Since I didn't have a lot of free time this weekend - as usual - and I spent the little I had working on the pop culture trivia / cult siren appreciation part of some of my older and still unfinished postings I have decided to extend CROSSGEN COMICS WEEK a few more days since I have already prepared all the necessary material to write it. So from the sword and sorcery world of SOJOURN we come to the science fiction world of CRUX by Steve Epting and Mark Waid ( I told you we would come back to him ).
Unlike the other CrossGen series we covered previously I have no qualms about writing about the story because the pitch is the hook that gets you to pick up the book. 100.000 years ago the Atlanteans reached such an advanced state of being that they were at the brink of transitioning into an even higher state of being in the process becoming almost godlike.
There were however atlanteans who believed that the race of humans - which were still very primitive at that time - had the capability to reach that level of advanced being thus being able to transition themselves in the far future. That group of atlanteans decided to stay behind to serve as caretakers of the human race and guide them to achieve that goal.
Those who stayed behind were put into protective stasis tubes during the transition which unleashes high levels of energy. Our story opens when some of the atlanteans awake from their slumber and realize something has gone horribly wrong. 100.000 years have passed, the energy released by the transition has sunk Atlantis, damaged the stasis tubes and stopped the revival protocols. A female atlantean called Caprica is revived by a mysterious man but they are quickly engaged by enemy forces so she has little time to choose whom her mysterious benefactor shall revive next.
Together with this makeshift group Caprica manages to defeat their opponents but now they have to solve the riddle where all the humans have gone and why earth has been turned into one giant theme park.
As you can see it is a very interesting conundrum or crux that gets only better the farther you go into the rabbit hole. Besides the engaging story by Mark Waid you have Steve Epting's incredible graphics as he is another artist who made a leap in his artistic development during his tenure at CrossGen Comics. You can clearly see the huge difference between pre - CrossGen - Steve Epting on AVENGERS and post - CrossGen - Steve Epting on CAPTAIN AMERICA and it is the reason why Marvel Comics snatched up Steve Epting as soon as CrossGen Comics folded and then put him on Ed Brubaker's celebrated run that introduced the Winter Soldier who has become a fan favourite even before his appearance in the MCU movies.
Coming back to CRUX, besides Steve Epting we have some fill - in issues but as was the norm at CrossGen those fill - in issues were pencilled by artists of the calibre of Andy Smith, Ivan Reis, Paul Ryan or Paul Pelletier.
CRUX is one of the few series from CrossGen Comics that were finished even if Steve Epting ended his run with issue 25 and the art chores went to Paul Ryan - issues 26 and 27 - and subsequently Sergio Cariello - issues 28 to 33 ( which finished the storyline ) with Paul Ryan making a final return appearance in issue 31. While a good artist in his own right Sergio Cariello is clearly not on the same level as Steve Epting. Likewise Mark Waid did hand over the writing chores to Chuck Dixon with issue 13.
Anyway, that is all for Today. If I have time I'll make another CrossGen Comics post Tomorrow and I know, April started out as INDEPENDENT COMICS MONTH not as CROSSGEN MONTH but we did also cover Howard Chaykin's AMERICAN FLAGG and a few series from Malibu's ULTRAVERSE and in any case there is not that much left of the month of April, right ?
this is no horcrux
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