ALL AGAINST ALL #1: Not So Dumb Animals (Advanced Review)

All Against All #1 is a remarkable hard sci-fi opener from Alex Paknadel, Casper Wijngaard, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou for several reasons. Paknadel and co have created a believable Alien culture that at face value seems far removed from humanity in their physical makeup yet their actions and characters perfectly mirror characteristics of modern human society. From a naive alien scientist and his team as they study the long-lost ecosystem they have recreated, the cruelty of vivisection, to the military mind that only cares about the weaponization of scientific research for use in war, The Operator race is as much a glaring indictment of the flaws of the human race even as Paknadel uses that viewpoint as the main lens to view the drama on page. Paknadel’s aliens are as relatable in their viewpoint as they are different in their physical makeup.

The idea of the cerebral thinking versus instinct as something that is inherently wired into our physical bodies is borne out in an exceptionally clever way as Paknadel paints the drastic otherness between The Operator’s lifecycle and the harvested life from our long dead planet. It’s an important point because it not only defines how different the concept of the physical is between life as we know it and how the operators view the physical as something changeable and nonpermanent. To them, the physical is a tool and should be used accordingly but it’s not that simple and several problems in using earth’s genetic material arise from the operator’s lack of understanding of animal instinct. This brings us to the only human character…ironically called Helpless. Primal, raised amongst much larger predators, helpless is viewed as a totally non-lethal threat by the alien scientists till an incident early on makes it clear (through a brilliant use of odd eye coloring by Wijngaard) that our primal little human is in fact not the dumb non-threat animal the Operators have written him off to be and this revelation comes to light as the issue ends. Paknadel builds a remarkable alien culture without weighing the reader down in a huge information dump but rather parses everything out like delicious breadcrumbs that lead you from page to page.

Caspar Wijngaard is tasked with bringing this futuristic savagery to life and he succeeds. All Against All is a beautiful book to look at even when what you looking at can be quite grim and bloody. Wijngaard’s unique color palate and painted style bring the savage jungle ecosphere to life as he mixes wild animals and Tarzan-like elements with hardcore sci-fi elements and violence through the superb use of paneling. The aliens in question remain recognizable in the basic form template, even as we get to see how really different they are at several points in the books. Anyone that’s read Homesick Pilots will recognize Wijngaard’s gritty punk style work from the color palette even as the painted line style differs in this book. The characters although alien are marvelously expressive in facial expression where required and this helps with investment in them as characters. Colors or bold, layered and lend an element of fantastic to everything. Speaking of color, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou letters the issue. The choice to give each alien its own color for dialogue is a very clever touch as it makes the dialogue much easier to follow. Lettering IS AN ART FORM and part of the art and Otsmane-Elhaou demonstrates this page after page with the use of shrinking text, wavy speech lines, bombastic bold oversized text when a character shouts, and million tiny other art elements that some might miss but absolutely enhance the entire book from start to finish.