History ComicBook / Crossed

** Most of the characters in the original ''+100'' run, where casual sex is less of a taboo.

** Zigzagged with Rab, who actually does lose his HonorBeforeReason characteristics that Shaky took for granted in the first arc, but he doesn't lose is protectiveness of the rest of the group, and ultimately, through a little hard pragmatism, succeeds in a BatmanGambit that Shaky doubts he would have thought of.

** In Badlands Issue 93, when Lloyd suggests breaking out their guns to try and fight Smokey, Cody replies that while Ben knows how to shoot from his time in the army, Cody and Lloyd have only ever hunted animals before, and no one else has even done that, and he doesn't like their chances.

* InstantlyProvenWrong: Immediately after the ExplainExplainOhCrap above, Karen expresses skepticism at Cody's claims that Smokey saw them, asking what the odds are that he'd understand the meaning of the periscope even if he did see it. The next panel has Smokey calling down to them "little pig, little pig, let me in." Causing a MassOhCrap moment.

** Commander Chief Nathan’s efforts to liberate Camp Casper initially buy him a little credit from the readers of ''MIMIC'', but the confirmation that he just wants to put things back to the way they were before the Crossed drove him out and him planning to kill Julie (so that the other "support" personnel don't get any ideas about improving their station) cement him as an AssholeVictim.

** Smokey, the Twins, and possibly Harold Lorre are major examples, but all pale in comparison to Beauregard Salt who set monstrous stuff into motion but apparently died contently of old age and at the end of +100 many of his descendants are still kicking strong.

** The first volume of ''Wish You Were Here'' has lots of people in the survivor colony (Viceroy, Edith, Christine, Chanice, Maria, Jackie, Boy, Sofia, Jamie, and Tabitha) who spend a lot of time loitering around group meetings, doing chores, joining firing lines against the Crossed and such but take a long time to get proper introductions and (with a [[AscendedExtra couple notable exceptions]]) often suffer a DeathInTheLimelight or remain fairly unimportant even after they do get named and/or directly interact with Shaky.

** In the same story we have Edmund's classmates organizing a LastStand in a hunting/fishing shop. Hank Smith seems like a ReasonableAuthorityFigure to others, and Edmund himself is praised for giving his friends an advantage over the incoming enemy. Does it mean that they will be able to repel the Crossed attack? Nope! The second the infected "geeks" attack the store, they overrun it and kill or infect almost everyone in a matter of minutes. A large group of amateurs with guns going up against a gang of madmen who outnumber them greatly ''and'' are capable of turning them goes as well as you'd expect.

** Curtis from ''Homo Tortor'' is a skilled archer, yet, as Washington's voiceover puts it clearly, using a bow, despite it's certain perks, puts you at disadvantage against a Crossed, who can and ''will'' NoSell some attacks that might be lethal to a usual human (like an arrow to the eye), much less against a whole ''crowd'' of them. Firing a modern bow is also very difficult and it is awfully easy to fire too early and lose the killing power. Soon enough Curtis switches to a pistol during the bunker siege, [[spoiler:but Washington chooses to indirectly sacrifice him anyway.]]

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Chanice wants her BloodKnight father Des to spend more time with her, but is rarely willing to admit it.

* AtomicHate: Mostly averted. Once governments recognize what's going on (i.e., that the Crossed retain enough humanity to use nuclear weapons, while losing enough to want to) they put as much effort as possible into making sure that their arsenals go unused. India doesn't retaliate when a group of Crossed in Pakistan hits New Delhi, and ''Thin Red Line'' uses the desire to avert this as a major plot point. Only Israel uses its weapons in full force, and it's unknown whether that was done by a group of Crossed or in horrified recognition that their neighboring countries were overrun.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted, several names are reused throughout the series. There is Cody the friend of Emiko from ''Gore Angels'' and Cody the apocalypse bunker salesman from Badlands' final arc. Harry is the name of both the soldier and Prime Minister's body guard from ''The Fatal Englishman'' and ''The Thin Red Line'' and the ginger possible royal from Badlands' first arc. There are also three characters named Tabitha (Clooney's cheating girlfriend in ''Golden Road'', Shaky's lover in ''Wish You Were Here'' and the old woman in Richie's group in ''Dead or Alive''). Finally there is Richie the informal leader of the group in ''Lesser of Two Evils'' and Richie the [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] protagonist of ''Dead or Alive.'' There are also two characters named Thomas: a member of Cindy's group from Volume One and the real name of Fleshcook from ''Mimic''.
** A third Richie, a Kenyan student and a member of Jasper's group appears in ''Wish You Were Here'', which also averted this when they had two men named John by nicknaming the second one Don.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The protagonist of "Wish You Were Here" is named Shaky, short for Shakespeare, which he was mockingly called by another survivor after telling him his occupation as a writer. He's never revealed his actual name, and none of the other characters have called him anything else. (Unless you count "cunt" as a name.)

