The Best Comic I Read Today Is . . . Crossed + 100 #1

I’m not a “fan” of zombie apocalypse comics.  I don’t read The Walking Dead and only watch the show once it’s on Netflix.  I have never read an issue of Crossed or any of its spin-off titles.  So why would I buy a book that takes place a century after the events in another comic book I have never read, using tropes I’m not too fond of? 

The answer should be obvious - Alan Moore



Moore is the master of world building.  Like he did in his first major comic book work, what would come to be called Miracleman, Moore is taking the familiar and making it different.  From the odd word choices and speech patterns of the characters, reminiscent of the Nadsat of A Clock Work Orange, to the way the “infected” are portrayed and ultimately dealt with, Moore and artist Gabriel Andrade introduce the reader to this world in a way that makes the other titles in the  Crossed series unnecessary.

What led to this world of violent, sex crazed zombies?   

How did this group survive and how do they know what is happening across the country?   

Who cares?  

Through journal entries from our main character, Future Taylor, and the spot-on dialogue between the other survivors, as well as the excellently paced action scenes, I learned all I needed to know. 

Crossed + 100 isn’t a zombie / horror comic.  Sure, it has all the trappings of one, but at its heart it’s a science fiction mystery set in a post apocalyptic landscape.  The “infected” are horrible, the threats are real and there’s always the specter of death hanging around the characters, but the real story doesn’t seem to be one of survival.

It’s discovering the origin of the picture Future Taylor found in a makeshift shrine, and what secret it could hold for our adventurers.

So I’ll put aside my zombie-apocalypse bias for the next six issues.

After all – it’s Alan Moore.

- Aloha -