Five years later, a ragtag team of humans and characters join forces and embark on a quest to return to Denver, now domed off and containing the displaced characters, to find out the cause behind "The Event".[3]
Publication history
In July 2020, during San Diego Comic-Con, Image Comics announced a comic book series titled Crossover, created by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill.[1][4] Three years earlier, they created God Country and Redneck, two other Image series.[5]
According to Cates and Shaw during an interview on IGN, the story is inspired by the concept of several crossover summer events that are presented by comic book publishers like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, among others, with the story being inspired by/based on "Avengers: Endgame as Cloverfield", and they also revealed the possibility for other characters from Image and other owners to appear.[5][6]
Following the release of issue #1 in 3D edition on August 18, 2022, Image put the series on hold to release another comic book titled Vanish, also co-created by Cates.[7]
Characters
Main
Ellipses "Ellie" Howell — A survivor of the Event in Denver, Colorado, who works as an employee for a direct marketretailer in Otto's comic book store, but now wants to return to her home. She is in fact a character from the fictional world.
Orion "Ryan" Lowe — The son of an extremist Protestant, who previously has an altercation with Ellie and the others, but according to a prisoner in the Powerhouse (whose identity is later revealed), he will play a role in ending the Event.
Ava Quinn — A citizen from the other world, who has superpowers of her own and befriends Ellie.
Otto — The owner of a comic book store in Provo, Utah, who is Ellie's boss.
Father Lowe — Ryan's abusive father and an extremist Protestant, who strongly believes the Event in Denver is the Devil's work to the point of planning a war against the characters.
Nathaniel Abrams Pendleton — The Special Director of the Powerhouse, an organization dedicated to hunting characters and even conducting experiments on them, secretly instructs Ryan to find a way to end the Event. Meanwhile, he holds Donny Cates as a prisoner against his will.
In 2017, the city of Denver was invaded by fictionalsuperheroes and supervillains fighting each other, causing destruction and death, until a superhero created a force field around the city. Five years later, most of society has rejected those characters, but Ellie Howell is one of the few people who still believes in them. She works for a comic book store located in Provo, until one day, her boss Otto spots Ava, a fictional character who somehow got evacuated from Denver. This alarms a mob of fanatical Protestants led by Father Lowe, who forces his son Ryan to toss a Molotov cocktail against the shop, causing it to explode. Ava reveals a figure helped them escape.[9]
#2
"Kids Love Chains: Part Two"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
December 9, 2020
Following the burnout of their comic book shop, Ellie is given asylum by Otto. She offers herself to return Ava to her parents, unaware she has superpowers of her own. During his temporary imprisonment, Ryan is secretly recruited by Nathaniel Abrams Pendleton, Special Director of the Powerhouse, as he reveals that Ryan would play a major role in ending the Event in Denver. In the meantime, there are murders against comic book writers and artists, like Brian K. Vaughan.[10]
#3
"Kids Love Chains: Part Three"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
January 6, 2021
While Ellie, Otto and Ava travel to Denver, they meet Ryan, who decided to escape from his father. At the same time, a Gundam is fighting a kaiju, but the group is rescued by the Paybacks, who were sent by Madman, the figure that helped Ava and several others to escape the dome.[11]
#4
"Kids Love Chains: Part Four"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
February 24, 2021
Madman reveals that Ava's parents are back in the fictional world through a portal inside Denver, and Payback member Doctor Blaqk reveals he was the one that put the dome over the city, but as long as the characters stay away from it, their powers weaken. The group travels to the National Event Memorial and Museum Center, where they meet Deanna Quinlan, granddaughter of Emmet Quinlan and keeper of the sword Valofax. Meanwhile, Father Lowe keeps a prisoner inside his ministry compound, while Director Pendleton receives orders to advance the experiments of the "Amalgam Program".[12]