*** Given how Skip's job involves staying on the boat whenever he brings people ashore, Shaky feels he gets to {{Pun skip}} out on the real danger on sorties.

** In ''Wish You Were Here'' Given how Skip's job involves staying on the boat whenever he brings people ashore, Shaky feels he gets to skip out on the real danger on sorties. Shaky is a nickname but he does keep writing, while working to build the story that he's living rather than just participate it and rely on others. In the first issue he also says it’s not because he shakes a little bit when shooting, but he does in fact shake, and this is a hint of his cowardice dominating him in critical situations. The surname Masoud means fortunate, prosperous happy and lucky- which describe Roshan fairly well (at least initially) and also (except maybe the happy part for Mr. Masoud) the family as a whole [[spoiler: until they lose their son]] given how few families had all their members survive that long. Mark the cheesemaker's name might be a reference towards the Royal Mark cheddar brand. In various slangs, Jasper can mean outsider, heckle and abuse, or be an insult to your intelligence, all of which describe the character to a T. Lloyd Thackery’s name sounds a lot like Lord, which he is, indicating privilege, some nobility of character but also being used to relying on others (all of which also apply to another Lloyd, who appears in Badlands). Finally, the Gamekeeper is a synonym to the word "huntsman" with hunting being one of his useful perks.

** ''+100'' takes the cake in this regard, with lots of characters having names that signify the hopes of the generation that was finally turning the tide against the Crossed. We have Future Taylor, Morning Addison, Mustaqba the Chooga archivist (his name also means "future" in Arabic, with an 'l' at the end), Hope Keller, Coal Captain Carpe Dee (short for Carpe Diem), Enthusiasm and Opportunity Smith, and Forward Dietrich. The most meaningful of them all is Cautious Optimism Kryswickzi, whose name in retrospect is telling the readers to feel cautious about being optimistic about this seemingly brighter future. Opportunity Smith and Carpe Dee also prove to have meaningful names in another way when [[spoiler: they presumably join most of their town in trying to capture Future and Genheim to hand over to the Crossed to save some of their own people]]. Possibly Archivist Reed (if that’s her first name) as in "read" books. Insa's (short for the Ray Bradbury line "Insanity is Relative") name symbolizes how her culture is more well-read, but also that she [[spoiler: is a Crossed collaborator, working with insanity that she finds relative]]. The Crossed child Now’s name might symbolize by how it is a time of intelligent Crossed. Im’am Fair subverts this in that she’s not a good leader, or a fair person, at least not initially. Genheim McBlarney does indeed sell a lot of blarney as a hobby, and [[spoiler: after his death, Bailey sells a version of what happened to him that is also blarney to avoid alienating his people]]. Genheim's son Oneway averts this, as by leaving Bailey’s army [[spoiler: when they’re heading into a trap, he avoids going on a oneway mission]]. Camp Casper on the other hand only has normal names (except for a few militaristic ones like D-Day Kendall), symbolizing the compound's refusal to look forward to the future and attempts to keep its people and culture repressed.
** While most Crossed nicknames are ones they get later in life for specific, often physical reasons (like No-Nose, Stump, Face, and Fleshcook) others play this straighter. [[spoiler: Robbie Greer]]/Jokemercy had that name from infancy, and it suits him perfectly as he often delivers horrific terms of surrender that he considers "merciful" with a SlasherSmile, as if it's all a big joke to him. Also played straight with the seven “children” of Beau Salt (although most of them are long dead and only mentioned in Salt's diary). Bashful isn’t a frontline general for the most part and prefers to have his MouthOfSauron conduct business for him. Sneezy is bent on “total infection” and wants to spread the Crossed disease to everyone in the world. Happy seems to have been one of the comparatively less sadistic and more stable members of the Salt clan based on his disciple Fleshcook’s claims and behavior. Doc took part in behavior conditioning for DeepCoverAgent Jokemercy and others like him to overcome their psychology and infiltrate human settlements. Sleepy’s branch of the Salt clan are also described as zealots who haven't awakened from Salt’s posthumous sway and are viewed fairly negatively even by the others (while remaining below the radar like sleeper agents). Grumpy was Salt's original enforcer. Dopey was apparently the least intelligent of the seven, dying prematurely of AIDS after violating Salt’s rule about not having sex outside of their group. Outside of the Salt clan, another Crossed example is Smokey. While his nickname came from fireman status (or at least looking like he had such status), it gradually turns into this a bit given how his plans keep going up in smoke.

