Crossed Plus One Hundred 10
Crossed Plus One Hundred No.10 regular cover – art by Gabriel Andrade
Below are annotations for Crossed Plus One Hundred, No. 10 “And Men” (22 pages, cover date September 2015, released 14 October 2015)
Writer: Simon Spurrier, Artist: Rafael Ortiz, Series Outline: 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, but you never know who’s reading this and what their exposure is to any given reference. If there’s stuff I missed or got wrong, let me know in comments, or email linton.joe [at] gmail.com
SPOILERS
General: Future Taylor and her ‘slim crew battle “rejex” humans and Crossed “dogs” in the Appalachian Mountains. On their return to Murfreesboro, humans inadvertently shoot and kill Bukrah.
Cover
- The cover scene does not quite match a scene in the issue. It appears to the be the group of “rejex” humans (introduced last issue), surrounded by Crossed.
Page 1
panel 1
- The date is August 8, 2109. The location is the Appalachian Mountains.
- The central masked rider is Bukrah.
- The issue’s title “And Men” comes from Olaf Stapledon 1930 sci-fi novel Last and First Men, from which the title of CPOH9 (‘Last First’) and the CPOH10 (‘And Men’) are derived.
- The mixed-case captions are Future Taylor’s journal.
- “Cautious’s moms… Makewell Lee, Miracle Kenco, little Sanders Armstrong” and “Oldwoman George” are all residents of Chooga, the human settlement at Chattanooga, TN, featured prominently in CPOH1-6. Cautious’ mother and Oldwoman George were introduced in CPOH3. The others were not mentioned before.
Page 2
panel 1
- The central human rider is Cautious Optimism Kriswyczki.
- Panelwise, this is the first instance of one-third-page panels bleeding off the right and left.
panel 2
- Left to right, riders are Mustaqba, Oneway McBlarney, Bukrah, Kriswyczki, and Future Taylor.
panel 3 (through following page)
- Taylor’s references to various ages of humans seems similar to human species described in the titular novel Last and First Men.
Page 3
panel 2-3
- Though they’re missing the cross-brand on their forehead from the prior issue, these humans are the band of “rejex.” They all carry the same pouches on their chests.
Page 4 – no specific annotations
Page 5
panel 1
- “Bosul” is “Beau Salt” the phone book serial killer mastermind villain whose backstory is detailed in CPOH5.
Page 6 – no specific annotations
Page 7
panel 1
- “Bosalt hundred-plan” is Beauregard Salt’s hundred year plan to siege the Chooga human settlement, shown in CPOH6.
- “Skeezum” is not entirely clear; something like “destroys/demolishes them.”
- “Leepy… Baful… Neezy,” as Taylor makes clear in the next panel, are Sleepy, Bashful, and Sneezy, three of Salt’s intelligent Crossed leaders, introduced in CPOH5.
- “Grinbuyer. Grikaye land” is “Greenbrier [Country Club]. Greek Island.” This made clear in CPOH16 P15-16.
panels 2 and 5
- Panels 2 and 5 repeat the prior P6 panels 3 and 5, but zoom slightly closer in.
Page 8
panel 2
- “Geddem” is Brooklyn-accented “get them.”
Page 9
panel 3
- This panel sets up a page-turn reveal, a comics technique used frequently by Alan Moore in earlier issues.
Page 10
panel 1
- The tiger is reminiscent of the escaped zoo animals featured in CPOH2, and that issue’s 2076 American History X variant cover.
Page 11
panel 3
- “Buddabing!” (also spelled “Baddabing” [see CPOH8 P10,p1] or badda bing) is a catchphrase from the movie The Godfather also featured in the TV series The Sopranos. It means more-or-less “there it is” or “taken care of.”
Page 12-14 – no specific annotations
Page 15
panel 2
- “Allah’s wheel” is not clear. Commenters suggest it could be “Allah’s will” or “all’s well.”
Page 16
panel 1
- “Olaf Staple the Don” is science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon, who wrote the 1930 novel Last and First Men, from which the title of CPOH9 (‘Last First’) and the CPOH10 (‘And Men’) are derived.
