Interview: Garth Ennis on ‘Crossed’
No stranger to pushing the boundaries of storytelling in the comics world, Garth Ennis has routinely shocked and awed readers of such titles as Preacher, The Boys, Punisher and recently, The Chronicles of Wormwood. In early August, Ennis looks to repeat that success with Crossed, a story that promises to be a "horrifically visceral exploration of the pure evil that humans are truly capable of indulging." The series will be published by Avatar Press — also no stranger to testing the limits of mature-themed projects — with art provided by Ennis’ former collaborator on Wormwood, Jacen Burrows.
According to the solicit text for the series:
Imagine, for a moment, the worst crimes against humanity. Picture the cruelest affronts to decency. Conjure your darkest nightmares… and then realize it could all be so much worse. When civilization crumbles in one terrifying moment; when people are gleefully breaking into unthinkable acts of violence all around you; when everyone you love has died screaming in agony: What do you do? There is no help. There is no hope. There is no escape. There are only the Crossed. Certain to be the most depraved and corrupt book of the year, this one is not for the faint of heart!
With the prologue issue of Crossed (#0) hitting shelves immediately after this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, I posed a few questions to Ennis about the origins of the series, his thoughts on pushing the boundaries in today’s comics scene and what really shocks him these days.
COMICMIX: What sparked the idea for Crossed, Garth?
GARTH ENNIS: I had a dream that I thought was going to be about zombies attacking a house full of victims, but it turned out they weren’t zombies at all. They were simply people, grinning with psychotic glee at the thought of what they were going to do to the occupants of the house — which wasn’t going to be anything nice. Then I woke up.
Thanks again, subconscious self.
