Crossover, Vol. 2: The Ten-Cent Plague

Crossover #7-13

by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw (Illustrator), Dee Cunniffe (Color Artist)

Five years ago the realm of comic book fiction collapsed into our very real world. And now, amidst the chaos, a new threat has risen. Someone, or something, is killing comic book writers and artists all over the country. Watch as the mystery of this serialized killer explodes into four color carnage as we are joined by the wildest creator-owned character reveals yet! Scott Snyder! Brian K. Vaughan! Chuck Zdarsky! Robert Kirkman! Brian Michael Bendis!! No one is safe in this action packed, blood-soaked second volume of....CROSSOVER!

The powerhouse creative team of DONNY CATES (Venom, Thor), GEOFF SHAW (Thanos Wins), DEE CUNNIFFE (REDNECK), and JOHN J. HILL (NAILBITER) brings you the second volume of the all-new, genre-defying series.

Collects CROSSOVER #7-13

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Superheroes, Comic Book

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2022

Reviews

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has gotta be one of the most out there comics lmao and I freaking love it for that!

We open with a Chip zdarksy issue and like how he has to hide and leave in fear because of the "event" and then how he meets his own comic self and its a funny and emotional issue and I love it!

Then in the present "Powers" detective Deena and christian join in the investigation for who is killing the comic creators and yeah its meta in the best way and then the weird turns the story takes and we learn a bit of who it is and the reasons of the crossover event and then the coming of a f...ing character from TWD (if you have read TWD you know) and its just insane in the best way and that thing with Bendis was crazy and then the coming of Cates and teaming with his creations and it gets emotional and shows Cates love for comics and its awesome and then the sad ending and the twist omg... full meta!!

This was craziest in the best way possible and one of my favorite reads of the year already! Its crazy and goofy and what not but in the best way!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story gets even more meta as comic book writers are being murdered by a serial killer. The Chip Zdarsky issue is nuts. If you aren't aware, Chip Zdarsky is a pseudonym and Chip is confronted by his real self, Steve Murray. Wallace is on the run after Brian K. Vaughn was murdered earlier in the series. Brian Michael Bendis and Robert Kirkman get in on the action too. Then the book gets even nuttier, Grant Morrison levels of nuttiness. Not everyone is going to like what happens but I quite enjoyed it.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

By this point, you know if you're going to enjoy Crossover. It's definitely not the book that we thought it was going to be from the first issue, but it's morphed into this meta-commentary on the power of stories and the roles of writers and artists in the creation of comics.

Is it a little pretentious? Sure it is. But it's supposed to be, I think. And it's a hell of a lot of fun at the same time. Comic book characters kicking the shit out of each other while their creators yell at each other in the background is always going to be funny, and the fact that Cates has managed to rope in people like Robert Kirkman and Brian Bendis into his insanity is a testament to how much they're all invested in this insane idea.

Also, the Zdarsky penned issue interlude issue in which a serial killer has been targetting other comic creators is just so out-there, it circles back around to fantastic.

I can't recommend this enough, but I can totally understand why it's not going to be for everyone.

[Alex Sarll]

Turns out the problem with the first volume of this is that it wasn't up-own-arse or meta enough. Cates and Shaw doing a scene in which Bendis gets arrested by his own Powers characters, then handing over to Bendis and Oeming for the interrogation scene, in which the characters talk about how they're not being written by Bendis now? Yeah, this is the level of stacked, teetering fourth wall break I need to get a buzz nowadays. Other writers - Zdarsky, Kirkman - join in, as within the story comics writers are hunted down by the characters whose lives they messed up for fun and profit. And if none of it quite coheres in the end, then fuck it - Cates is in here too and everyone's more than happy to tell him what they think of his work.

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chip Zdarsky from Sex Criminals cuddling with real Chip Zdarsky, but still kinda comic book Chip Zdarsky? Yeah, you have my heart. But honestly? Not just that. I love whatbkind of direction it took. I love all of it and look forward to see more.

