Below are annotations for Crossed Plus One Hundred: Mimic, No. 2 (48 pages: 22- and 8-page stories, 14 gallery pages, 4 house ad pages; cover date May 2018, released 6 June 2018)

Main story “The Heart And The Fist” (22 pages)

Writer: Christos Gage, Artist: Emiliano Urdinola

Backup American History X story “2076” (8 pages)

Writer: Pat Shand, Artist: Raulo Caceres, based upon a concept by: Alan Moore

>Go to CPOH annotations index

>Go to CPOH timeline

>Go to CPOH language/glossary

>Go to CPOH background, cast of characters

Note: some of this stuff is obvious. If there’s stuff I missed or got wrong, let me know in comments, or email linton.joe [at] gmail.com

WARNING: SPOILERS

General: Fleshcock reveals himself to be aroused by sexual cutting. He later works with human prisoners to acclimate them being unafraid to attack. Archivist Julie finds the Brass’ radionet and contacts Commander Chief Nathan.

Cover

The upper figure is Fleshcook/Thomas Preiss. The lower is Archivist Julie.

Opening Pages

These images are the same as CPOHM1.

The story title comes from the 2011 non-fiction book The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL

by Eric Greitens.

Page 1

panel 1

The date is circa 2108. The location is Casper, Wyoming.

The man slashing his arm is Fleshcook / Thomas Preiss .

. Sexual cutting, which some call piquerism, is an unusual – but not unheard-of – sexual activity today.

panel 2

The woman is Archivist Julie .

. Fleshcook uses “Salt” as an affirmative expression – like “hell, yes” or “oh, yes.” Salt refers to Beau Salt, the serial killer Crossed leader whose life was detailed in CPOH5.

panel 4

Another mention of Beau Salt – see P1,p2.

Delayed gratification is something that Crossed generally are not good at; they typically give in to urges/impulses immediately.

Page 2

panels 1-2

As other Crossed stories have shown that Crossed do violence acts that humans already do, Gage is showing that Crossed sexuality can be similar to kinky sex that humans engage in.

Page 3

panels 1-2

“In-sum boardination” is 2108-speak for “insubordination” – another military term. Both CPOHM1 and 2 include a lot of military terminology.

These panels form a fixed-camera sequence, with Julie’s finger essentially imitating a penis losing its erection.

panel 3

This is a flashback, shown in green-gray tones. It repeats the flashback panel shown in CPOHM1 P9,p2

Page 4

panel 3

Happy, one of Beau Salt’s disciples (named after the seven dwarfs) introduced in CPOH5, is using lion’s paws to give Fleshcook wounds that appear to match his story (CPOHM1) that he was wounded “by a lion pride.”

Page 5

panel 1

The three heads over the door appear to be Larry, Curly, and Mo – The Three Stooges.

panel 4

This is a flashback, the art repeats CPOHM1 P10,p2, though in green-gray tones.

Page 6

panel 1

First appearance of the Crossed character Ballsack, who wears a necklace of human testicles.

panel 5

“Sleepy’s zealots” refers to followers of another Beau Salt disciple, Sleepy. The adult Sleepy has not appeared in CPOH, though “Sleepy’s expedition” was mentioned in CPOH14 P12,p2.

Page 7

panel 2

“Twat” is pejorative slang for vagina, or woman.

Page 8

panel 1

As Fleshcook speaks of love, the penned humans demonstrate familial and couple love.

panel 5

“He was Happy” is ambiguous. Fleshcook could be describing the person named Happy – or saying that Happy was happy/elated.

Page 9

panel 1

coming soon

Page 10

panel 1

The seated woman on the left is Nina, introduced last issue.

panel 2

“Benedict” means more-or-less “traitor.” It refers to Benedict Arnold, a U.S. Revolutionary War general who defected to Britain.

panel 4

More military terminology, including “Wilco” which is military radio terminology for “will comply.”

