Review: Crossover #9
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colors: Dee Cunniffe
Letters: John J. Hill
Reviewed by: Seth Singleton
Summary
In Crossover #9 Ryan is in a bad place and not just emotionally. He and Ellie are in a prison for superpowered beings. Ryan’s dad, Father Lowe, is also there and so is a writer named Donny Cates. Wait…what?
Positives
Ryan’s back and forth with Pendleton, the guy running the prison, is priceless. This is the same guy who gave Ryan a gun back in issue #7. Now he admits that the idea came from the writer who “thinks he is a prophet” and has since been deemed unreliable. But that’s not why Ryan is there. Instead, Father Lowe claims to know who is killing all of the comic book writers who have been dying since the first issue.
According to Father Lowe, the killer is someone who wanted to meet his maker. Father Lowe knows who the killer is and he can take Ryan to him. There’s some talk about Saga and a quote from Winston Churchill and a lot of loaded tension between father and son.
Meanwhile, Ellie is in an interrogation room with the detective duo from Powers. Ellie states that she knows all about their clever banter and that she wants no part of it. However, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim have no idea what Ellie is talking about. They continue doing exactly what they always do, and eventually, Ellie accepts that the banter is happening whether she likes it or not.
Then Ellie adds a twist. What if the being hunting comic book writers is not concerned with just killing the writers? What if the writers are only the first step to achieving something greater? Walker and Pilgrim put out an APB and then they called to an alley just outside a theater that was screening the Mask of Zorro. That’s when they discover the body of another comic book writer. And they also find a themed murder weapon.
Negatives
There are no negatives to mention in this issue.
Verdict
There is the possibility that Cates is a deluded “prophet” and this entire project is an act of vanity. Which is the easiest way to ignore the subtext, let alone the content of Crossover. Cates is drawing on his experience to tell a story about the here and now. It might even be the story about how a story gets away and must be recaptured. Or it’s the chance to propose an unlikely — if not impossible — scenario and follow it all the way through the mirror and back to the other side.
However, before deciding on anything. Consider the possibility that the art and act of misdirection is a tool in a writer’s arsenal. It is not something used lightly or even with malice. Like so many occasions that preceded it and will follow it, it is rarely the only tool in use. Where then is the story going? Perhaps it is found in the brilliant art of Geoff Shaw or Dee Cunniffe’s salacious colors. Look over John J. Hill’s subtle letters and then take it all in one more time. The answer is everything you see and everything you are waiting to see. See it?