[Giacomo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

[Lucille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je me suis exclamé tellement de fois pendant ma lecture que maintenant teddy qui était à côté de moi veut lire cette serie aussi 🤩

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't think of a more perfect example of what comics are capable of than Crossover. In the aftermath of the battle that ended volume 1, comic book characters and average people alike struggle through the chaos. In the midst of this new world, an unknown figure is killing comics writers. Who any why are both mysteries, but in a world of stories come to life, the answers may just decide the future of all the worlds.

Crossover is a meta, madcap adventure of the highest order, and Vol. 2 raises the bar even further. With more cameos, some of the top comics writers of the day join on to parody themselves as the story moves even closer to home. This series is a wild excuse to mash up comics from the past few decades. It's a sincere celebration of the comics genre. It's self-aware, full of self-deprecating humor--and at the end of the day, it's a love letter to the act of creation and the stories we treasure.

Crossover is ambitious, barely controlled, and an absolute delight at every turn.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most meta comic ever made. PERIOD.

After the Event (where the comic realm and the real realm collided), someone started killing off comic book writers. The search for the killer continues here, and more cameos by comic writers and characters from other universes show up. Even the writer of the comic you are reading shows up and talks about writing the scenes you are reading! (Reminded me of the scene in Spaceballs where they watch Spaceballs to figure out where someone is LOL)

I'll not say anymore about this, other than no writer or artist is safe! LOL

Go read this, but only if you love comics, read a lot of them, and love meta irony.
Recommend.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's better than the first collection, but still a bit too out there. If the idea of a bunch of characters from different comics universes coming together to fight each other while their creators stand around in the background egging them on makes you giggle, you're probably the right audience for this. I like metafictional stories, but this one just is too far out, too cutesy for my taste.

[Odo · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been over a year since I read the first volume of this series, and all I could really remember was that it was a meta-series that was more about comic book characters crossing over to our world, rather than a crossover event between comics, and that I had found it pretty underwhelming.

This issue picked up with a fantastic Chip Zdarsky meta-issue, and then got much more interesting than the previous volume. Cates did a really good job of capturing the voices of characters he borrowed, as well as the voices of comic book creators like Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming, and Robert Kirkman. There were a ton of easter eggs for comic book fans, and unlike in the previous volume, I feel like they were accessible enough that I laughed several times, and couldn't explain why to my partner without giving him a lesson on comic book history (which no one needs at 2AM on a Thursday).

I thought much of the meta humor and the plot worked nicely, especially with the recurring bits about how it was all just a book about people sitting around talking. I was incredibly excited to see where it was going at the end of the volume, and thought it might even be the conclusion to the series (I haven't been paying attention to whether issues are still coming out for this book).

Unfortunately, Cates has a problem with concluding issues to storyarcs. He'll have a great build up four four or five issues where everything happens at a reasonable pace, and then he'll just throw everything into fifth gear, and the plot gets lost, and the characters get confusing, and I lose all interest in what's happening. I did enjoy the final panel, and would like to see what happens in what I can only imagine will be the final volume, but everything else in the final issue just washed over me without engaging my emotions or my sense of humor. It was a real bummer after how drawn in I had been with the first five chapters in this volume.

I can only recommend this to people who love comics who have some backstage knowledge of creative teams. You don't have to have read all of Powers, Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl? to get the jokes about Bendis an Oeming, but you do have to know who they are, and understand their writing style, and why a silent panel in response to the death of another writer is hilarious. If you don't know these details, this book is a Huge Waste Of Your Time. Cates's head is entirely up his own ass in this volume, but it's entertaining if you have an idea where that head and that ass have been. Until the last issue. The last issue is just white noise in a plot suit.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is getting a little too far up its own ass, but I’m still interested to know what’s next.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Individual issue reviews: #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13

Total review score: 2.75

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

You gotta have something besides the meta. Please, just an ounce of something.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

The superhero comic event only Image could do turns into the meta superhero comic only Image could tell. Image began thanks to a lot of disgruntled Marvel artists taking their careers into their own hands. The early days of Image were best understood to be cool art and bad writing. At Marvel, Stan Lee’s “Marvel Method” gave most of the storytelling power to the artists. Stan himself famously let artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko draw the comic first and he’d swoop in with dialogue. The “Marvel Method” evolved so that writers sketched out their scripts and artists just kind of did what they wanted.

