Polite Dissent

Four years ago, CrossGen comics started out with a bang, but now they seem to be ending with a whimper. They generated their share of controversy, first by attempting to change the comic employment status quo for the better , and then (ironically enough) by failing to follow-through on payments to some of their artists. Along the way, they put out quite a few good comics, and some not as good. Their visual appeal was always excellent, with quality art (except maybe in The First) and high quality production. In the past several months, they’ve cancelled their trade paperback reprints, and cancelled many of their monthly comics outright. Although they still put out comic books, each week seems to add another nail in the coffin of CrossGen.

This entry is not an attempt to dissect what went wrong at CrossGen or surmise what their future may hold. Others elsewhere are doing that (see any given Newsarama, the Pulse, or Lying in the Gutters). Instead, this is going to be a brief look at each of the comics that they produced (in rough order of their publication) starting with their four launch titles: Scion, Mystic, Sigil, and Meridian.

All four of these books shared some common themes. None were super-hero books, but all dealt with heroes with incredible powers. In each title, the main character was granted special abilities and marked with a yin-yang appearing tattoo – the “sigil.” In some books (Meridian, Scion), the primary antagonist also had powers granted by a sigil. Each sigil bearer also had a guide, a “higher being” of some sort, who appeared in disguise and guided the character. While each book was independant and could be read on its own, the idea of a “shared sigil universe” clearly scared some early readers away. This “shared universe” was never really a problem however, as the books remained independant until the very end of their run, when some cross-overs did occur.

Scion
This is one book that I’m going to miss. It was set in a quasi-medieval world which was ruled by two rival dynasties, Heron and Raven. The main character was Ethan, the youngest son of the Heron house. In the first issue, he injured the oldest son of the Raven house, Bron, in a duel. This simple act set the basic conflict in place: Heron vs. Raven, Ethan vs. Bron. A race of slaves is also introduced, and Ethan makes it his duty set them free and find them a homeland. In this quest he is joined by Ashley, sister of Bron. Scion was about conflict: family against themselves, family against others, slavery against freedom, nation against nation, man against machine. These finely realized conflicts is what set Scion above its CrossGen peers.

Scion was easily the best of the CrossGen line. It had tight writing, believable characters, and tight art (particularly under Cheung). The romance between Ashley and Ethan was well thought out and had the ring of truth. Both Ethan and Ashley, as well of many of the minor characters, progressed and grew throughout the story. The ending was a bit rushed (but which of the CrossGen titles wasn’t?), but it had a better finale than the rest.

Meridian
Another good CrossGen title. This comic took place in a land of floating continents and cities. Two brothers were to be given the sigil, both leaders of nations — one a kind ruler, and one ruthless. As the story begins, the kind brother was murdered by the ruthless one, and the sigil went to his daughter instead. The main characters thus were Sephie, young leader of one floating continent (Meridian), and her cruel uncle Ilahn, ruler of the fascist Cadador continent. Both have been granted supernatural powers, but choose to use them in different ways. Ilahn uses his to conquer, while Sephie uses hers to “do good.” Sephie starts out as a young naive girl, a poor leader, who was never supposed to have been granted the power of the sigil in the first place. Over the course of the story, readers watched her mature into a powerful force and good leader. Overall, the art was excellent, and the main character well realized. Some of the minor chracters did not seem as fully fleshed out, and the romantic rivalry over Jad and Sephie never seemed too real. Sephie was a strong character, especially as their aren’t many comics with good female lead character.

Mystic
Not as good as Scion or Meridian, but still a pretty good comic overall. Like Meridian, it had a strong female lead. Mystic takes pace on a world of magic where a number of magic guilds rule. The main character is superficial party girl Giselle, whose sister Geneveive is to become the head of one of these guilds. Instead, Giselle is given the sigil and granted the power of all the guilds (stripping much of the power from the guilds themselves). Giselle must deal with her newfound powers, the antagonism of the now weaker Guilds, and ancient evils from the planet’s history. Mystic suffers in comparison to Scion and Meridian as its conflicts never seemed as real and dangerous as the other books. A giant green goddess one month, the gangsters, then genies, then apes and cavemen, and so on. And a talking dog (no wait…a talking squit)as Giselle’s guide? The art was excellent, but Mystic never quite realized it’s potential and grabbed the attention of the reader.

Sigil
The fourth of the launch titles, and the weakest. The story takes place in the distant future where mankind was at war against the villainous Saurians. Samandal Rey, one time pilot, is granted incredible power by his sigil. Though the stories were science fiction based, they still seemed too far-fetched. Rey seemed to have near limiltless power, destroying fleets on his own, and these drastically lessened much of the possibility for dramatic tension. Additionally, the chracters never came alive – they all seemed two dimensional (this is the tough-guy hero, here is the tough-as-nails female co-pilot, and this is the beautiful-but-deadly princess). The writing improved after Chuck Dixon came on board, but it was too late by then. The art was never as good as the other books. The antagonist Saurians were intrigiong, but that’s the best thing I can say. The plots got so uninteresting by the end that they had to throw the uber-baddies Negation in earlier than expected to try to pick things up, but it didn’t help. CrossGen clearly felt the same way, as Sigil’s last issue was never released (although the script was published on their website).

Tomorrow, the second wave of CrossGen books.