Page 11

panel 1

“Stat” is a medical term (used in the military, too) meaning “urgent” or “right away.”

“Ay-sap” is “ASAP” which stands for “as soon as possible.”

panel 2

“Term nate” is apparently “terminate.”

Page 12

panel 1

“Emerging-see” is “emergency.”

panel 3

“Radionet” is a radio network used by humans to communicate with other settlements. It is shown extensively throughout earlier arcs.

Page 13

panel 4

This dialogue reinforces the recurring theme, here and in other Crossed arcs, that uninfected people do the same evil things that the Crossed do.

Page 14

panel 1

“No soldiers, no support. All equal.” describes the more egalitarian eco-village that Alan Moore portrayed in Chooga, especially in CPOH3.

“Ay-wall” is the military term AWOL, which stands for “absent without leave.”

panel 2

“Curfuse” is 2108-speak for “curfew.”

Page 15

panel 1

“Latrine” is military-speak for bathroom.

panel 3

“comm-posting” is “composting” – though it sounds military as “comm” can be short for communications.

Pages 16-17 – no specific annotations

Page 18

panel 2

“Semper fie” is “Semper Fi” the Marine’s motto, meaning “always loyal.”

Page 19

panel 2

“Merge” has been mentioned in several earlier Crossed+100 issues (CPOH10 P6,p4, CPOH11 P15,p4, and CPOH18 P7,p1 – though these were published earlier they may well take place after the events of CPOHM2.) Merge is a (never clearly explained to the reader) goal of the Crossed – perhaps to create a single new race that elevates the Crossed and brings down humanity.

“Bashful” is one of Salt’s disciples. He appears in CPOH5-6, dies in CPOH12.

“Casual ties” is casualties.

“Five by five” is military radio slang for a clear strong understandable transmission.

Page 20

panel 4

Five by five – see P19,p2.

Page 21

panel 6

This sets up a page-turn reveal.

Page 22

panel 1

First full appearance of Commander Chief Nathan.

In-Between Pages (What’s the word for these??)

For the regular cover issue, the title page for American History X “Year 2060” shows Gabriel Andrade’s Crossed Culture variant cover for CPOH1.

The following 2-page spread is Gabriel Andrade’s American History X wrap cover for CPOH2, which was dated 2076. Apparently this cover is the Alan Moore “concept” that put Moore’s name in the credits. This 2076 story is a backstory written for that cover.

The next page is Raulo Caceres American History X variant cover for CPOHM2.

Backstory Page 1

panel 2

Based on the claw marks on the third (blue-shorts) Crossed’s chest, it appears that he was attacked by a lion.

The Crossed on the right wears a dead baby with its umbilical cord hanging down.

panel 3

The lion appears in the lower left. Various early issues of Crossed+100 feature feral animals escaped from zoos: elephants (CPOH2), tiger (CPOH10), etc.

panel 4

Shand states that this is “a single superstore, like a Target” hence the shopping carts. The brown-colored area would perhaps be the degraded bullseye logo sign.

Page 2

panel 2

The crossed victim aroused by the lion’s paw scraping him echoes Fleshcook’s experience in the CPOHM2 main story – see P4,p3 above.

Page 3

panels 1-3

In case it is not painfully obvious, the surviving Crossed have dismembered the wounded Crossed to use his limbs/bones to lock the door. Then the lion is pounding on the door to try to get in.

Pages 4-7 – no specific annotations

Page 8

panel 1

This mall resembles the one shown on Gabriel Andrade’s American History X wrap cover for CPOH2.

panels 2-3

Though the mall appears to be a specific place, it’s not. Caceres confirms that it is a “frankenstein” made with details here and there, and Google photo references.

End Pages

The regular cover edition has a gallery featuring: CPOH5 regular cover, then several later CPOH variant covers.

THE END

>Go to Crossed Plus One Hundred: Mimic No.3 annotations

>Go to Crossed Plus One Hundred annotations index