And Crossover ends with the artist being the villain.

Oh, sorry, spoilers. But if you knew everything I wrote in that first paragraph, the ending was telegraphed well before the last page anyway. That’s not really the story of the first volume. The second volume is filled with trying to explain that, too. And, well, like I said, only Image could produce this. These days Image bills itself as the ultimate indy imprint, but its success stories are almost uniformly trading on mainstream concepts, concepts it sold to the mainstream, or hipster titles that are meant to provoke. It tosses all manner of other ideas at readers hoping anything at all will stick, but really it’s just comic book fans writing to comic book fans. It’s meta comics. All the time.

So of course something like this was bound to happen. The first volume hid this. It was a fun romp that tossed in fun things like Madman popping up (he’s absent this one), because Madman (he’s not an Image character, but for the purposes of Crossover, Dark Horse was more than willing to play along, because Dark Horse has always desperately wanted to be Image, except for a lot of years it allowed itself to be defined by Star Wars comics, and never quite managed to undo that).

Then the story veered wildly away from the central concept(s) (this volume tries to reduce it to the plot point the first volume never really got around to). And anyway, I’m not really complaining. I’m glad something like this happened. It keeps Image a little more honest. And it plays very much into the social media era so many creators put all their stock in. It’s also a kind of pandemic response (even though it started out before the pandemic), the way it evolved.

If any of this makes sense, you’re a reader of superhero comics, and almost certainly of this moment, or trying to make sense of it. And that’s exactly how you recommend Crossover.

[Estibaliz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was actually thinking of rating this second volume 4 stars, but you know what? Donny Cates deserves the full 5 stars for this crazy idea and the wonderful execution, bringing onboard so many great fellow comic creators, in what's the best meta homage to graphic novels out there (or one of them at least, because 'The Unwritten'... but this is an entirely different kind of animal, mind you).

Volume 2 surpasses the first one at so many levels, it's no joke. We don't only get the always highlighted crossover with Powers here, but also get Negan front and center, and a bunch of real life creators depicted on paper.

You can tell Donny Cates is fulfilling a creative dream, and having so much fun in the process... that the reader gets to actually feel that same fun, thrill and enjoyment.

Unfortunately, this volume ends on a sort of cliffhanger (hilarious), and I've just learnt of the fact that Cates was in a serious car accident that made him forget the prior six months of his life, in 2023, followed up by a divorce. So, yeah... talking about trauma, when trauma was actually kind of the reason he started both this series, and 'God Country' before that...

So who knows if we'll ever get a continuation to 'Crossover', but I, for once, am glad I had the opportunity to read this, and, moreover, that Cates had the chance to write it and get wild and loose.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 2 out of 5]

The elevator pitch for Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw’s Crossover would be “Under the Dome meets Ready Player One, but with comic book characters”. Sure, most of the characters were from Image, which publishes this title, but the two creators also make good use of other publishers’ creations, whilst telling a bombastic adventure story that takes the comic book world and overlaps with our world, meshing the two realities. To really appreciate the comic, you ought to have some comics history, as well as how superhero comics work, particularly in relation to their crossover events. Based on the opening issues of the second volume, Crossover goes through a change of pace...

Please click here for my full review.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There IS a lot of cool shit in comics. This is an interesting read that rewards comic geeks more than the average reader and I respect that Cates (and the other writers here) can go all in on such a meta story. I think this would feel bigger or at least more important if I was familiar with a few more of these Image properties .

