The world of Crossed is one in which a highly contagious disease sweeps across the Earth and, rather than turning everyone into zombies, turns them into violent, sweary, psychotic killers who indulge in rape, cannibalism, murder and worse. The original series (invented by Garth Ennis, who else?) was set in the modern day. Crossed One Hundred is set in the future (in fact, one hundred years on from the outbreak of the plague) and is written by comic book creative legend Alan Moore.
The book begins with humanity just starting to make its way from under the ruins of its past. The Crossed virus is still around, but the surviving humans have been (mostly) able to outsmart the crazed killers; only nests of ‘Ill-Billies’, incest weakened horrors who live in the mountains, remain. We follow the story of Future Taylor, an archivist who spends much of her time searching the ruins for useful books, DVDs and the like in order to help rebuild civilisation. During her journey, she uncovers creepy evidence that threatens to destroy everything mankind has worked for over the past hundred years. There’s also a nice examination into our relationship with fiction; this is Alan Moore, after all.
Those expecting a perhaps less gross and gory take on the Crossed world will be disappointed; Moore gleefully uses the premise for plenty of body horror. There’s also quite a bit of nudity, some sex and a fair bit of violence throughout. Moore also has fun with the language here; Crossed tends to be filled with foul language and the conceit in Crossed One Hundred is that English has changed quite a bit. People don’t “think”, they “skull”. They don’t “look”, they “opsy”. Some swear words have lost all power and become regular verbs, and so on. This is nothing new for Moore, he’s been playing fast and loose with slang ever since The Ballad of Halo Jones. Though it adds a bit of a ‘future savage’ vibe to whole proceedings, it is also a bit of a hindrance at times.
Gabriel Andrade’s art is pretty and evocative throughout. The artist turns even the worst atrocities into works of art and the entire thing is accessible, cinematic and very good. Or “movie”, as they would say in Crossed’s future. Overall, this is an interesting read that will disturb regular comics readers and delight those into both Crossed and Alan Moore.
CROSSED ONE HUNDRED VOLUME 1 / WRITER: ALAN MOORE / ARTIST: GABRIEL ANDRADE / PUBLISHER: AVATAR / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
