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Crossed Reading Order, Garth Ennis’ Post Apocalyptic Universe

Writer Garth Ennis is known for creating stories depicting hyper-violence, and Crossed is no exception to the rules. A Post-Apocalyptic Comic book published by Avatar Press, Crossed follows survivors dealing with a pandemic that causes its victims to carry out their most evil thoughts, spreading evil and hunting down the last dying members of our species. Carriers of the virus are generally known as the “Crossed” due to a large, cross-like rash that appears on their faces.

While Garth Ennis and artist Jacen Burrows created the fictional world of Crossed, other writers penned stories set in this universe, from David Lapham (Stray Bullets) to Alan Moore. What it means for the readers is mostly many story arcs that can be read as self-contained and can be read in any order. With that said, there are a few crossovers, where characters introduced in a story appeared on another arc later that would justify following a certain order. So today, we are exploring the dangerous post-apocalyptic world of Crossed!

Crossed Comics in Order

What follows is not a chronological order (maybe will do one later!) This is closer to publication order, as Ennis introduced the world in his original series, and from then, the world of Crossed expanded in several directions, depending on the writer.

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Here’s a simple overview of the several series that are set in the world of Crossed.

  • Crossed, the original series (2008-2010) by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows (10 issues)
  • Crossed: Family Values (2010) by David Lapham and Javier Barreno (7 issues)
  • Crossed: 3D (2011) by David Lapham and Gianluca Pagliarani (1 issue)
  • Crossed: Psychopath (2011) by David Lapham and Raulo Caceres (7 issues)
  • Crossed: Badlands (2012-2016) by rotating creative teams (100 issues)
  • Crossed: Wish You Were Here (2012-2014), webcomic by Si Spurrier, Javier Barreno and Fernando Melek (22 issues)
  • Crossed: Dead or Alive (2014-2015), webcomic by Garth Ennis and Daniel Gete (12 issues)
  • Crossed +100 (2014-2016) by Alan Moore and Gabriel Andrade, then Simon Spurrier and Rafa Ortiz (18 issues)
  • Crossed +100: Mimic (2018) by Christos Gage and Emiliano Urdinola (6 issues)

Crossed, the first volumes

Everything started with Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows in 2008 with the main series Crossed. Ennis never planned to write a sequel, meaning that Crossed tells you a whole story. It’s also the most important one as it gives the basic premise and worldview, everything you need to know to find your way in this post-apocalyptic world.

The idea to continue was regularly made by Avatar Press founder William Christensen. When it was suggested to have other people writing stories in the Crossed universe, Ennis allowed it as long as no one touched his characters and plots. For this reason, most stories are self-contained.

At this stage, we invite you to continue with the two next volumes, Family Values and Psychopath from David Lapham. It is recommended to read Psychopath before Badlands, since two characters at least pop up later in different arcs.

After that, you can put on your pair of 3D glasses and read Crossed 3D, set after the first arc — also from Lapham.

Crossed: Wish You Were Here

British writer Si Spurrier wrote several stories in the Crossed Universe, including the webcomic Wish You Were Here which was, at some point, available online. The story could be presented as “Crossed on a remote island” as the story follows a comic-book writer who witnessed the downfall of London, and now finds himself in the midst of a new community, a new start, on a barren island off the Scottish coast. Pretending, just for a while, that he’s safe, that he’s useful… that he has a future.

Crossed: Badlands

The Crossed Universe expands with Badlands which was launched in February 2012 with a 3-issues story from Ennis and Burrows. After that, different writers and artists came around for every arc. David Lapham wrote several stories with some of his characters from Psychopath making a return. Simon Spurrier also wrote two arcs, while Jamie Delano, David Hine, Christos Gage, Daniel Way, Kieron Gillen, and more also explored the world of Crossed. Also, Ennis returns every few years to write a story.

It lasted 100 issues and tells stories at different points on the timeline, from the beginning of the outbreak to a few years later.

  • Crossed Vol. 4
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #1–9. The first three issues are by Ennis and follows a group of survivors in Scotland four years after the rise of the Crossed.
  • Crossed Vol. 5
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #10–18.
  • Crossed Vol. 6
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #19–28.
  • Crossed Vol. 7
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #29–36. #25-28 are written by Garth Ennis and set five years after C-Day.
  • Crossed Vol. 8
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #37–43, Crossed Annual 2013
  • Crossed Vol. 9
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #44–49
  • Crossed Vol. 10
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #50–56. A prequel exploring the origin of the virus written by Garth Ennis.
  • Crossed Vol. 11
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #57–61 and Crossed Annual 2014
  • Crossed Vol. 12
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #62–70
  • Crossed Vol. 13
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #71–74 and Crossed Special 2014
  • Crossed Vol. 14
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #75–80
  • Crossed Vol. 15
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #81–86
  • Crossed Vol. 16
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #87–92
  • Crossed Vol. 17
    Collects Crossed: Badlands #93–100

Crossed: Dead or Alive

After the end of Wish You Were Here, another webcomic was launched, Dead or Alive. Written by Garth Ennis with Daniel Gete as the main artist.

Crossed +100

The Crossed Universe expanded once more under the creative guidance of Alan Moore who wrote the first six issues of Crossed +100. Set 100 years after the outbreak, the story follows Archivist Future Taylor leading a salvage team working to rebuild the historical record of the original Crossed outbreak. She’s seen them in videos, but never any live ones ― the Crossed are part of the distant past. Until suddenly, a handful appears, and the blood begins to flow. Simon Spurrier took over as the main writer after the first volume.

Crossed +100: Mimic

Writer Christos Gage and artist Emiliano Urdinola set their story in the world of Moore’s +100 with backstories from Pat Shand and Raulo Caceres, set at various points in the decades between Crossed and Crossed +100. 

  • Crossed +100: Mimic #1-6 (Uncollected at this date)

What to read after Crossed

After reading Crossed, you can explore a more violent world from Garth Ennis with:

If you would like to explore different post-apocalyptic worlds, you can go explore: