** spoiler alert ** 
 I admit that part of me went into this comic book with slightly high expectations. After all, I'd heard nothing but glowing praise about this book from various people, sites, and locations. The story also sounded interesting, so when I tracked down a copy at a local comic book store I was rather pleased. A few hours later? Still pleased, but I wasn't left with that glow-y feeling that you get when you finish a particularly fantastic book or graphic novel. 
 On a side note, if you don't like graphic depictions of rape and violence then you'll want to skip this. I'll be up front and say that there's not only rape of both men and women, but there's also the dismemberment of people of all ages as well as the depiction of a male Crossed having intimates with a dismembered limb. Surprisingly though, it isn't nearly as gratuitous as it sounds. It's there, but it's part of the plot and it's not as blatantly depicted as it could have otherwise been. And if you're wondering about what type of deaths you can expect to see in this, expect Ennis and Burrows to go all Dario Argento on you. Multiple children die in this book. Most are depicted off screen, but you see the dismembered body of one child while her parents are being raped by multiple Crossed and you see another kid get his head blown off by his own mother. These are fairly huge spoilers, but since I'm marking this as "spoiler" you've been warned. 
 First off, while the idea of people going insane and crazy-murderous isn't a new one and this has been seen in various incarnations, Ennis and Burrows do put a rather cool spin on everything. I like that they start the series off with a bang, quite literally so. It not only puts a sense of urgency on everything, but it also gives them a reason to not dwell on the whys and wherefores of the Crossed. This first volume is pretty much just world building and to set everything up for the future volumes of the series. This is to be expected and I fully understand the necessity of it. You can't reveal everything in the first volume and with the current cast it's unlikely that any of them would actually have reason to know anything or have access to any answers. On this front I didn't have that many complaints. 
 Artwork wise, a lot of effort went into illustrating this. I'm particularly impressed that the artist bothered to put in the detail on the scars on each Crossed's face. A lot of artists would have just smeared some red over the faces and left it at that, but that isn't the case here. Considering that this could have otherwise been the comic book equivalent of a Z-grade horror movie, that as much care went into this as there was is pretty neat. 
 It's just that while this is good and I'm definitely going to get the next volume in the series, I just wasn't as impressed with this as I wanted to be. There's a good story here and some GREAT art, but this was just so-so for me. It's something I'd recommend without hesitation for anyone looking for an offbeat horror series that isn't afraid to push a few buttons, though. I flip flopped between giving this 3 or 4 stars. The artwork is pretty great, but I just didn't get four stars worth of enjoyment out of this when it comes down to it. I have a feeling though that I'll probably enjoy the series more as it really gets rolling and works through the growing pains. 
 3.4 out of 5 stars