#5
"Kids Love Chains: Part Five"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
March 31, 2021
Father Lowe uses his prisoner as a suicide bomb inside the Powerhouse, as part of his plan to start a war against the characters. The group travels inside the dome in Denver, where they are confronted by an army of Amalgams sent by the government, but as an army of planes begin to launch missiles, Ava unleashes her powers to destroy them. As Madman fails to convince her to stop, Ryan has no choice but to shoot Ava with the same special gun that he was given by Pendleton.[13]
#6
"Kids Love Chains: Conclusion"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
April 28, 2021
After Ellie prevents Ryan from shooting Ava, the group reunites to find the portal. However, many characters still fight each other after years. The team succeeds in finding the portal and Ava returns to her world with her parents. Ellie and Ryan escape from the dome, but Otto gets injured and left behind in the process. Inside an apartment, Ellie reveals to Ryan that she is not a real human, but a character from the fictional world.[14]
In the wake of the murders against comic book celebrities, Steve Murray is on the run when he meets his alter ego "Chip Zdarsky". While trying to escape by car, they have a crash, and when Chip is killed by an assailant, Steve escapes and reports what happened to detectives Christian Walker and Denna Pilgrim from the Powers Division.[15]
#8
"Meanwhile: Part One"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
September 29, 2021
While Ellie and Ryan deal with their issues, they are taken to the Powerhouse by the Powers Division. Pendleton informs Ryan about the recent murders against comic book celebrities, and that he has Father Lowe in custody for the previous bombing. In the meantime, the mysterious prisoner gets upset for how the order of events has been changed due to Ellie's actions.[16]
#9
"Meanwhile: Part Two"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
November 3, 2021
When Walker and Pilgrim interrogate Ellie about the murders, Father Lowe reveals to Ryan that he knows the killer's identity and intentions. Walker and Pilgrim then investigate a crime scene, where the victim is Scott Snyder and the murder weapon is a Batarang.[17]
Pendleton reveals most of his past as a family man who got widowed after the Event, and decided to solve the mystery behind what happened. He also knows the mysterious prisoner inside the Powerhouse is in fact Donny Cates himself.[18]
#11
"Meanwhile: Part Four"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
February 2, 2022
In a previous interrogation, Cates reveals to Pendleton he only wanted to make a love story, but the idea was cancelled before the Event happened. Pendleton forces Cates to remain as a prisoner in the Powerhouse until an "ending" is made. In the present, when Ellie initially does not believe in Cates' words, he secretly gives her a letter detailing the coming events. When Walker and Pilgrim take Father Love to a baseball stadium in search for the killer, it was revealed that Negan was the material author, but it was Lowe who orchestrated those killings.[19]
Sometime after the Event, Negan met and killed his creator, Robert Kirkman, as revenge for the life he gave him. Back in the present, Negan reveals to Walker and Pilgrim about why he joined Father Lowe, as they both share the same interest of freeing the real world from all fictional characters. Besides, he met another person more powerful than Cates. Within the Powerhouse, Cates manages to use his powers to lock Pendleton in his own room, while freeing Ellie (reunited by Valofax) and Ryan (armed with a lightsaber) to save Walker and Pilgrim.[20]
#13
"Meanwhile: Conclusion"
Donny Cates
Geoff Shaw
Dee Cunniffe
May 11, 2022
The humans and characters go into an all-out war, as Negan takes Donny hostage, but Ellie uses Valofax to impale them both. When Father Lowe tries to become a suicide bomb, Ryan tries to reason with him, but Pendleton kills him by using a special armor. In his dying moment, Donny reveals to Ellie and Ryan that they must kill artist Geoff Shaw in order to put an end to the Event in Denver.[21]
#1
3D Special side story
Donny Cates and Matthew Rosenberg
Megan Hutchison
Dee Cunniffe
August 18, 2022
Reception
Oscar Maltby wrote for Newsarama that the first issue was "bold as hell" and an intriguing start.[22]