* HappyEndingOverride: ''The Livers'' ends with [[spoiler:Amanda finally joining the Livers and serving them a fresh meal (a man whom she rescued in the beginning of the arc).]] ''Breakdown'', however, opens with [[spoiler:Amanda alone and her companions (Dr. Kong and Dr. Candy) captured, with the former killed and the latter being infected and then killed as well.]]

** The franchise in general is like this, with the various arcs taking place during different times in the Crossed plague, ranging from the initial outbreak to a few years later. Two ''Badlands'' arcs, ''Yellow Belly'' and ''The Golden Road'', start on the very first night of the outbreak, ''Psychopath'' takes place three years after the C-Day, ''Of the World in Its Becoming'', the first ''Badlands'' arc, takes place four years after the outbreak and ''The Fatal Englishman'' takes place five years after the outbreak, while ''Crossed: +100'' by Alan Moore and Gabriel Andrade takes place 100 years after the outbreak, the furthest yet in time.

* MonsterClown: Since "Yellow Belly" involves a group of Crossed who were circus workers, a couple of these appear.

* MysteriousPast: Quite often (given most characters reluctance to talk about their past lives and previous survival). Notable examples include Smokey (whose origins, and whether or not he was actually a fireman or just [[RobbingTheDead took ones coat]] are never revealed) and half of the cast of ''Grave New World''. Dr. El-Sayeed and Kimo were both mentioned to have been prisoners in the United States Navy Brig in Norfolk on C-Day, before Barnes [[PetTheDog let them out]] but it's never revealed what crimes they had been arrested for. Peter Bingham and the Stillwells are implied to have been pleasure boaters who were at sea during C-Day but it's unclear whether they were together or not, and how Barnes found them. Finally, Barnes keeps four children stowed below decks, for their own safety, but it's never revealed who their parents are or whether Barnes rescued them from the Naval Base or pleasure crafts.

** Pre-apocalypse this is played straight with the LAPD, who tell Land they know Curtis Wentz is a pornographer and heroin trafficker but can’t prove it (not even after Wentz sends Land letters gloating in prison), and Land himself doesn’t inspire confidence by going CowboyCop and managing to kill nearly everyone in the room except Wentz and his henchmen.

** The rest of the bunker people, the Thackerys from ''Wish You Were Here, and the Stillwells and Peter from ''Grave New World'' avert this, being aware of their own precarious chances, only making reasonable complaints, and not throwing any weight around.

** The same arc shows that just because you can book a place in the apocalypse bunker does not mean that you might make it alive to said bunker when shit does hit the fan. Many of Cody's clients were in city centers when the C-Day hit and thus were all slaughtered by the Crossed, with only those who had convenient means of transportation making it out alive, like Bobby Lee in his helicopter. Cody himself made it a point to purchase a house close to the apocalypse bunker he had designed, meaning that when C-Day hit he was the first to arrive at the bunker on his motorcycle.

** Shaky and his team come across Fort George, the real-life garrison/HQ of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. Besieged by hordes of Crossed, the fortress is still manned by the uninfected Black Watch, which means they have been holding out for as long as ''18-24 months''. Also doubles as a {{Badass Army}}. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the Fort is later overrun by the Crossed, leaving no survivors]]. And Shaky's theory as to how it happened is later proved to be incorrect.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Boss Yamada and his Yakuza goons, Gideon Welles, Emiko's father and Harry and his team (during "The Thin Red Line", they’ve shed them by "The Fatal Englishman"). Bobby Lee tried to be one of these but it was undermined by his cockiness, instability and early death. Gordon Brown and his cabinet (save for Alistair) count as non-action versions, while we watch them issue orders to try and stop the outbreak quickly and reasonably (particularly the one who knew about the hangers with stealth bombers that could be used to take out the Russian planes attempting to nuke America)

** The same arc shows that just because you can book a place in the apocalypse bunker does not mean that you might make it alive to said bunker when shit does hit the fan. Many of Cody's clients were in city centers when the C-Day hit and thus were all slaughtered by the Crossed, with only those who had convenient means of transportation making it out alive, like Bobby Lee in his helicopter.
** Speaking of Bobby, he finds out the hard way that actively abusing someone who sold you a place in the bunker will not end well, especially if you lack proper skills required in keeping the bunker operational. [[spoiler: Cody kills him before he can even set a foot underground because even he had enough sense to realize Bobby's action-oriented attitude could get the whole group wiped out.]] The same thing happens with Red Mitchell, who despite paying for three floors, was still denied an access and left to die outside because Crossed were on his tail. Even Ben, who claimed to be a soldier, was briefly threatened by Cody himself, before being allowed to enter the shelter.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: In the first arc, a Crossed uses the severed reproductive organ of an equine specimen. Or, in layman's terms [[spoiler: HORSECOCK!]]

