Crossed #4

I'm going to pass on posting the cover, I think. Hmm. Either I'm getting a thicker skin in dealing with Garth Ennis' depravity, or there wasn't quite as much of it on display in this issue. Oh there's still plenty of filth and perversion, just not to the normal levels. The little band of survivors is trying to get out of the city, but the group is split after having to deal with last issue's kid-cannibals. I still say that they probably should not have been killed, but I can see why the protagonists did what they did. I think it is funny that I'm getting to know the characters in this book, but I don't know anyone's names. It is almost like it doesn't matter. Heck, with the world collapsed down like it is for the cast, they probably don't care about names anymore either. What worries the group is that the crazed cross-faced maniacs are starting to become more organized. The sickness has turned them totally evil, but they aren't insane, they are calculating and sadistic. This issue was positively subdued though. When a bunch of people are thrown in a trailer to knife each other to death, it is left to the imagination, showing a restraint I didn't think had a place in this title. I did like the crossing the bridge bit at the end. With the main bridge broken, there is a single plank left for the survivors to cross. The blind survivor understandably takes longer than the others to cross, and she's panicking the whole way. Her delay costs another survivor her life though, when the plank falls away, leaving her alone on the city-side of the bridge as a crowd of crazies descend on her. Rather than be let herself be violated by them, she drops off the bridge to her death. (You've gotta hope she would die, don't want to survive that!) The crazies are all ramped up to go after the survivors, so I imagine the next issue will be pretty stressful.

I feel like there have been big delays between issues that are affecting how involved I am in the book. I always love post-apocalyptic stories, and this one is unflinching in its take on a horrible apocalyptic world. Ennis gets to play to both his greatest strengths (characterization and plot) and greatest weaknesses (incredible gore and perversion) in this. Unsurprisingly, I'm often disturbed and shocked at each issue, but I want to know what happens next!

Jacen Burrows can do exactly what is necessary to keep this book as disturbing as it is. His crazies are all upsetting to see, and the cast all has a distinctive enough look to stand out.

Good, if you can handle the sick stuff, Poor if you can't