligence, nouse or talent, but it is his series after all. I presume he has editorial oversight of writers given work on the project, as well as approval over whatever is published. If he thought this was acceptable to publish in his universe, than he is just as responsible and imbecilic as Lapham. Simon Spurrier's two issue story was forgettable, hackneyed dross, although to be honest, my ire was already up so high that it would have taken a story far beyond the ability of Simon Spurrier to calm me down. That said, I'm not at all being unfair to Spurrier to say his story was utter crap. He has just pissed me off less often and less vociferously than Lapham, so doesn't come in for as much criticism, although they were both woeful in every way. I feel sorry for the amazing artistic talents on this book having to spend weeks pencilling to the tune of such mediocrity. That said, page after page of gore gets old and unappealing very quickly, no matter how well done it is. If I didn't already own the entire series, I would absolutely have stopped reading this. I feel as though its only going to go one way, and its not towards a compelling, maturely written world. Just more blood and gore and violence and tits and swearing and sexual depravity. It takes a special type of no talent to turn me off from all those things in a zombie story. Bravo. 2.5/5
OmniBen.
October 2, 2022
Garth Ennis returns and artist Raulo Caceres brings some great artwork. They bring us The Fatal Englishman and it is easily the best story. 4.5/5
Livers profiles Amanda, the woman who survived the clutches of the sadistic Lorre. I didn’t really dig this story too much. I can see what it was trying to do, but it just felt kind of silly in parts. 2.5/5.
Conquers All is the last story and it focuses on a parole officer and the love of here life, a Russian mobster. This story wasn’t bad. 3/5.
Livers profiles Amanda, the woman who survived the clutches of the sadistic Lorre. I didn’t really dig this story too much. I can see what it was trying to do, but it just felt kind of silly in parts. 2.5/5.
Conquers All is the last story and it focuses on a parole officer and the love of here life, a Russian mobster. This story wasn’t bad. 3/5.
January 11, 2018
Really enjoyed Amanda's story.. There was genuine love in there, you could see it easily ;)
Batshit crazy though!! :D
The second one though...
Not such a great start, seeing as where we're coming from and what we would expect..
But it did grew on me, the moment they arrived in Brighton :)
So overall, good stories with nice artwork to back it..
Batshit crazy though!! :D
The second one though...
Not such a great start, seeing as where we're coming from and what we would expect..
But it did grew on me, the moment they arrived in Brighton :)
So overall, good stories with nice artwork to back it..
January 11, 2022
Best volume so far.
What struck me the most is that not all of the humans are depraved here, and there are even some happy (ish) endings.
The last arc had a brilliant discussion about faith and religion. Overall, I really liked this volume.
What struck me the most is that not all of the humans are depraved here, and there are even some happy (ish) endings.
The last arc had a brilliant discussion about faith and religion. Overall, I really liked this volume.
September 1, 2024
Este ha sido mi volumen favorito de Badlands hasta ahora.
May 29, 2015
Well, I'm falling out of love with this series. It's the art, frankly. I would still love to see a series of short stories in this shared universe because I think the idea is captivating and really points fingers at society's shortcomings. But the art only seems to exist to become more and more grotesque as we go along. I can only assume that the artists are under pressure to outdo one another, and it's just getting silly and irritating. Gross beyond belief - as I have said every time previously, you should not read this series unless you can handle hardcore horror (and maybe even if you can).
March 21, 2020
Another awesome/epic volume of pure fucking carnage. I love Crossed!
5/5 Skulls
☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
5/5 Skulls
☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
November 15, 2023
This volume collects three arcs. The Fatal Englishman takes place five years after the whole Crossed event originally occurred. In this story, Father Dennis Kingston and his flock of children are rescued by a group of ragtag survivors armed to the teeth and on a mission to rid the world of the Crossed once and for all. Garth Ennis returns to the fold after a few years away to write this one.
Livers is the most disturbing tale in this trilogy of terror. Amanda is one crazy bird who has survived two years in the Crossed-infested world. She stumbles across a guy who is just as crazy who goes by the name Danger Montana. He takes her to their basement kingdom in the sewers, where she meets Sir Killweather and The Great Kong. They have their own little world hidden away from the Crossed and have been without the company of a woman for a long time. They are all completely insane, and things end as well as they can for folks in this insane world. Some of the gore and mayhem in this series becomes white noise after a while, but Livers has a few scenes that really shocked me. Well done!
