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itouchmaeshelf's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
vegebrarian's review
4.0
Seriously twisted and dark. Just what you'd expect from Garth Ennis. Don't know how this series can end well since there is such a high death count.
crloken's review
1.0
Essentially this book was Ennis' attempt to write a zombie book but at the same time show how edgy and cool he was by making the zombies swear continuously and rape everything in sight. The humor is adolescent and the villains are ridiculous.Basically its about a virus that, instead of just making everyone mindlessly violent, makes them evil; once they turn they immediately start saying the c-word and raping everyone around them. It doesn't really make sense to me that this virus would give everyone new personalities. Ennis also tries to do the classic hard moral choices in a dark world and it sometimes works and it sometimes comes across as silly, adolescent, and unintelligent. I wasn't scared, I wasn't horrified, I was mostly just annoyed and every time I started to get into the story something idiotic would pull me out of it. That being said I did enjoy the last one or two chapters but its not worth plodding through to get to it.
xterminal's review
3.0
Garth Ennis, Crossed, vol. 1 (Avatar Press, 2010)
Put bluntly: Garth Ennis' initial (and only—authorship of the series was handed over to David Lapham for vol. 2) volume of Crossed is one of the most depraved, monstrous things I have ever seen in the world of the graphic novel. And this is coming from someone who reads tentacle porn, though not on a regular basis, and has collections of both Suehiro Maruo and Hideshi Hino at home. Thus, I am going to warn you: this stuff is not at all for the weak of stomach. If you are offended by something, Ennis found a way to stick it in here. I rush to add that all this is (somewhat) tempered by Ennis' trademark wicked sense of humor, and the story, if somewhat impressionist (it's almost plotless: a band of survivors trying to find a safe place in a Rage-like society), is strong and well-told. None of which makes it any less difficult to read. It should go without saying—after all, this is a Garth Ennis book—but if you're easily triggered or offended, you will probably want to stay away from this. ***
Put bluntly: Garth Ennis' initial (and only—authorship of the series was handed over to David Lapham for vol. 2) volume of Crossed is one of the most depraved, monstrous things I have ever seen in the world of the graphic novel. And this is coming from someone who reads tentacle porn, though not on a regular basis, and has collections of both Suehiro Maruo and Hideshi Hino at home. Thus, I am going to warn you: this stuff is not at all for the weak of stomach. If you are offended by something, Ennis found a way to stick it in here. I rush to add that all this is (somewhat) tempered by Ennis' trademark wicked sense of humor, and the story, if somewhat impressionist (it's almost plotless: a band of survivors trying to find a safe place in a Rage-like society), is strong and well-told. None of which makes it any less difficult to read. It should go without saying—after all, this is a Garth Ennis book—but if you're easily triggered or offended, you will probably want to stay away from this. ***
catsy2022's review
4.0
This book has graphic content, so read it at your own risk.
Story: 3.5/5
Like any survival story, it's really been done before. You can take it, change small details, but in essence, it's all the same.
The first volume of Crossed is a comic series about a group of survivors crossing America as they head towards Alaska. Each subsequent volume is about a different group of people.
The world has been infected by some sort of virus and the infectees go crazy, killing everything in sight. The group is stalked by a particularly smart group of Crossed (namesake and main enemy of the comic book) and do all they can to survive.
It doesn't get more complicated than that, and that's both good and bad.
Art: 4/5
If you ever read The Walking Dead comic series, the art is very similar.
I feel, however, that details that could've been included haven't been.
Characters: 3/5
Little character development. The story, despite being about their journey, never really was about them. I feel like they wasted a whole chapter when Slick starts reading the journal left from the soldier. Skipping 10 months when the story starts doesn't really help, as it seems that once those ten months pass, they are just stuck at that point in time. You learn a few things about the supporting characters, but then they are promptly disposed of in some graphic manner.
If that was going to be the case in the comic, perhaps Ennis should've seen fit to give Cindy and Slick more character development than the supporting guys.
Enjoyment: 4/5
I didn't mind the graphic content--it could've been worse. I like post-apoc scenarios, so this was an alright read.
Overall: 3.5/5
If only Goodreads offered half-star ratings. I'm giving this comic a 3.5/5 because, despite being a quick read, there wasn't much else to it. The story is pretty simple, characters aren't really developed (since it's more about their journey than their relationships), and the art could've been better. Since I liked it, I'm just marking it as a 4.
Story: 3.5/5
Like any survival story, it's really been done before. You can take it, change small details, but in essence, it's all the same.
The first volume of Crossed is a comic series about a group of survivors crossing America as they head towards Alaska. Each subsequent volume is about a different group of people.
The world has been infected by some sort of virus and the infectees go crazy, killing everything in sight. The group is stalked by a particularly smart group of Crossed (namesake and main enemy of the comic book) and do all they can to survive.
It doesn't get more complicated than that, and that's both good and bad.
Art: 4/5
If you ever read The Walking Dead comic series, the art is very similar.
I feel, however, that details that could've been included haven't been.
Characters: 3/5
Little character development. The story, despite being about their journey, never really was about them. I feel like they wasted a whole chapter when Slick starts reading the journal left from the soldier. Skipping 10 months when the story starts doesn't really help, as it seems that once those ten months pass, they are just stuck at that point in time. You learn a few things about the supporting characters, but then they are promptly disposed of in some graphic manner.
If that was going to be the case in the comic, perhaps Ennis should've seen fit to give Cindy and Slick more character development than the supporting guys.
Enjoyment: 4/5
I didn't mind the graphic content--it could've been worse. I like post-apoc scenarios, so this was an alright read.
Overall: 3.5/5
If only Goodreads offered half-star ratings. I'm giving this comic a 3.5/5 because, despite being a quick read, there wasn't much else to it. The story is pretty simple, characters aren't really developed (since it's more about their journey than their relationships), and the art could've been better. Since I liked it, I'm just marking it as a 4.
victoria_loves_books's review
5.0
I mean, my god. This will include some explicit language so please don't think any less of me for it.
If you like fucked up stories about human survival and how we aren't so different from animals once society is destroyed, paired with a Rage Virus + Woodstock disease (and I only say Woodstock because its one big party to the infected), you'll love this series. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
If you like fucked up stories about human survival and how we aren't so different from animals once society is destroyed, paired with a Rage Virus + Woodstock disease (and I only say Woodstock because its one big party to the infected), you'll love this series. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
will_sargent's review
3.0
Creepy as hell, but it's just trying too hard to shock. I'd be more effectively engaged if the Crossed were just a little more human -- at least human enough to fake being the people they were from time to time.
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