ALL FALL DOWN Review

Rating: 3/5
Publisher Name: Arcana Studios
Publisher Website: www.arcana.com

Writer: Casey Jones
Pencils: Anvit
Number of Pages: 100
Price: 19.95
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: A – Appropriate for age 9 and up.

Publisher’s Blurb:
High school freshman Sophie is desperate to grow up, and she prays emphatically to God for a change. Soon after, every single hero and villain in the world loses his powers permanently! The event is later known as ‘The Fall’. Sophie finds that she has stolen every ‘power’ in the world and is now the center of the world’s attention. She cannot shut them off, and she cannot give them back. Many heroes and villains have already died outright, and it is now up to Sophie to discover the power within herself, to figure out what to do with her new abilities…

Reviewer’s Comments:
I’m always a fan of superhero stories that aren’t just about big men in tight tights hitting each other. All Fall Down asks some interesting questions–how do super powered people deal with the sudden loss of their powers?—but doesn’t really deliver all the right answers in the end.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this when I started reading, but part one completely sucked me in. I loved being introduced to these to the heroes of this world as they lost their powers in some extremely painful situations (my favorite was the Flash-clone, Presto). The story does a pretty good job of exploring the effects of the situation, even if some of it is pretty typical and unoriginal. There’s nothing truly groundbreaking in how things unfold, but the characters keep it interesting.

I was a little disappointed in the final resolution, but glad it didn’t take the easy route just for the sake of a happy ending. Huge amount of respect to Jones for sticking with the ending he wanted and knew this book had to have and not giving in to a potential publishers request to change it to something happier.

The art is kind of all over the place, with different artists on different chapters. I wasn’t a big fan of the changes, especially with huge differences in quality. Chapter two is easily the best of it, but the art in chapters one through four keeps a similar style. Chapter five takes a big change in style, and while the art is actually pretty good, the shift is jarring. It felt out of place after the previous chapters, not quite as bright and colorful. The other chapters had a 3D feel in the coloring and chapter five feels kind of flat after that. Then chapter six makes another big change in style. Once again, I like the art, but the change feels off.

Overall, this is a great concept that’s handled pretty well but slightly flawed. The second half feels rushed, and I don’t think it pushed this idea to it’s full potential. It goes in the direction of a standard hero vs villain storyline and doesn’t get as deep into the emotional impact on the characters as I would have liked to see. It’s entertaining and hits some interesting points about the life of a superhero, but such an interesting premise should have been explored deeper.