Conquers All (Nos. 19 and 20) takes place two days after the initial event. Serena Long is a police officer with the Los Angeles County Probation Department. She and Mattias Vichnyak crossed the line between probation officer and parolee just before the world went to Hell in a hand basket.
What would you do if someone you loved became infected with a virus/plague like the Crossed? This is the most intriguing premise of this series. What would I do if my family fell victim to something like this? What would any of us do? Could anyone survive in a world gone mad? Would you even want to? It's thinking of scenarios like this that keeps my mind spinning and keeps me turning the page in these books.
There was an article on Heidi MacDonald's The Beat recently which posed the question “So what kind of person buys a “Torture Variant”anyways?” In the article and the comments section below, fans of Crossed are portrayed as adolescent and/or mentally ill, with folks coming this close to saying that the title shouldn't be allowed to see print. I have bought every single Crossed collected edition and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. The series doesn't fill some “sick void” or provide me with “torture porn” fantasies. It's over the top and is intended to be so. I find myself cackling when I read every issue, not unlike Lisa and Bart Simpson after watching an episode of The Itchy and Scratchy Show. Crossed is sick and wrong and that is why I love it. It's shocking and repulsive and everything that is wrong with Horror done right. Why anyone is up in arms over a Mature Readers title that you have to be 16+ to buy is beyond me. It's not like they have Crossed toys or bedhseets on the shelves at Target that my 6 year old son is begging me to buy for him.
Livers is the most disturbing tale in this trilogy of terror. Amanda is one crazy bird who has survived two years in the Crossed-infested world. She stumbles across a guy who is just as crazy who goes by the name Danger Montana. He takes her to their basement kingdom in the sewers, where she meets Sir Killweather and The Great Kong. They have their own little world hidden away from the Crossed and have been without the company of a woman for a long time. They are all completely insane, and things end as well as they can for folks in this insane world. Some of the gore and mayhem in this series becomes white noise after a while, but Livers has a few scenes that really shocked me. Well done!
Conquers All (Nos. 19 and 20) takes place two days after the initial event. Serena Long is a police officer with the Los Angeles County Probation Department. She and Mattias Vichnyak crossed the line between probation officer and parolee just before the world went to Hell in a hand basket.
What would you do if someone you loved became infected with a virus/plague like the Crossed? This is the most intriguing premise of this series. What would I do if my family fell victim to something like this? What would any of us do? Could anyone survive in a world gone mad? Would you even want to? It's thinking of scenarios like this that keeps my mind spinning and keeps me turning the page in these books.
There was an article on Heidi MacDonald's The Beat recently which posed the question “So what kind of person buys a “Torture Variant”anyways?” In the article and the comments section below, fans of Crossed are portrayed as adolescent and/or mentally ill, with folks coming this close to saying that the title shouldn't be allowed to see print. I have bought every single Crossed collected edition and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. The series doesn't fill some “sick void” or provide me with “torture porn” fantasies. It's over the top and is intended to be so. I find myself cackling when I read every issue, not unlike Lisa and Bart Simpson after watching an episode of The Itchy and Scratchy Show. Crossed is sick and wrong and that is why I love it. It's shocking and repulsive and everything that is wrong with Horror done right. Why anyone is up in arms over a Mature Readers title that you have to be 16+ to buy is beyond me. It's not like they have Crossed toys or bedhseets on the shelves at Target that my 6 year old son is begging me to buy for him.
