Link: http://www.avatarpress.com/

About three years ago I discovered Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and since then I have been forever changed. Melodramatic? Yes, very much so. Any less true? No way. Preacher started me looking at comics other than those that contained capes and tights, and I've never looked back. I still pick up all my superhero stuff but now I love to search out stories that have nothing to do with all that and simply lose myself in a well crafted genre story, the more messed up, the better. Which brings us back to Garth Ennis and his new offering from Avatar Press; Crossed.

Follow up:

I actually managed to miss all the hype about the release of this title and didn't even know it had been released until it happened to catch my eye on the shelf of my local comics shop. How could you not notice it, people are being thrown from a plane for God's sake?! Up until now I pretty much exclusively pick up independant comics in trade format as collected editions but for this I felt I just couldn't wait. I grabbed it off the shelf (the last one there, lucky me) and skipped home happy in the knowledge Mr Ennis would be filling my nightmares with interesting characters in some depraved, hopeless, and often darkly amusing situations.

What I got, did not disappoint. Crossed tells the story of a group of survivors in a world where most people appear to have been possessed by evil incarnate and those that haven't must hide in order to avoid being raped and mutilated in the most horrifc fashion. The group has a more than passing resembelence to the survivors that are the focus of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead series and I am sure this is no coincidence as it lulls you into a false sense of familiarity. You get the sense that these people have given up all hope, there is no fight left in them and all they can do is wait for death to find them.

Within a few pages, you get a great feel for the charaters and where they fall within the heirarchy of the group and although there is mystery surrounding the cause of this disaster you understand the severity of it. The art is handled by Jacen Burrows in fantastic fashion and he really get's to show us what he's made of with possibly one of the most horrific splash pages I have ever seen. When I showed the rest of the Sidekicks on the last episode of Sidekickcast, they literally had to avert their eyes in horror. Even this scene though is handled with an element of dark humour that can't help but rouse an evil smirk upon my face. I can't tell you anymore as you really have to see it for yourself, if you are easily offended though, I would avoid this title like the plague. If you have a darkside and a good constitution, then this story could be for you and it gets 5* from me.

Crossed is brought to you by Avatar Press and the first two issues are available now.

Garth Ennis is an Irish born writer whose substantial credits include Preacher, The Punisher, Chronicles of Wormwood, Back to Brooklyn, The Boys, Judge Dredd, Hellblazer and Dan Dare.

Jacen Burrows is a Californian artist who has worked with some of the finest talent in the business on Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis), The Courtyard (Alan Moore) and Chronicles of Wormwood (Garth Ennis). also noteable is his work in illustration work for Rockstar Games on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City