ALL GUTS, NO GLORY #1 – Review

ALL GUTS, NO GLORY #1, from Zenescope Entertainment on January 26th, 2022, introduces readers to a cleanup crew whose job is mopping up after a squad of government-sponsored monster hunters.

The Details

• Written By: Ralph Tedesco
• Art By: Guillermo Fajardo
• Colors By: Walter Pereyra
• Letters By: Taylor Esposito
• Cover Art By: Mike Krome (cover A)
• Cover Price: $5.99
• Release Date: January 26, 2022

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Was It Good?

ALL GUTS, NO GLORY #1 is a gross, awkward, and fun concept about a pair of cleaners who specialize in mopping up the blood, guts, and other remains when an elite squad of monster hunters has done their job. The tone and concepts borrow from other properties such as Men In Black to construct a world where the supernatural beings you’d only see on the cover of Tabloid magazines are real and the government has an entire system in place to make sure their existence stays hidden.

Does this comic work in concept and execution? Yes. Tedesco focuses considerable energy on establishing an elitist divide between the hunters and cleaners to seamlessly establish the cleaners as underdogs you can root for. They don’t have weapons, training, or the charisma to be heroes, but once an unexpected event forces them to take action, their moral compass is broadcast loud and clear, even when following their compass puts them in very hot water.

The monsters, unlike some of the weird aliens in Men In Black, are immediately recognizable and portrayed as extremely dangerous. Again, Tedesco establishes a big challenge and big stakes by showing the hunters on a pair of missions and spells out what it takes how much firepower it takes to deal with the monsters. By showing the reader what it takes to survive, Tedesco makes the challenge before the cleaners very clear and nearly impossible, making the cleaners’ position as underdogs relatable.

The art by Fajardo, Pereyra, and Esposito is fantastic. The gore is sufficiently gory. The coloring is outstanding. And, Esposito shows off a mastery of subtle side effects to enhance the action without overpowering it.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with a group of paramilitary hunters dispatching a collection of zombies inside a research lab. The work is not easy but it’s handled with military efficiency. When the killing is done, the group calls in Craig and Jimmy to clean up the mess. All funded and overseen by a government agency tasked with keeping the existence of monsters out of the public eye.

Jimmy is new to the cleanup crew. A high school kid who needed honest money for honest work, Jimmy landed the job because the senior cleaner, Craig, is the brother-in-law of Jimmy’s school counselor. The man who’s dating Jimmy’s mother. It all fits together in a sequence of one awkward social interaction after another as Jimmy wrestles with being a loser in high school, dealing with the uncomfortable details of his mother’s dating life, and being new to a job he can’t talk about.

All of Jimmy’s problems take a backseat when his latest cleanup assignment gets interrupted by a monster the hunters missed. A monster who may not be simply evil. We conclude the issue with Jimmy stretching the definition of “consent” to a strange level, an unexpected amputation, and a race against the clock.

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