September 27, 2017
Tre nuovi racconti nel frammentato universo di Crossed, dove sempre più si fa gara a trovare e superare il confine fra umano e disumano. In questo numero: Ennis ci parla di un gruppo di militari decisi a liberare un virus letale che ammazzerà scrociati e umani, salvando i pochi capaci di proteggersi da soli. Peccato che alla fine il plotone di angeli della morte capisca che forse è meglio lasciare alla natura il suo corso, e forse le esigue speranze dell'umanità sono meglio riposte nell'azione spietata degli inverni e delle intemperie. Ovviamente alla fine tutto va a rotoli e non rimane che un'onorevole suicidio di gruppo. Lapham si conferma il più fottuto stronzo fra gli sceneggiatori di Crossed, riportando in scena Amanda, vittima di uno psicopatico difficile da dimenticare, ma divenuta anch'essa psicopatica, forse più del suo ex carceriere da cui si liberò come un'animale, tagliandosi una mano. In questo numero la vediamo trovare una famiglia degna di lei: un gruppo di pazzi che "risorgono", reinventando le proprie personalità, dopo ogni attacco degli scrociati a cui sopravvivono. Inutile dire che non solo sono pazzi, sono anche cannibali (e mangiano solo individui sani, perchè gli scrociati hanno la tendenza ad infettare con qualsiasi fluido producano). Il bello è che la storia è tenera, dolce, e sa di romanzo di crescita, con un'anima sola che trova finalmente il nucleo di protezione che cercava. Bravo Lapham. Spurrier è autore di una prova interessante, narrata bene e con uno shift temporale che ci regala un colpo di scena. Bella la filosofia del racconto, che quasi è un trait d'union fra Crossed e "I am a hero", altro ottimo zombie comic contemporaneo: quello che facciamo nella prima metà della nostra vita definisce quello che faremo nella seconda metà. Abitudini della vita umana si riversano nelle abitudini della seconda vita scrociata. C'è amore, c'è rimpianto, c'è ultraviolenza, per un numero di Crossed che ancora una volta, depurato dal sangue e dalle budella, parla dell'uomo.
November 16, 2022
I loved the art. I love the grimdark. Well to be fair this is beyond grimdark it's nihlism and a bit of edgy. There are three tales here. The first is told by Simon Spurrier and it's a tale of un-love (?) and the story of cycles... It's a small tale but good. Raul Caceres illustrated. Not COMPLETLY GORY or PORN but okay. The Second tale is DAvid Lapham & Miguel Ruiz illustrated is a good very chaotic tale with a character that we've seen previsouly on the all bike vs crossed guys. No redeeming quality. Trule hated thta main character - which was awesome. The last story is told by Garth Ennis and desigened by Raulo Caceres. I love the art. Is gory, it's porn it's awesome. But the story was meh at best. It was a interesting concept - a group of military are in quest to release some chemicals and kill the crossed. Along the way they meet a priest and some children and in the beginning I thought ok pedophilia? Probably the only subject not encountered ... yet. But alas he was a good priest and four some drawings you get a debate about a military atheist going full against the ideals of christianity and in the end the military man "won" although felt cringe and really the author portraying somethin "This is me " which I found he is like this. Advocate of Atheism, military man and I will be very suprised if he is not a communism. Which makes perfect sense criticizing christianity as evil (nazi level) when communism killed a lot more people and military --- well it's in the name. Oh e even defended imperial britain as "we did some bad but a lot of good" well fuck me and call me sally. That's idiotic. To be honest I would say that, because I believe history went the way it should - or else we would be in a different place/time or evolution scale BUT I cannot say that I endorse that but since I don't like communisms critiziging them for doing that. That's a bit absurd.
You were worse than me nham nham nham level.
You were worse than me nham nham nham level.
November 13, 2023
Crossed Vol. 6 covers three arcs in the Badlands series: "Crossed Conquers All", "The Livers" and "The Fatal Englishman".
"Crossed Conquers All" (Crossed: Badlands #19-20) by Si Spurrier and Raúlo Cáceres is a pretty unique take on a love story set within the opening days of the Crossed infection spreading. A police officer narrates her final days trapped in the precinct as the Crossed wreak havoc outside. She awaits her lover to come find her, a Eastern European mobster who she believes is strong enough to prevail the ongoing carnage. It's a fun take on the star-crossed and "enemies to lovers" tropes, but with a lot of Crossed shenanigans to spice things up.
"The Livers" (Crossed: Badlands #21-24) by David Lapham and Miguel Garrido features the return of the main character from "Crossed: Psychopath". Amanda has a tough time trusting anyone after her encounter with Lorre left her whole group brutally murdered, and now has to navigate the world on her own. Her own trauma seeps into her own perception of reality, making her survival chances all that more difficult in this arc.
"The Fatal Englishman" (Crossed: Badlands #25-28) by Garth Ennis and Raúlo Cáceres features the final surviving military unit in the British military as they decide whether or not making a last stand against the Crossed is even worth it or not. It's a thinly veiled attempt by Ennis to roast England's own imperialistic past, but it works pretty well for the story here.
