: Civilization collapses instantly as a global pandemic turns ordinary people into "Crossed"—homicidal maniacs marked by a cross-shaped rash on their faces.
Burrows is the unsung hero of this book. Many artists would make the gore cartoonish or stylized. Burrows renders it in stark, realistic detail. The anatomy is perfect, the expressions of terror are authentic, and the Crossed smile—that wide, toothy, manic grin—is one of the most disturbing images in sequential art. In Crossed #1 , Burrows proves that the scariest monster is a human being who has stopped caring. crossed 1 comic
To understand , you must first understand the rules of its universe. Unlike zombies (slow or fast), the "Crossed" are not mindless. They are infected by a pathogen (airborne, bloodborne—the ambiguity adds to the terror) that strips away every layer of human empathy, conscience, and restraint. : Civilization collapses instantly as a global pandemic
Crossed #1 is not a comfortable read. It is not a "fun" comic. It is a stress test. It asks the reader to look into a mirror and wonder if the only thing keeping them from becoming a Crossed is a minuscule virus. Burrows renders it in stark, realistic detail
The issue opens with the pandemic’s rapid spread and societal breakdown. Ennis follows several characters—most notably survivors confronted with both infected and opportunistic other humans—showing immediate violence, despair, and attempts at survival. The narrative juxtaposes ordinary domestic settings against sudden, grotesque brutality, ending with scenes that foreground horror and loss of civil order.
In the first few pages of Crossed #1 , Ennis establishes the collapse of the world through the eyes of our protagonist, a hardened, pragmatic Brit named Salt. We witness the "turn"—normal people suddenly scratching the cross into their faces with broken glass and turning on their families. The horror of Crossed is not the monster; it is the sudden realization that the monster is still your neighbor, your spouse, or your child, laughing while they torture you.