flashsucks
Since: Nov, 2010
04/08/2013 00:00:00
I fully agree with this review. It was eye-catching at first; i never saw something so blatantly brutal before. But eventually i got used to the gorn, and as i read the comic, i realized that it was basically trying to be an over the top version of The Walking Dead. And you're right about the inability to relate to the characters. Where's the incentive to see them live if the only way to do so is to reject any notions of heroism?
Reading this comic is kind of like watching a wrestling match with The Ultimate Warrior. It starts off with a bang, but the longer you stick around, the more it seems to wear itself out.
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Not Cross, Just Disappointed
Crossed is a series of stories set in a post apocalyptic society, ravaged by plague infected, psychopathic Reavers. It's also an excuse for showing some of the greatest excesses in comic book history. The spectacular, borderline gore porn violence is enough to drive most of its audience away. But is there much else left for those who don't mind?
Zombie apocalypse stories are much of a muchness, and there is already far too much. Crossed, however, does enough to stand out from the others. This is largely down to the nature of the "infected" themselves. Though they are gibbering maniacs with no compulsions beyond eating, fucking and murder, they retain their personality and cunning, which makes them particularly inventive when it comes to wanton carnage. They love what they do, and that exuberance tends to rub off on the reader after a while. For all their unpleasantness, the Crossed are fascinating to watch, much like a particularly bad 4Chan discussion.
Infected aside though, the survivors are very much the standard zombie-apocalypse fair. Tip to writers of zombie fiction: "Humans are the real monsters!" has been done. Here, it feels just as tedious. Some of characters are creative and entertaining, such as one soldier who claims to be Prince Harry, but many are supremely unlikeable, unrelatable assholes. I guess the point the writers are labouring is that only the most selfish and determined stand any chance of survival, but the reader can only take so much before they start rejecting these massive pricks out of hand. One character, Steve, is an ex-military prison guard who used to torture Iraqi detainees for fun. That could have been a compelling character, but the writers had to go too far; she doesn't just enjoy torture, she is massively aroused by it. Also there are two sexy, psychopathic, identical twins. Then there is this gameskeeper - I won't say what he does, but after a while, the reader wonders why no other survivor has just got on with it and killed him already. The reader becomes so dulled to this sort of thing, they end up shrugging and saying "yeah, whatever".
Crossed is hit and miss. It all depends on the right characters, and unfortunately, they are often wrong. I say give it a chance, but not a big one.