Despite the raunchy, slapstick and lowbrow quality to the series, it sort of works due to the great writing and artistic talent involved. Overall, Vol. 6 was yet another fun installment to the "Badlands" series mainly due to the nice variety of stories here.
"Crossed Conquers All" (Crossed: Badlands #19-20) by Si Spurrier and Raúlo Cáceres is a pretty unique take on a love story set within the opening days of the Crossed infection spreading. A police officer narrates her final days trapped in the precinct as the Crossed wreak havoc outside. She awaits her lover to come find her, a Eastern European mobster who she believes is strong enough to prevail the ongoing carnage. It's a fun take on the star-crossed and "enemies to lovers" tropes, but with a lot of Crossed shenanigans to spice things up.
"The Livers" (Crossed: Badlands #21-24) by David Lapham and Miguel Garrido features the return of the main character from "Crossed: Psychopath". Amanda has a tough time trusting anyone after her encounter with Lorre left her whole group brutally murdered, and now has to navigate the world on her own. Her own trauma seeps into her own perception of reality, making her survival chances all that more difficult in this arc.
"The Fatal Englishman" (Crossed: Badlands #25-28) by Garth Ennis and Raúlo Cáceres features the final surviving military unit in the British military as they decide whether or not making a last stand against the Crossed is even worth it or not. It's a thinly veiled attempt by Ennis to roast England's own imperialistic past, but it works pretty well for the story here.
Despite the raunchy, slapstick and lowbrow quality to the series, it sort of works due to the great writing and artistic talent involved. Overall, Vol. 6 was yet another fun installment to the "Badlands" series mainly due to the nice variety of stories here.
January 26, 2024
Crossed: Badlands Volume 6
Avatar - Collects issues 19-28
Three story arcs in this volume.
Story One - The Fatal Englishman.
Taff, Paddy, Harry, and Jock save Father Dennis and several children from the Crossed. Dennis tells the foursome the kids were abandoned by his parishioners. They abandoned the children but Father Dennis didn’t.
Harry tells Dennis they are concerned citizens on a mission to Wiltshire, the location of the Ministry of Defense’s Biological and Chemical Warfare Center. They intend to set off whatever they find there.
A shocking turn of events by the story’s end.
Story Two – Livers.
Having survived previous issues, Amanda returns, now calling herself Kathy. She kills her two travelling companions. Amanda meets Danger Montana. Great character. Where’s his series?
The duo retreat to Base M. Sir Killweather and the Great Kong are introduced.
Dangers sums it up, “… you’re here for one reason only. Because you’re a woman.”
A shocking turn of events by the story’s end.
Story Three – Conquers All.
Serena works for the LA Probation Dept. She’s trapped in her office by the Crossed.
Flashback where we meet Mattias, Soviet thug, currently on probation. He violates probation then violates a bored and lonely Serena. Serena was “… high on the wrongness of it.”
A shocking turn of events by the story’s end.
Typical Crossed stories. Tons of violence and depravity. Includes several two-page art spreads.
Avatar - Collects issues 19-28
Three story arcs in this volume.
Story One - The Fatal Englishman.
Taff, Paddy, Harry, and Jock save Father Dennis and several children from the Crossed. Dennis tells the foursome the kids were abandoned by his parishioners. They abandoned the children but Father Dennis didn’t.
Harry tells Dennis they are concerned citizens on a mission to Wiltshire, the location of the Ministry of Defense’s Biological and Chemical Warfare Center. They intend to set off whatever they find there.
A shocking turn of events by the story’s end.
Story Two – Livers.
Having survived previous issues, Amanda returns, now calling herself Kathy. She kills her two travelling companions. Amanda meets Danger Montana. Great character. Where’s his series?
The duo retreat to Base M. Sir Killweather and the Great Kong are introduced.
Dangers sums it up, “… you’re here for one reason only. Because you’re a woman.”
A shocking turn of events by the story’s end.
Story Three – Conquers All.
Serena works for the LA Probation Dept. She’s trapped in her office by the Crossed.
Flashback where we meet Mattias, Soviet thug, currently on probation. He violates probation then violates a bored and lonely Serena. Serena was “… high on the wrongness of it.”
A shocking turn of events by the story’s end.
