I’m sure many, like myself, were disappointed with last month’s Crossed, issue #5. Not a single sadistic zombie was to be found! Little did I realize that, until I read Crossed #6, it was merely a calm before the storm. Trust me—it’s a huge, effing tempest.

Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows open the issue with our characters face to face (literally) with an undead eliminated by his own kind. Barely two pages after that, we discover just why Kitrick is as depressed as a Prozac-popping Elizabeth Wurtzel (aside from the usual post-apocalyptic depression, that is). I’ve got to say: Ennis and Burrows deliver with this flashback.

Just when you think that they’re going to feed into your Ichi the Killer-like sadism (yes, you who reads these twisted comics) some more, they throw the cutest, most adorable puppy dog at you! Yes, a puppy dog!

Unfortunately, you don’t have much time to fawn over the dog as another revealing past from the bunch comes to the forefront. I’m not sure whose past is worse, to be honest. But I do have some comments about one of them (spoilers after the jump)...

Who could ever guess that the sweet, old Geoff was an effed-up, murderous fiend? This is an interesting subject that post-apocalyptic storytellers enjoy exploring: do your past sins matter in an anarchic state such as this? While it was clear that those in line with Cindy’s mindset (seen with her devout belief in chastising those who swear around her son) were not going to tolerate someone with a past like Geoff’s, I find it interesting that she barely flinched at the thought of murdering children, unlike others who frowned upon both actions. Essentially, on top of being fearful of those who have “crossed,” this issue highlights the idea that even amongst others one must still be alert and aware; fear is as vital as oxygen at this point. Perhaps this is an idea that Kitrick, the man who hasn’t “said a dozen words he didn’t have to,” figured out long before the incident with Geoff.

Intriguingly, Kitrick was the one person who bonded most with Geoff—for a man who didn’t seem to trust anyone, he trusted the one man everyone turned on once he allowed himself to be truthful. We need more trust!

Crossed #6 leaves us with a great ending: could we have trusted the murderer who opened up about his past and never harmed a soul in the camp during his stay? Was he merely a time bomb, warning the others by divulging his history?