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First published within a single compilation volume back in March of 2016, ‘Crossed +100: Volume 2’ was the second instalment in the ‘Crossed +100’ spinoff post-apocalyptic mini-series which followed on from the original ‘Crossed’ comics, only set exactly 100 years later.
The six comics compiled in this second volume were written by Simon Spurrier and drawn by Fernando Heinz and Rafa Ortiz.
DLS Synopsis:
DLS Synopsis:
It’s now a year since Chooga was overrun by the infected. A full year since Robbie Greer’s deception was uncovered and the remaining survivors from that horrific night, fled into the unknown. A year since the numbers of uninfected took a hammering, and the infected revealed themselves as more cunning and calculated than thought possible.
After that fateful night, Future Taylor had been taken in by the people of Murfreesboro. The settlement was now more like a fortress, although it had its weaknesses. Future knew it was only a matter of time before the Crossed came for them. The infected already knew where Murfreesboro was. Probably already knew its weaknesses too.
However, despite Future’s incessant warnings, those that ran the community didn’t take her words seriously. In fact, they were becoming increasingly bored with her negative outlook. Tired of hearing about what was on its way.
As far as the settlement’s leaders were concerned, encounters with the Crossed had become minimal and sporadic. But this had lulled the people of Murfreesboro into a false sense of security. Even Mustaqha, Future’s partner, had begun talking of marriage and a baby.
But Future knew this false comfort and optimism wouldn’t last. The Crossed were out there. Biding their time. Waiting for the right moment to reveal themselves again. A powerful force with a mission. No longer just mindless murderous lunatics acting on compulsion. The Crossed were organised and calculated.
When they come, the arrive with a simple message. Die or deal. Neither option is a pleasant outcome for them…
For this second volume in the ‘Crossed +100’ mini-series we see Simon Spurrier take on the story from where Alan Moore left off. We’re taken forward another year – to July 2109, with the character of Future Taylor now very much the principal protagonist and indeed one of the focal points to the story. In fact, Future’s diary writing takes on a more dominant role with delivering the narrative now, with each chapter/comic heavily bookended by Future’s diary additions.
What came as the biggest surprise to me in this second instalment was that the whole ‘Beauregard Salt’ storyline didn’t continue any further. We only have a few mentions of the ‘Salt Billies’ to remind us of the legacy of the killer. Personally, I think that’s a shame, as the gradual revealing of who Salt was, and how his powerful, cult-like influence eventually led to the infected being as organised and capable as they are now, was a key strength within the first volume.
What we have instead is the story focussing upon the escalating tensions within the Murfreesboro stronghold. The leader of the community – Ima’am Fajr – has basically had enough of Future’s constant talk of the Crossed coming to kill them all. They’re trying to reestablish a community, to build a new future for themselves. She doesn’t want everyone wallowing in the doom and gloom and scaring everyone about a possible threat.
The storyline does edge outside of Murfreesboro in a few places. This is largely engineered through the arrival of Oneway McBlarney, who travels from settlement to settlement, spreading news and passing on messages and strategies. He’s basically a rotund older fella with a strong moral compass and a bigass hot air balloon.
Like with the first volume, there’s a lot less violence, gore and extremity than we saw in the original ‘Crossed’ comics. There are still small pockets of Crossed violence, but nothing near the constant bombardment we originally saw in the ‘Badlands’ comics. Instead, the comics are far more focussed on strategy, inner conflicts, and the mounting tension within the pressure cooker environment at Murfreesboro.
Furthermore, the unrest felt within the settlement is escalated even further with the arrival of a shitload more refugees. Instantly Future is concerned there could be the infected hiding out within the sudden influx of arrivals. Infiltrating the settlement and scoping out their defences from the inside – just as Robbie Greer had done in the first volume.
All in all, it’s a solid second instalment in the mini-series, although honestly, it’s perhaps more of a slowburner than the first volume was. The dialogue is the exact same format, although now we’re far more familiar with it, and as such, it’s deciphering doesn’t really slow down the reading as much as it previously did.
So yeah, another decent addition to the ‘Crossed’ saga and overarching universe.
The graphic novel runs for a total of 160 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Crossed +100’ instalments:
- ‘Crossed +100: Volume 1’ (2015)
- ‘Crossed +100: Volume 2’ (2016)