This reminds me of Beau is Afraid where A24 is like you know what Ari Aster you made so much for us do whatever the hell you want, go up your own ass as deep as you’d like. And he did. And it was something weird and truly original. But it wasn’t all that enjoyable or fun. Good for Cates, not the best comic experience.

[Janae (The Modish Geek) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

More meta than the first volume, raising some promising questions and including some decently interesting twists. But also a bit self-indulgent - and it's hard to say if the guest authors make this better or worse. Also, the finale may be self-aware, but it's still rushed and abrupt. It's not clear if there will be more, but it's a good place to stop regardless. (B)

[Frank Jarome · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are things in here I loved (he NAILED the Powers bits), but there was so much that was so meta and so “out there” that I’m not sure how I feel about it overall. But those Powers bits, along with the ID of the killer and his notifications, were *chef’s kiss*

[C. Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey this was cool!

Super meta, very tongue-in-cheek. Donny and co have made an underrated period piece that I think will get better as it sits in the public conscious. This is a great idea, executed well, and pulling such a unique manner of self-reflection that I think people fail to recognize how difficult something like this must be to make.


Great book, highly recommend for all fans of Image comics;
5/5 stars

[John Funderburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as strong as volume one, but there's fun to be had. The meta nature gets a bit old by the end.

[Tacitus · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art by George Shaw made this collection a joy to look at and follow, backed by Dee Cunniffe with coloring, although there is some gore. John J. Hill had some challenging pages to letter, but they read well regardless.

Unfortunately, there just isn’t much here, otherwise, in terms of story. It doesn’t really follow up the story of Ryan and Ellie, as one might have expected from the prior issues. There are also some confusing notes, like an interrogation scene where the comic characters lose their dots. And much of the action felt static, taking place mostly within Powerhouse. For all of the dialogue, I didn’t feel like I got to know the characters any better, even Pendleton, who was a narrative focus, but not really an emotional anchor, as it turns out.

Along the way, Crossover lost much of its charm, and also much of the good will from comic readers that Donny Cates was able to capitalize upon on in the first volume. As such, the books become a little too self-indulgent, which would be tolerable if Cates actually had something meaningful to say about either himself, the creative process, or both.

In this we learn platitudes like writers do this because they needed money and love comics. Or that the final crossover is from writer to reader.

But so what? For all the metanarrative plane breaking, Cates doesn’t seem to give the participants on the other side of the fourth wall any credit for knowing anything except comic book references. This may be a mistake, because I certainly didn’t know the characters here. And as much of the story depended on assuming readers have that connection for its meaning and emotion, much of the story felt hollow.

Readers of the first volume can stop there and enjoy the series as a self-contained story. There is little to be gained by continuing with this volume.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a read that breaks the fourth wall as much as Grant Morrison's Animal Man, and possibly more, this does so especially in this volume's final chapter.

(full disclosure read as digital floppies

[The_J · Rating 1 out of 5]

The potential of Vol. 1 sinks like an over loaded barge in a mid-summer storm. Writing the authors in the story, claims of a plan and story line, but instead just an oil slick on the waves and whatever bits and pieces wash up on a nearby shore. Read the first vol, and dream about how wonderful then end could be, avoid the crippled reality.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 5 out of 5]

No sé si es cierto eso que he querido entender de que este segundo volumen de Crossover estaba peor aceptado que el 1º por la mayoría de lectores... Desde luego, no es mi caso. Si bien disfruto como el que más de un buen fanservice (en estas páginas se da con esa pareja de la Cara B, del comic de superhéroes que tanto echábamos de menos), estaba claro que Crossover tenía más que rascar de la parte de los autores que de las obras y personajes en este meta planteamiento.

Alguien está asesinando a guionistas de cómic famosos... Tiembla Chip Zdarsky (si ese es tu nombre real), llama a Batman Scott Snyder, ¿dónde te esconderás, Robert Kirkman?... ¿Y qué pasa con Donny Cates? ¿El creador de Crossover tendrá un papel fundamental en esta historia, no?

