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Crossed #7/Wormwood #1/The Boys #35 Triple Feature

Published Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:01:07 -0500

I want to talk about three specific scenes in these comics, two published yesterday by Avatar, one by Dynamite, all written by Garth Ennis, and how they show the duality of the man.

The first is from Crossed #7 and it's the opening scene. Infected "crossed" deviants appear to have been following a group of uninfected humans for quite some time. We've learnt that these creatures are not mindless zombies, but sick twisted Reaver-type monstrosities, capable of complecity in their pursuit of their desires. And in this case it's singing the song "We could have been anything that we wanted to be" from the kids musical Bugsy Malone, with Jacen Burrows giving them the most gleedful expressions. It's stupid, it's offensive, it's hilarious and the lead singer has a horse's rotting penis in his hand.

The second is in Wormwood: The Last Battle #1 which itself has huge amount of grossout comedy that would put American Pie to shame, there's a scene where Wormwood's girlfriend shares a secret. No spoilers here, but the pause, the position, the time out and the thought behind the scene from writer and artist is truly beautiful, inviting the reader to join and add their own whirring cogs and background. In amongst the rabbit masturbation closeups and the braindead Jesus spouting socialist theory, this scene is a real stand out and the staring eyes have burnt their way into me.

And then there's The Boys #35. Which has a moment that combines both these aspects perfectly. Can't really do this without some spoilers, but there's a scene where a child dies, in a grotesque fashion, hulking out into some kind of monstrosity, dying in the process. It's simultaneously gross and disturbing, with the manner of death steeped in irony and the blackest, blackest of comedy, and the reaction, ripped from Darick Robertson's pen is heart breaking.