Typical Crossed stories. Tons of violence and depravity. Includes several two-page art spreads.
July 3, 2022
Для затравки така собі історія про заборонене кохання. Вона коп, він злочинець, вона хоче кар’єрного зростання, шлафен цузамен, ось це ось усе, а потім він стає хрестоносцем і повертається до неї, аби… неважливо. Це не історія, а місиво з різних часових проміжків, які, втім, легко відслідкувати. Графічно це теж хаос з юшки та нутрощів. Добре лише те, що читача знайомлять з новим особливим видом хрестоносців - цілеспрямованих покидьків, які здатні планувати на кілька кроків вперед. Втім, це вже більше історія наступного тому.
Аманда, героїня історії про пана Лорре-маньяка, виживає як може. і наступна оповідка про те, як вона зустріла компанію психів-канібалів (ось це вже спойлерище!), що створили собі сховище посеред міста, захопленого хрестоносцями. А потім і сама пустилася берега. Краще б про Лорре щось намалювали…
Третя історія - про вибір без, по суті, вибору. Британські спецпризначенці вирушають до біолабораторії, щоб випустити у світ вірус, який знищить хрестоносців. А у фіналі моральні дилеми, бо не все є таким очевидним, яким видається. Непогано, але це вже аж дуже стандартний сюжет у науковій фантастиці.
Від цієї частини епосу про хрестоносців аж віє філлерністю. Її можна і пропустити, але ту саму Аманду так само будуть тягнути у нові пригоди. Псих у світі навіжених - це цікава концепція, але Аманда якось не дотягує.
Аманда, героїня історії про пана Лорре-маньяка, виживає як може. і наступна оповідка про те, як вона зустріла компанію психів-канібалів (ось це вже спойлерище!), що створили собі сховище посеред міста, захопленого хрестоносцями. А потім і сама пустилася берега. Краще б про Лорре щось намалювали…
Третя історія - про вибір без, по суті, вибору. Британські спецпризначенці вирушають до біолабораторії, щоб випустити у світ вірус, який знищить хрестоносців. А у фіналі моральні дилеми, бо не все є таким очевидним, яким видається. Непогано, але це вже аж дуже стандартний сюжет у науковій фантастиці.
Від цієї частини епосу про хрестоносців аж віє філлерністю. Її можна і пропустити, але ту саму Аманду так само будуть тягнути у нові пригоди. Псих у світі навіжених - це цікава концепція, але Аманда якось не дотягує.
Read
November 8, 2025Three stories here of varying quality. Si Spurrier’s two-parter is about a forbidden romance that’s interrupted by the crossed outbreak, featuring a strong personality that even turning crossed can’t shake. I like Spurrier’s chatty writing style, and it comes through well in this tense little yarn (for his best Crossed work though, see Wish You Were Here).
I feel significantly stupider after reading David Lapham’s four-part “Livers.” Just awful writing, awful plotting, awful characters.
I read this volume mainly for Ennis’s “The Fatal Englishman,” which he later revisited in an excellent prequel. This one is similarly thoughtful, a prime example of how to write a worthy story in the seemingly one-note universe of the crossed. It’s got the Ennis trademarks: soldiers, Britishness, violence, religion, black humor, friendship, and bravery. And it’s executed beautifully.
I feel significantly stupider after reading David Lapham’s four-part “Livers.” Just awful writing, awful plotting, awful characters.
I read this volume mainly for Ennis’s “The Fatal Englishman,” which he later revisited in an excellent prequel. This one is similarly thoughtful, a prime example of how to write a worthy story in the seemingly one-note universe of the crossed. It’s got the Ennis trademarks: soldiers, Britishness, violence, religion, black humor, friendship, and bravery. And it’s executed beautifully.
August 9, 2018
I guess this is the first volume featuring a variety of more advanced Crossed. With unique traits, separating them apart from the herd. Some showed restraint. Some even showed leadership qualities.
I didn’t care much about the 2-issue forbidden love story at the beginning.
The next arc continues the story of Amanda. Still surviving, albeit now messed up in the head for obvious reasons (events in Volume 3, if I recall correctly). She encounters a group of men, constantly role-playing and decides to play along. The philosophy behind it all had an interesting take on resurrection. Weird and disturbing.
