Crossed Volume 3 [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I have to say that I've yet to be completely drawn into this series and this volume didn't really give me that "OMG, must read" feeling. It's decent and has some great artwork, but that just doesn't seem to be enough for me. It's a shame, since I do like Lapham's Ferals series.

The story here is pretty much what you've come to expect from the series: the Crossed are incredibly messed up people that are driven to do terrible things to each other due to an unknown virus. Some of the Crossed were obviously people who were terrible in their daily lives, but most of them are people who would have otherwise played by society's rules and not harmed anyone. What's interesting in this volume is that Lapham decided to play on the idea of society's rules and what happens when they're gone.

The main character of the volume is Lorre, a freaky psychopath that spends a good portion of his time seeing things the way he wants to see them. You're either someone that he idolizes or (more likely) you're someone he despises or is merely a tool for him to use until he's finished with you. He's the epitome of That Guy that nobody ever really notices, yet when he eventually snaps you can't help but talk about how strange he is. From what you can tell in the volume, Lorre spent most of his time lusting after a beautiful married woman that he'd always cross paths with, but never really did anything to until society's values got stripped away. That's when the real Lorre comes out into the open rather than the veneer he usually showed when he could actually have repercussions for his actions from the general society.

Now that sounds interesting, right? The play on "who is the monster" as well as the idea that some of us (a good many of us, according to this volume and others) are only "good" because society expects it of us and we have the threat of being punished. Stick us into an atmosphere where it's literally all or nothing and mayhem ensues.

Then why did this just feel like it didn't quite fulfill its promise? It's good and I'll still read the series, but I just seem to continually feel like this series is being held back. This might be due to the episodic feel of the series, as we have yet to have a set of characters that was in more than one volume. We've had plenty of buildup, but now it just feels like it's pretty much the same story being told over and over again, but with slight variations. This is fine if all you're looking for is sheer entertainment value, but I know that these guys can do better.

This collection includes David Lapham's most recent descent into utter disgust, which is CROSSED: PSYCHOPATH. This is essentially the tale of what happens to a group of survivors of the "crossed" infection when a man, who is, unbeknownst to the group, actually already psychopathic, becomes part of said group.

I have also reviewed Crossed, Vol. 2, which features Lapham as the writer, which collects his FAMILY VALUES arc. The sad thing about both of the books is that there is potential for something really terrific here, as Garth Ennis displayed in the initial run on this comic, and especially having a character like Lorre in this arc. In a world full of easily-recognizable psychopaths, what happens when you actually live and travel with one in secret? Conceptually, that's a very strong idea. Sadly for the reader, Lapham doesn't have the intent to take that idea to a more powerful and more dramatic tale, and again, as he did in FAMILY VALUES, reduces it to lowest-common-denominator shock, perversion, extreme gore and none of it really works.

There are moments where dread is felt, but they are far too few and far between. Again, Avatar Press shows that, with Lapham as the writer, they are going way too far in the other direction that Garth Ennis set out for them, which is a real shame.

I ordered this compendium from Radiant Books, and was not happy about the condition it came in. They responded, sent me a crisp copy rush order, and I had it in a few days. Very good, responsive customer service.

Crossed V.3 is pretty much what you expect from this series. Pretty cool how they give you protagonists you cannot like, telling the story from their view. The main character is the most demented narrative out of any so far from the series. Really dark. Crossed definitely pushes the envelop. That's what I like most about them. What the writers of the series put out really challenges your idea of how far comics can go--as well as giving us a true look at man without laws.