* {{Squick}}: '''DEAR.''' '''''GOD.''''' There are so many to count, that the comic might as well be called this. The Crossed take great pleasure in causing the most horrific and disgusting acts of inhumanity possible. Examples include suffocating a dolphin by raping its blow hole, masturbating on bullets as a way of spreading the virus more efficiently, molesting dismembered corpses, using a horse penis as a billy club and a pregnant woman tearing apart her own stomach so she can eat her own unborn baby. It's, uh, ''pretty sick''!

* {{Squick}}: ''DEAR.'' '''''GOD.''''' There are so many to count, that the comic might as well be called this. The Crossed take great pleasure in causing the most horrific and disgusting acts of inhumanity possible. Examples include suffocating a dolphin by raping it in its blow hole, masturbating on bullets as a way of spreading the virus more effeciantly, molesting a corpse that has had its lower half sawed off and a pregnant woman tearing apart her own stomach so she can eat her own unborn baby. It's, uh, ''pretty sick''!

* AnythingThatMoves: The Crossed will want to have their way with anyone and anything including children and animals.

* {{Squick}}: ''DEAR.'' '''''GOD.''''' There are so many to count, that the comic might as well be called this. The Crossed take great pleasure in causing the most horrific and disgusting acts of inhumanity as possible. Examples include suffocating a dolphin by raping it in its blow hole, masturbating on bullets as a way of spreading the virus more effeciantly, molesting a corpse that has had it's lower half sawed off and a pregnant woman tearing apart her own stomach so she can eat her own unborn baby.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: "Smokey" from "Quisling," who is the leader of his group of Crossed, and is easily one of the most intelligent Crossed in the series. Any normal Crossed he encounters quickly take to following him, though it often doesn't stick when Smokey's plans hit snags and the more mundane Crossed get impatient.

*** ... and as soon as Edmund decides to be brave, [[spoiler: he gets killed by the girl he saved. Had he just abandoned her when the Crossed attacked, or had he decided not to come clean to the bikers about what really happened to Nicole, he would most likely still be alive]]. Moral: Courage will get you killed or Crossed in the world of the Crossed.

** In ''Quisling'' [[spoiler:Oliver himself]] dies this way at the hands of Smokey.

* SnowMeansDeath: Most of the first ''Badlands'' arc, ''Of the World in Its Becoming'', takes place during winter in the highlands, and [[spoiler:the entire survivor group eventually ends up dead or infected]].

** The method of fooling the Crossed by painting a red cross on an uninfected humans' face sounds good on paper... Except, as Oliver from ''Quisling'' states, his group had been utilizing such strategy with extreme caution. Not only do they avoid standing in the Crossed's field of view for too long (because the Crossed would inevitably figure the trick out), but getting the ''uninfected'' blood from dead corpses is pretty risky too because most of these bodies would be infected. It would only be made harder if the corpse is headless or otherwise dismembered.

** Curtis from ''Homo Tortor'' is a skilled archer, yet, as Washington's voiceover puts it clearly, using a bow, despite it being good and silent in some situations, puts you at disadvantage against a Crossed, who can and ''will'' NoSell some attacks that might be lethal to a usual human (like being shot in the eye with an arrow), much less against a whole ''crowd'' of them. Firing a modern bow is also very difficult and it is awfully easy to fire too early and lose the killing power. Soon enough Curtis switches to a pistol during the bunker siege, [[spoiler:but Washington chooses to indirectly sacrifice him anyway.]]

** Speaking of Bobby, he finds out the hard way that actively abusing someone who sold you a place in the bunker will not end well, especially if you lack proper skills required in keeping the bunker operational. [[spoiler: Cody kills him before he can even set a foot underground because even he had enough sense to realize Bobby's action-oriented attitude could get the whole group wiped out.]] The same thing happens with Red Mitchell, who despite paying for three floors, was still denied an access and left to die outside because Crossed were on his tail.

* TongueTrauma: In Richie's backstory from "Dead or Alive" we get to see an infected person biting his tongue off behind his cheeks. Then he [[NightmareFace opens his mouth wide, showing the gorn]]. And this happens ''before'' he develops the rash on his face.
* TooDumbToLive: Most of the time, the Crossed benefit greatly from non-infected characters stupidity.

* RapunzelHair: Elisa and Sheena.

** The authorities at Elmer, the Bullocks' and Viceroy’s prisons all let out the prisoners rather than leave them to die (although at Elmer's prison that was to get fighters).