Page 17
panel 1
- “Shore shore. Sudden my eye sall. Gadaboud.” is “Sure sure. Sad in my eye is all. Get about.” Commenter dvn61 sounds correct in suggesting that “gadaboud” (spelled “gadaboud” in CPOH3 P5,p3) is “forget about it.”
panel 5
- “Dafug” is “What the fuck?”
Page 18
panel 1
- “Sheet. Cab-cow’s fucking D-train” is not clear. “Sheet” is “shit!” The D-train is a NYC subway. ‘Cab-cow” is not clear – suggest??
panel 2
- The Black woman holding the rifle appears similar to the character Michonne from The Walking Dead. This reference is somewhat strengthened by the appearance of the tiger earlier in this issue, as Michonne’s boyfriend Ezekiel, who keeps a pet tiger. Thanks commenter luisdantas.
Page 19
panels 2-4
- These form a zoom sequence.
panels 3-5
- These form a a fixed-camera sequence (see the link for an example from AM’s Watchmen.)
Page 20
panel 3
- First appearance of Holy Mo.
Page 21
panel 5
- This panel sets up a page-turn reveal, a comics technique used frequently by Alan Moore in earlier issues.
Page 22
- The building in the center is Murfreesboro’s Rutherford County Courthouse, see notes for CPOH4 P3,p1.
THE END
>Go to Crossed Plus One Hundred No. 11 annotations
>Go to Crossed Plus One Hundred Annotation Index
Carrie Lincourt
Joe Linton
THE PERIODIC FABLE 
22 October 2015 at 5:12pm |
Gedaboud = forget about it.
25 October 2015 at 3:20am |
“Allah’s wheel” = “All’s well”?
27 October 2015 at 5:58am |
i think “Allah’s wheel” is more “Allah’s will”
4 November 2015 at 7:10am |
Clearly, the crucial bits of this issue are the statements by the ‘reject’. Spurrier is fond of using phonetic spellings to obscure or mislead (“harve esther cum bun”, for example, from his Crossed Annual, a few years back). I am still stumped on “grikaye land”. I wonder if ‘grinbuyer’ could be a term for making alliances (read as “purchasing smiles / good will”).
3 January 2016 at 8:20am |
page 7, panel 1: what does “skeezum” stand for? cheers.
28 December 2016 at 1:38pm |
It’s not clear. My best guess is something like “destroys/demolishes them.” (sort of “skis them” perhaps?)
5 October 2019 at 5:56pm |
It’s schism!! A schism between Bashful (the long term planner) and Sleepy (who just wants to infect all the time)
27 December 2016 at 7:27pm |
Page 6, panel 1: can someone help explain the meaning of “No peoples, just populations” and “Bedient blanks”, please? Thanks!
28 December 2016 at 1:31pm |
(this is actually CPOH9) “No peoples, just populations” seems to indicate Fajr is talking impersonally. “Bedient blanks” seems to mean that the population is obedient to Fajr’s impersonal plans (the people are compared to the blank spaces on a chess board).
7 March 2020 at 4:24am |
This issue has an easter egg or two. Michonne from The Walking Dead is clearly among the Murfreesboro party in the last few pages. Her love interest Ezequiel was well known for his pet tiger, Shiva.
8 March 2020 at 1:12pm |
Interesting – is that her on page 18, panel 2? One of the Murfreesboro guards who shoots Bukrah. I don’t see her anywhere else. I’ll note it – and the tiger connection – but it seems like it could be coincidental – I think it could just be two black woman characters with somewhat similar appearance.
8 March 2020 at 2:48pm |
It could be a coincidence, I suppose. Whoever that character may be, I don’t think we have seen her outside panels 1 and 2 of page 18.
For a while I thought that it could be Insa (a character that turns up in later issues), but a closer look suggests that to be unlikely. Insa is not nearly as well integrated with Murfreesboro’s people, and no one mentions their having met Insa in this situation either.
Maybe it is just me, but she seems to be drawn a bit less ragged than the other characters in the same panels. The hair and bandana are very typical for Michonne, and I noticed that she is equipped with a rifle holster (apparently an improvided one) that to me suggests a slightly more martial attitude than I would expect from a random local.
https://walkingdead.fandom.com/wiki/Michonne_Hawthorne_(Comic_Series)/Gallery
Perhaps not a deliberate easter egg, but it sure seems likely to me.