The final arc shifts the narrative to England. Overall, I enjoyed this one the most due to the intense and epic mission. Like any post-apocalyptic fiction, there’s always a priest questioning his faith.
I didn’t care much about the 2-issue forbidden love story at the beginning.
The next arc continues the story of Amanda. Still surviving, albeit now messed up in the head for obvious reasons (events in Volume 3, if I recall correctly). She encounters a group of men, constantly role-playing and decides to play along. The philosophy behind it all had an interesting take on resurrection. Weird and disturbing.
The final arc shifts the narrative to England. Overall, I enjoyed this one the most due to the intense and epic mission. Like any post-apocalyptic fiction, there’s always a priest questioning his faith.
March 1, 2019
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THIS SERIES FOR CHILDREN, TWEENS OR TEENS. STRICTLY ADULT.
TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE, MURDER, CANNIBALISM, RAPE, ANIMAL CRUELTY, BEASTIALITY
I am the kind of person that likes the most messed up things aka shock value. This series has it and it hides literally nothing. As I pride myself in my PC moral ways this is in no way PC.
Was not a fan of the art style in this one again too dark (literally) but the stories in it were very intense and good. Changed my views on characters from "oh god this asshole" to "aww hes sweet" and back and forth from that.
Especially the last story, really felt well thought out, tragically romantic and painful all at the same time.
TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE, MURDER, CANNIBALISM, RAPE, ANIMAL CRUELTY, BEASTIALITY
I am the kind of person that likes the most messed up things aka shock value. This series has it and it hides literally nothing. As I pride myself in my PC moral ways this is in no way PC.
Was not a fan of the art style in this one again too dark (literally) but the stories in it were very intense and good. Changed my views on characters from "oh god this asshole" to "aww hes sweet" and back and forth from that.
Especially the last story, really felt well thought out, tragically romantic and painful all at the same time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2025
This volume has three stories.
The Fatal Englishman: This one was pretty great!! I could also do without seeing anymore fish hooks, thank you.. 🪝
Livers: This one was just plain crazy but I didn't hate it. 🐀
Conquers All: This one was my favorite of the three! Does love conquer all? Who knows!! 🚔💚
And of course like all Crossed books it's gory and brutal and totally not for the nogwumps. 🙃
Overall I thought this was a soild book!
The Fatal Englishman: This one was pretty great!! I could also do without seeing anymore fish hooks, thank you.. 🪝
Livers: This one was just plain crazy but I didn't hate it. 🐀
Conquers All: This one was my favorite of the three! Does love conquer all? Who knows!! 🚔💚
And of course like all Crossed books it's gory and brutal and totally not for the nogwumps. 🙃
Overall I thought this was a soild book!
September 29, 2024
4 estrellas arte
1 estrella relatos.
Consta de 3 relatos aburridos y exagerados, son relatos autoconclusivos pero relacionados entre ellos en el mundo de los cruzados, zombies sádicos y salidos.
Realmente perdí el interés cuando meten a un cura y la maldita religión por el 🕳️
Nada mas que gore y sexo, cuando no tienen nada interesante que contar le dan casquería a tope y listo.
1 estrella relatos.
Consta de 3 relatos aburridos y exagerados, son relatos autoconclusivos pero relacionados entre ellos en el mundo de los cruzados, zombies sádicos y salidos.
Realmente perdí el interés cuando meten a un cura y la maldita religión por el 🕳️
Nada mas que gore y sexo, cuando no tienen nada interesante que contar le dan casquería a tope y listo.
April 19, 2018
I bought this for the Ennis story. Turns out, I found that one the least entertaining. I appreciate that he's not just trying to cash in on shock value, but it was still missing the boat a bit for me.
March 11, 2019
I wasnt a huge fan of this one. Maybe the last story is the one I enjoyed the most but the first story didnt do much for me and the second story had some demented fun but didnt have me all that hooked. I still enjoy the concept though but compared to other volumes, I have read better.
May 5, 2017
One of the tamest volumes of the whole series so far.
February 18, 2020
I'm not a fan of the art in this issue
June 26, 2021
Pretty good collection of Crossed stories including a four-parter by creator Garth Ennis. You know, the usual family-friendly, happy time, fun.
January 3, 2022
I highly recommend you read all Crossed stories by Ennis, and the one arc by Alan Moore. Avoid everything else like the plague.
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