The moment you open All Against All #1 the Image Comics series is a visual work of art you can’t look away from.
Writer Alex Paknadel (DC vs. Vampires: All Out War, Giga), artist Caspar Wijngaard (Home Sick Pilots), and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou present a primal vision of humanity gone terribly wrong.
In All Against All, it is the distant future. Earth is long gone, but a race of alien conquerors knows as “the Operators” have preserved its most savage animals in an artificial jungle environment they barely understand.
With no bodies of their own, the Operators move from world to world, harvesting bodies for the organic exosuits they use to wage their endless wars. Ignored and underestimated by his captors is the habitat’s sole human specimen, Helpless.
However, when their efforts to find and harvest an apex predator intensify, he gives them far more than they bargained for.
While not our typical cup-of-tea, the story is very well written and has super potential to be well received. However, the artwork has blown us away.
The artwork is somehow both gritty, yet clean at the same time. Spectacularly vibrant pinks, greens and blues which remind us of the early 2000s scream scene (see A Day To Remember). Lines have this weight that only a few other artists can match and in our opinion are the most beautiful ways to ink a book.
Layouts and boxes using a paintbrush style effect to give a loose but present boundary to the imagery is a unique and outstanding way to design a book. Add in Ostmane-Elhaou’s ability to letter a book and All Against All #1 is a visually stunning work of art. One of the best visually illustrated books of 2022, along with Dead Mall #1.
All Against All #1 is worth the purchase at your local comic shop, dropped December 7, just for the artwork alone. However, the story is very well written and should not be passed over.
