On August 16, 2024, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that comic book writer Garth Ennis has written a screenplay for a film adaptation of his comic book series “Crossed” (drawn by Jacen Burrows, one of Ennis’s regular artistic collaborators). Ennis’ “Crossed” script has been acquired by indie production company Six Studios.

These days, Ennis is best known as the co-creator (with artist Darick Robertson) of The Boys, the villainous superhero parody that has become one of Prime Video’s top programs. If you think The Boys can indulge in extreme violence and bad taste, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Published by Avatar Press, Crossed has well over 100 issues, spread across various miniseries and the long-running Crossed: Badlands. Alan Moore even wrote the Crossed +100 installment. What is this epic horror story about? Crossed is basically Ennis’ take on a zombie apocalypse.

In Crossed, a pandemic sweeps the world, robbing people of empathy and inhibitions. The infected turn into raging sadists whose only goal is to cause (slow) death and spread the virus. The main physical symptom of the disease is a cross-shaped rash that grows on the infected’s faces, which is why they’re called The Crossed. If you’re a Firefly fan, think of the Reavers without the spaceships; the Crossed are all packs of murderous, cannibalistic rapists, but they’re also cunning. Their actions are also so disgusting and bloody that it’s hard to imagine how a Crossed movie could live up to the comic; even an NC-17 rating might not be enough for this film.

Ennis is known for pushing the black humor and violence in his stories to the limit. He’s not a complete edgelord (his best works have a heart beneath the depravity), but he’s indulgent – especially “Crossed.” The whole premise is basically an excuse for Ennis to write the most grotesque murder and torture scenes he can think up.

If you read enough of Garth Ennis’ comics, you’ll notice this pattern; many of his stories arise from a desire to take out his anger on a target. In “Preacher,” it’s organized religion. In “The Boys,” it’s cheesy superhero comics, the rot of corporate America, and the Bush administration. (The series updates its satire to attack Donald Trump.) Ennis and Burrows’ latest comic, the fantasy parody “Babs,” includes a scene disparaging misogynistic fanboys who can’t stand strong women in their comics.

I think that’s one of the reasons why Ennis proved to be such a natural fit when writing The Punisher. (The other reason is that Frank Castle is a great vessel for Ennis’ favorite theme, which is how war destroys soldiers’ souls.) The whole thing Point In a Punisher story, he is seen punishing, well, criminals; Ennis points out to Frank some of his least favorite people, like human traffickers, white collar criminals, and the IRA. (Ennis grew up in Northern Ireland and is no fan of the Radical Republicans or American plastic plantations.)

I Am a fan of Ennis, although I like his writing best when he is more reserved and serious; see his WWII comic Sara (drawn by Steve Epting). Of course, Crossed is not my favorite of his works. However, it is the logical next step for a film adaptation of a Garth Ennis comic.

Over the past 20 years, some of the more influential comic book writers have attempted to make the jump to movie mogul status. Mark Millar worked with director Matthew Vaughn to bring some of his comics to the screen, such as Kick-Ass and Kingsman. In 2017, Millar’s publishing company Millarworld was acquired by Netflix, expressly so that the company could produce comics that Netflix could adapt. This led to the short-lived Netflix television series Jupiter’s Legacy, based on the comic by Millar and Frank Quitely.

Geoff Johns, the architect of the modern DC universe, briefly headed DC’s film division. Robert Kirkman, co-creator of “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible,” has managed to successfully adapt both works for television. Other well-known comic book authors such as Ed Brubaker (“Criminal”), Scott Snyder (“Wytches,” “Nocterra”) and James Tynion IV (“Something is Killing the Children”) are currently pioneering the adaptation of their works on streaming services.

Ennis’ comics were lucky to be adapted because he has some big-name fans: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The pair first developed AMC’s four-season television series “Preacher” and then teamed up with Eric Kripke for “The Boys.” Kripke tells /Film that while he consulted with Ennis and Robertson, they remained fairly low-key on the show.

Although Ennis did will write the third installment of the animated spin-off The Boys Presents: Diabolical (which is set in the world of his original comics). Whether he’s bitten by the screenwriting bug or not, the fact that he personally wrote the screenplay for the Crossed movie suggests he’ll be calling the shots here. We’ll soon know if Hollywood is ready for the uncut Garth Ennis narrative.

There is currently no release date planned for “Crossed”.