The Crossovers are a seemingly normal American family living in Crosstown, but each member has a secret they keep from the rest. The father Carter, an executive at a company called Biotix, lives a double life as the superhero Archetype. His wife and the mother of their two children Calista is a hospice worker who has secretly battled vampires her entire life. Their fifteen year old daughter Cris knows of a secret portal in the basement of their house, which leads to a fantastical realm where he becomes a warrior princess known as Eradika, who is destined to free the land from tyranny. Their ten year old son Cliff, a genius who is angry with the world, is secretly a UFO abductee who is now secretly trying to help alien invaders take over the Earth. However their separate lives begin to collide with each other, much to their confusion as they all attempt to adapt to the seemingly random events that occur.
Tropes in this comic:
- Alternate Universe: For some reason, there's a portal in the basement of the Crossover house that connects to a lake in a fantasy realm.
- Ambiguously Human: What exactly is Cliff? While he outwardly seems human, he shows some telepathic abilities when he shows Perry Noia what the Uù have planned, his eyes glow, and Corpescu is unable to drink his blood which is a trait that Andata develops after ingesting the alien spores.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Cliff really the Villain Protagonist or has he been brainwashed by the Uù? Evidence which supports this is that his parents mention that he tried to tell them about UFOs before, suggesting he had wanted to warn them about the Uù, and that Andata becomes dedicated to helping the Uù after ingesting the alien mind control spores while still retaining her personality which might be what happened to Cliff. Unlike Andata however he shows far more reluctant implying he isn’t being mind controlled, and might have been convinced to help due to the bullying and how his parents ignored him.
- Arch-Enemy: Carter has Mountebank and Calista has Corpescu.
- Child Prodigy: Cliff is already a freshman in high school despite being ten years old and it appears that his intelligence is why the Uù recruited him.
- The Chosen One: Cris is apparently the prophesised reincarnation of the original Eradika.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Given that Corpescu is currently manipulating and draining the thirteen year old Andata to turn her into a vampire, and Calista’s dream has him mention that he knew her as a child, it’s very possible that Calista was in the same situation as Andata once. The fact that he wants to make Andata one of his brides hints towards an entirely different horror, especially given the context of her dream implies she had feelings for him.
- Evil Counterpart: Eris is this to Aphrodite, going around and manipulating things so people fall out of love.
- Expy: Carter and Prototype are this to Superman. Archetyke is Superboy, Cubby/Barktype is Krypto the Super-Dog, Aphrodite appears to be an equivalent to Wonder Woman and possibly Thor, Wayne/Black Velvet is a retired Batman, and the Protectors are the Justice League. Mountebank meanwhile is Carter’s Lex Luthor while Corpescu is very clearly meant to be Dracula.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The comic deals with superheroes, vampires, aliens and fantasy realms. All these elements collide in issue six when the villains of the comic encounter each other, leading to a huge battle that leaves almost all of them dead or defeated.
- Flying Brick: Carter wouldn’t be a Superman Substitute if he wasn’t.
- Genre Refugee: All four members of the Crossover family are this, not that they are aware of it. Carter belongs in the superhero genre, Calista to the vampire horror genre, Cris to the Heroic Fantasy genre, and Cliff to the science-fiction genre. Due to living together, their lives and the people they know end up meeting each other.
- Hero Antagonist: Perry Noia, the neighbour to the Crossovers, might be willing to team up with Mountebank who is a known villain and doesn’t seem to like people in general, but he’s aware that Cliff is trying to help the Uù invade the planet so they can enslave humanity and is genuinely trying to save the world.
- Hypocrite: Carter at first feels betrayed after Eris gives him the ability to hear Calista’s deepest thoughts and learns that she’s keeping some sort of secret from him. Aphrodite however points out that he kept his secret from her for years and that he should give her the option to choose when she’s ready to tell him whatever her secret is. Carter takes this to heart and when Calista attempts to tell him the truth, fearing she was pushing him away after she saw him with Aphrodite, reassures her that she shouldn’t tell him because she feels like she has to.
- Left Hanging: Due to being Cut Short, many potential plotlines are left unresolved.
- While Carter comes clean to Calista about being a superhero and Cris regains her confidence after being betrayed by her crush Gash, partly due to developing a relationship with a boy her age, Calista still hasn’t told Carter the truth while Cliff is left heartbroken over Andata developing a crush for Archetyke, leaving it unclear whether he will continue trying to help the Uù.
- Mountebank and Tyranna, after a long battle that ends with the two respecting each other and starting a relationship, plan to get revenge on the Crossovers and rule both Earth and her fantasy realm.
- P:Pc remains injured while S[s] no longer has any loyalty to the Uù, both still hiding in Cliff’s bedroom.
- Corpescu still desires revenge against Calista, with the final issue showing him resurrecting his three vampire wives, while her father seems to be hiding a dark secret of his own.
- Tyranna’s forces might have been defeated, but the fantasy realm is still in turmoil and Hocus implies that the prophecies require Cris to one day bring her father Carter to this realm where he will remain forever.
- Locked Out of the Loop: None of the Crossovers are aware that the others have such huge secrets. In issue 7 Carter comes clean to Callista about being Archetype and while he becomes aware that she does have some sort of secret, he reassures her that he’s happy to wait until she’s ready to open up to him. Neither one of them learns that their daughter is a warrior princess or that their son is helping aliens invade, mainly since they dismiss his talk about UFOs being his overactive imagination, though Cris does learn that Cubby has superpowers even if she doesn’t understand how.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: What causes Mountebank and Corpescu to learn the true identities of their enemies? Both Carter and Calista expose their family names, leading to both villains vowing to get revenge of them through hurting their loved ones. At least with Carter he thought he was fighting a former friend and was trying to talk him down, Calista outright corrected Corpescu when he used her maiden name.
- Punny Name:
- The family are called the Crossovers, live in Crosstown, and all have secret double lives based in different genres that begin to crossover.
- Perry Noia is in a constant state of paranoia.
- Prophecy Twist: Hocus prophesised that Eradika will defeat Tyranna after going through some sort of transformation and with the aide of a dragon. As it turns out, her transformation is briefly becoming a vampire and her "dragon" is in fact Cubby as Barktype.
- Race Lift: Aphrodite is black despite being a Greek god.
- Satire: The comic is self-aware of the many tropes in the genres it is using.
- Shout-Out: Prototype's real name is Kent Lewis and is in a relationship with a retired Badass Normal named Wayne.
- Superhero Gods: Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and is also a superhero.
- Superman Substitute: Both Carter and Kent Lewis are this as Archetype and Prototype, both being Flying Brick superheroes.
- Token Evil Teammate: Despite being ten years old, Cliff is helping aliens invade Earth while the rest of his family are heroes. This seems to be because of the bullying he’s received, and he only shows any reluctance once he develops a crush on Andata.
- Villain Protagonist: Cliff is this since he’s trying to help the Uù invade the planet simply because he was bullied.
