Crossed Plus One Hundred 13

CPOH13 cover by Gabriel Andrade

Below are annotations for Crossed Plus One Hundred, No. 13 “Inverted World” (24 pages, cover date December 2015, released 20 January, 2016)

Writer: Simon Spurrier, Artist: Rafa 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. If there’s stuff I missed or got wrong, let me know in comments, or email linton.joe [at] gmail.com

WARNING: SPOILERS

General: Taylor takes part of the siege of Kingstenn, led by Captain Bailey, who kills the apparently-last Crossed barter-born child. In Kingstenn, Taylor finds a coded version of Beau Salt’s final journal. She returns to Murfreesboro, reunites with Mustaqba.

Cover 

• The central kneeling figure is Future Taylor.
• Taylor is looking up at an image of Beau Salt.

Page 1

panel 1

• The central figure is Future Taylor.
• It is 2114. The location is Kingston, Tennessee.

panel 2

• First appearance of archivist apprentice Ufoq. It looks like (from this page) that Ufoq may mean “horizon” in a language from Afghanistan? Readers – can you figure out what language?
• Panels 2 and 3 constitute a fixed-camera sequence.

Page 2

panel 1

• The tall smokestacks are those of the Kingston Fossil Plant in Kingston, TN, last seen in CPOH8 P11,p1.

Page 3

panel 1

• Left to right are: Ufoq, Captain Bailey, Lieutenant Steady, and Taylor. Bailey first appeared as Trackjack Bailey (CPOH11 P4,p1) and now he is Captain Bailey.

panel 5

• Taylor’s title has been upgraded, too. She was just archivist, now “chief archivist”.

Page 4

panel 1-2

• “I was here, true witness, when the emissary came. They tried to make me tithe…” refers to the events of CPOH8.
• “The emissary” isn’t entirely clear. This may be a name for Robbie Greer/Jokemercy?

Page 5-6 – no specific annotations

Page 7

panel 2

• “Since we sta[r]ted the camp pain” and “the Grand Mop” seems like Murfreesboros humans have undertaken a major campaign offensive against the Crossed.

Page 8

panel 4

• “The Cling” is not entirely clear – it may be the first name of Lieutenant Cling, the blonde-haired woman who accompanies Bailey.

Page 9

panel 4-5

• Taylor was there (see CPOH8); she is lying here.

Page 10

panel 1

• The man is Beau Salt, Crossed leader detailed in CPOH5.

Page 11 – no specific annotations

Page 12

panel 1

• The child is apparently the baby shown on the last page of CPOH8. Apparently (next page) these are called “barter-borns.”

Page 13 – no specific annotations

Page 14

panel 1

• Another view of the Kingston Fossil Plant –  see P2,p1 above.

panel 3

• The coded language actually fully decodes using the key given later. Taylor states (CPOH14 P10,p3) “Split the afterbet so’s “A” becomes “N”, “B” becomes “O”, and similarforth.” The text is also (CPOH15 P7, p2) “literated backwards” meaning it reads bottom to top, and right to left. This selection also includes untranslated and un-reversed Roman numerals – shown in brackets below.
  The decoded text shows the chapter titles later listed on CPOH15 P7,p3:
  NFABV..RYSRE[I] / ASNOI..ELFER[I.] / I. REFLEctIONS And
  NFRIVGP..VQQA / ASEVITC..IDDN / aND DIreCTIVES: A
  HBWLZB..NQBP / UOJYMO..ADOC / CODA tO MY JOUrnal
  EBJGFNY[II]YNAE / ROWTSAL[II.]LANR / jouRNAL II. LAST WORds
  ANRZVGRUG[III]FQ / NAEMITEHT[III.]SD / worDS III. THE TIME ANd
  BULZSBRPNYCQ / OHYMFOECALPD / anD PLACE OF MY HOly
  VQRUG[IV]ATVF / IDEHT[IV.]NGIS / SIGN IV. THE DIstant
  ABMVEBUGA / NOZIROHTN / distaNT HORIZON

panel 5

• “Book that wouldn’t stay buried” alludes to Taylor burying her journal in CPOH12.

Page 15

panel 1

• This appears to be the remains of the present day Motel Murfreesboro – compare to present-day street view and this likely source photo by Brent Michael.

panel 2

• The woman in the white headscarf is Ima’am Fajr.

Page 16

panel 2

• “I haven’t opsied her [Cautious Optimism Kriswyczki] since th–” likely refers to Kriswyczki’s escaping in the gappler McBlarney’s balloon (CPOH12 P12).

panel 4

• Radionet’s “high frequency clicking and whistling” is not entirely clear, perhaps the modem sound from early dial-un internet.
• “The gappler’s real-a at the railhead” and “it’s breakin’ down, constant” are not clear either.

Page 17-18 – no specific annotations

Page 19

panel 1

• First appearance of Farid, Jameela “Jam”.

panel 4

• “Year-one” is not entirely clear, could be one year after the start of the Great Mop.

Page 20

panel 3

• The strings and cans appear to be a crude home alarm system.

Page 21

panel 4-5

• The man is Mustaqba, Taylor’s love interest, who apparently quit archiving (see P15,p4 above) and moved to the suburbs.

Page 22

panels 5-6

• “How’s… ah…” is Taylor asking about her and Mustaqba’s – at this point unnamed (hence the fade out “ah”) – adopted Crossed baby, who will later be named (in CPOH18, P23,p4) “Now.”
• “Didn’t even need the straps… Good as gold” is Mustaqba responding that Now is fine, and didn’t need the restraint strap shown on page 24 below.

Page 23

panel 3

• July 17 2114 is just under five years since CPOH12 ended in August 2109. Ominously it is ten days short of the 106th anniversary of The Surprise: July 27, 2114.

Page 24

panel 1

• “Inverted World” is the title of a 1974 science fiction novel by Christopher Priest.
• This is Taylor and Mustaqba’s roughly 5-year-old barter-baby (who will later be named Now) – last seen on P24 of CPOH12.

THE END

>Go to Crossed Plus One Hundred No. 14 annotations
>Go to Crossed Plus One Hundred Annotation Index