WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Crossover #6, by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill on sale now.
True to its title and overarching premise, Image Comics’ Crossover has brought together plenty of comic book characters together as Elle seeks to return the young girl Ava to her comic book home. As Elle leads a team of heroes into the isolated city of Denver, where a never-ending battle between different fictional characters rages on, she encounters plenty of familiar faces from a variety of different publishers.
Now, here are all the major characters that make their grand appearance as Elle and Ava enter the violent chaos of Denver to return Ava home.
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Crossover’s Core Team
Elle has already formed her own superhero team to take Ava back home, largely based on comic book characters previously created by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. Wielding the cosmic sword Valofax from the miniseries God Country, Elle leads the misfit superheroes The Paybacks, co-created by Eliot Rahal.
Completing the ensemble is Mike Allred’s irreverent superhero Madman, who is just as cool and quirky as ever as he comes along for the epic ride.
Image Comics
A number of comic book titles from Image Comics mainline are present throughout the fray. Gertrude, the violent protagonist of Skottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland is seen diving headfirst into battle with his trusty battle-ax. Below her is John Layman and Rob Guillory’s Tony Chu, the cibopath protagonist of their crime comic Chew, brandishing his service pistol.
One of the earliest Image titles, Savage Dragon, makes a major appearance as Elle and the others enter Denver. Created by Image co-founder Erik Larsen as the flagship series in his Highbrow Entertainment publishing imprint, the familiar extraterrestrial cop is first seen trading punches in the heart of battle. Later, Dragon is laid out by a mighty blow from Cates and Ian Bederman’s mainline Image Comics series Atomahawk, with the cosmic figure knocking Dragon clean through a building.
Luther Strode, the eponymous protagonist of Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore’s bloody trilogy, is in the heat of battle, seemingly undeterred by the wounds he has already suffered. And as the Elle and the team search for a portal for Ava to return home, Lucy from Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s The Wicked + The Divine is seen observing amusedly while lighting up a smoke. And as Elle and Ava near the portal to return her home, they are nearly crashed into by Cates, Shaw and Mark Reznicek’s alcoholic superhero Buzzkill.
Top Cow
Two superheroes from Image co-founder Marc Silvestri’s publishing line Top Cow Productions appear prominently during the big battle: Witchblade and The Darkness. The Darkness appears a bit bewildered by the explosive mayhem going around him but he and Witchblade are more than able to keep up with the fight raging around them as Witchblade trades punches with Savage Dragon.
CREATOR-OWNED HEROES
Flying above the roar of battle are two postmodern superheroes from prominent creator-oriented titles that were most recently published by DC. More specifically, this includes heroes from Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s Astro City and Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers straight from Bendis’ publishing imprint Jinxworld. Astro City‘s Samaritan, Winged Victory and Jack-in-the-Box and Powers‘ Retro Girl and Triphammer trade blows with their opponents across the Denver skyline as Elle and the others avoid getting caught in the never-ending battle.
Extreme Studios
Quite a few characters from Image co-founder Rob Liefeld’s publishing imprint Extreme Studios appear throughout the superhero showdown. These include Prophet, Glory, Bloodstrike, Bloodwulf, Brigade, Avengelyne and Berserkers. The various heroes pummel each other as Elle realizes the fracas that consumed Denver has not slowed down in the years since the Colorado city was isolated.
BOOM! Studios
Only one BOOM! Studios title has appeared so far, from Mark Waid’s superhero deconstruction series Incorruptible. A spinoff of Waid and Peter Krause’s previous title, Irredeemable, the series followed reformed supervillain Max Damage and his sidekick Jailbait try to atone for their past.
Max and Jailbait are seen battling through the zombies and monsters on the loose in Denver, fighting side-by-side once again.
Dark Horse
As the team runs the risk of being caught in the bombastic battle’s crossfire, they are approached by Colonel Weird, the cross-dimensional, time-traveling hero from Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Black Hammer. The Colonel makes it clear he knows more about Elle than he lets on as he urges her to run to safety.
Also seen in the heat of battle is Mike Richardson’s Ghost and X, two characters created by Mike Richardson, Randy Stradley, Barbara Kesel, Jerry Prosser and Chris Warner for Dark Horse Comics’s Comics’ Greatest World line o superhero comics. With Ghost right behind him, X is seen trading blows with Shadowhawk, the flagship superhero created by Image co-founder Jim Valentino for his publishing imprint Shadowline.
Millarworld
Only one character from Millarworld, Mark Millar’s publishing imprint, has appeared so far but it’s a doozy: Mindy Lee, the lethal vigilante Hit-Girl. Created by Millar and John Romita, Jr. in Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl would go on to star in her own line of comic books, dispensing plenty of foul-mouthed justice.
As Otto is nearly overwhelmed by a horde of zombies, Hit-Girl arrives on the scene in the nick of time to rescue him. With her usual swagger, Hit-Girl provides Elle and the others with an explosive exit to dispatch the ravenous undead.
Skybound
The most prominent character from Robert Kirkman’s multimedia entertainment company and publishing imprint Skybound Entertainment is Battle Pope, the divinely empowered clergyman Kirkman co-created with Tony Moore. The sinful Pope Leopold Oswald II is seen gleefully firing his signature submachine guns into the battle from atop a building.
A more subtle, uncredited nod is the hordes of black and white zombies that menace Otto and largely serve as cannon fodder for the superheroes. While not explicitly named, their design and color scheme is evocative of Kirkman, Moore and Charlie Adlard’s shambling hordes of zombies from The Walking Dead.
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