¿Por qué creamos historias? ¿Qué nos motiva a llenar un espacio en blanco? ¿De verdad dejamos algo de nosotrxs en esas tramas y personajes? ¿Qué nos dirían si nos conociesen?... Solo son algunas de las preguntas que motivan estos capítulos en los que la amenaza de los universos de comic "devorando" la realidad alcanzan su momento más candente. Pero los conflictos están en el interior, como el de esa chica a la que seguimos en la anterior tanda de capítulos. Ellie se ha descubierto como un personaje de cómic. Pero no parece una gran protagonista o superheroína. Conociendo su naturaleza, ¿por qué está ahí? Quizás pueda tener una respuesta directa de su Creador... Pero quizás este quisiese que le respondiesen a esa misma pregunta tecleando sobre ella.

Crossover alcanza en estas páginas un entramado más ambicioso a pesar de querer seguir ofreciendo un divertimento en primera instancia (me imagino que serán pocos o ninguno quien no haya celebrado la revelación del asesino y su arma homicida). Donny Cates se autocuestiona en cada personaje, trama y línea de diálogo o texto de cabecera. Deja vislumbrar bastante de sus heridas emocionales. Unas experiencias dolorosas que parecen haber motivado sus obras comiqueras. A día de hoy, todo el mundo sabe que Cates ha vuelto a pasar por un terrible momento en una larga lista de esa clase de episodios. Leer Crossover con esa perspectiva es más brutal, pero creo que creyendo que hasta todo eso es ficción, la obra se sustenta bien por sí misma.

Desconozco si de verdad hay intenciones de completar una trilogía y cumplir el macarra cliffhanger que se marcan Cates y Geoff Shaw (sic.). Supongo que ahí se resarcirá a quienes estén más a gusto con las posibilidades más evasivas de un Crossover "definitivo". Y que el autor ya ha contado realmente todo lo que quería trasmitir en este volumen... Si de verdad quiere hacerlo, ahí estaré yo. Tanto si quiere contentarse con que le de 10 centavos más por haberme entretenido o el gran aplauso y ovación por haber generado uno de los manifiestos creativos más vibrantes que se han podido parir en este medio.

[Jordi Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second trade paperback collecting the còmic-book series Crossover from Image Comics. From the first episode it is clear that this is a series based on meta: a book about comic-book characters escaping to our world, and a book about making comics. Or, more exactly, about writing comics.

The first volume was more a party of cameos of characters from other series, which made the story fun albeit pretty insubstantial. It is this second volume when everything changes completely. The meta plot takes over in a first interlude episode written by a guest writer, Chip Zdarsky, putting himself in the front stage and meeting himself too. The page where Chip is embraced by Chip was iconic to me.

From here the plot just gets crazier and crazier, more and more meta, until the same Donny Cates showes up. The story progresses rapidly, the comic-book writers killer is revealed, and it all comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

Overall the series was very fun to read. It is not a masterpiece to me for several reasons: first, it is less meta that I am guessing it wanted to be. Second, the characters are poorly described, and I never cared much about them. Finally, the second volume quite invalidates the first volume.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this second Crossover volume better than the first, but it's still just a lot. Meta-commentary on comic book writing becomes comic book writing. Give Donny Cates credit: The Ten-Cent Plague is still a propulsive, engaging read, even if it's far headier than necessary.

Essentially, in this Crossover world where a dome in Denver keeps comic book characters from crossing over into our world, comic book authors are being murdered. Cue the cameos! Who is doing the murdering? The detectives from the Powers series, plus Ellie, our hero from the last volume, are bound to find out. It's a straightforward enough plot that, even with the wild digressions, you can get to the end of The Ten-Cent Plague with a sense of satisfaction.

The art's still great and some of the humorous elements hit home. Cates is swinging for the fences, but he lands a decent...single (?) with this one. (My lack of baseball knowledge is really hurting this metaphor)