Comics
[Interview] Garth Ennis Reveals The Origin Of The ‘Crossed’ Virus
This week marks the monumental 50th issue of “Crossed: Badlands” and the return of return of original writer/creator Garth Ennis to his demented world. To mark the occasion, Ennis is going back to where it all began to show how the “Crossed” virus was originally unleashed in the new story-arc “The Thin Red Line”.
Garth stepped into the line of fire to answer some questions from Bloody-Disgusting about the 50th issue, the story-arcs that stand out to him, and his long term plans for “Crossed” moving forward into 2015.
Bloody-Disgusting: Issue #50 is a landmark in today’s comic industry that very few titles make it to. What does the anniversary mean to you?
Garth Ennis: It’s that bit simpler for Crossed, remember, because we’d already established an audience before we set to work on the ongoing book. There was less of that sense of crossing your fingers and blindly trusting to luck, which I think has doomed far too many potentially interesting projects- Vertigo and Image in particular have launched dozens upon dozens of series without considering whether they might make better one-off graphic novels or miniseries. They don’t test the water first, and effectively consign the stories to oblivion- making writers, artists and readers alike the losers. Having multiple writers and a bi-weekly schedule makes reaching #50 that bit easier, of course.
BD: Looking back over the past issues of Crossed, are there any story-arcs that stand out to you as being a benchmark for the book?
GE: I’ve said this before, but I think Si Spurrier’s “Wish You Were Here” webcomic has fulfilled the potential of Crossed better than any other story. I like some Badlands arcs better than others, but they certainly make it easier for me to pop in now and again and do the stories I want to do without committing to an ongoing schedule. I’d probably single out the recent five-parter by Christos Gage and Christian Zanier as being the most ambitious.
BD: Do you have a trajectory plan for the next 50 issues? How long do you envision Crossed lasting?
GE: The individual arcs that make up Badlands are more William Christensen’s department, in terms of their creative teams and order in which they appear- I said from the start that I didn’t want to take on a particularly heavy editorial role. I’ve already finished my Crossed story for 2015, an eleven-part story called ‘Once A Warrior King’, which effectively finishes the trilogy made up by ‘The Fatal Englishman’ and this year’s ‘The Thin Red Line’. It’ll probably appear a little later in the year than March, and if all goes well it should lead into something very interesting indeed for when we hit the #100 mark. After that it’s hard to say. You may well see Crossed moving from comics into other media. Time will tell.
Comics
‘Archie Comics: Judgment Day’ Exclusive Preview: Step into the Most Horrifying Version of Riverdale Ever Seen!
The Archie Horror label is unleashing apocalyptic thrills in Archie Comics: Judgment Day, a multi-issue demon apocalypse story billed as the first Archie Premium Event.
With their extended length and scale, comics under the brand new Archie Premium Event banner tell Archie stories that are “simply too grand for a single one-shot release.”
From writer Aubrey Sitterson and artist Megan Hutchison, Bloody Disgusting has been provided with a 6-page sequence from the upcoming Archie Comics: Judgment Day #1!
The Archie Comics team previews, “Prepare for a spine-tingling journey into the heart of Riverdale with Archie Comics: Judgment Day, an epic three-issue event set to captivate readers with a tale of demonic forces, moral quandaries, and the relentless quest for righteousness.”
Hitting shelves on May 22, 2024 from the Archie Horror imprint, the Archie Premium Event miniseries reimagines the iconic Archie Comics characters in a dark supernatural setting and promises the most horrifying version of Riverdale we’ve ever seen.
Judgment Day sets Archie Andrews on a daring quest to cleanse an alternate version of Riverdale overrun by demons. After claiming some destructive powers of his own, Archie is forced to destroy corrupted versions of the people closest to him, ostensibly in the name of the greater good.
As questions about his own morality and the sacrifices he’s made start to pile up, Archie must confront the question: are his efforts truly good, or the work of pure evil?
Writer Aubrey Sitterson tells Bloody Disgusting, “Judgment Day is my very first horror book, it’s at a company that’s extraordinarily well known for their takes on the genre, and my cocreator has a tremendous affinity and talent for horror; as a result, I felt significant pressure to get things right.”
“Recently, there’s been a trend in horror – across mediums – that works on a directly metaphorical level, a type of riddle that the audience figures out in order to unlock the message of the work,” Sitterson’s statement continues. “For Judgment Day, however, my goal was to create something that encourages people to spend time with it; something worth puzzling over as opposed to a puzzle to complete. It’s an approach that dovetails nicely with my recent efforts to write in deeper consideration of page design and the visual exploration of themes. It’s all about harnessing horror tropes and conventions as well as the iconic Archie cast to create something new and challenging that can’t be summed up with one-to-one correlations.”
Artist Megan Hutchison adds, “I knew of Aubrey and his work, and a chance to work with him is such an exciting opportunity! Once we had our first chat on the phone, I knew we were going to have so much fun. We have such similar tastes and temperaments and agreed on the same things! Instant friends! We’re also huge fans of the same horror and movie genres (including huge Dune nerds; ask us about it!) that have found their way into this book.”
“I’ve felt so supported though this whole process by Aubrey — I’ll text him an idea and he’ll love it, then we’ll go off about something horrific and dorky that we’re super into and that will make its way into the book,” Megan continues. “He also intentionally writes scenes for me with a lot of demons and crazy action and weird gothy stuff so that I can go and have fun. It’s been an amazing process and I hope to continue it after this. Also, if you haven’t read his other work, do yourself a favor — he’s one of the best writers and people working in comics right now.”
Take a peek inside the pages of Archie Comics: Judgment Day #1 below!
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