By d. emerson eddy — There's been an interesting resurgence of stories recently that endeavor to tell the story of what happens after the happily ever after (or the opposite) at the end of a tale. Basically, filling in the what's next after the end of a story. Not as a sequel or a deconstructionist take on a particularly genre, but an attempt to explore what happens once the big fight, the big world-saving struggle, is over and there's seemingly a jarring absence of purpose. No One Left to Fight #1 embraces that literally in its title, as we're treated to the beginning of the story of what happens when a hero who has saved the world countless times realizes that there's no one left to fight.

The first thing that I was struck by when reading No One Left to Fight #1 was Fico Ossio's artwork. He's had a very good run of work for a number of IDW titles in recent years, including Revolutionaries and Transformers vs. Visionaries, but I think this is the first time I've ever seen him coloring his own work. It's gorgeous. The line art is wonderful, especially in design for Fargan and a monster that appears later and is reminiscent of Street Fighter and Dragonball Z, but the color just elevates it to another level. He employs a kind of pastel palette for the artwork, with pink as a primary base colour, and it just looks beautiful. There's a kind of soft-focus feel that adds a timeless and unique quality to the story.

The story itself, though, is fairly understated and personal. Writer Aubrey Sitterson, Ossio, and letterer Taylor Esposito introduce us to the world-saving hero, Vâle, and the family of his friend, Krysta, in a way that does reminisce about the good old days saving the world, but is much more about the family. Much more about the regret that Vâle seems to feel about not having his own family (including a particularly neat hallucination where hair color plays an important part) and the animosity and jealously that Krysta's husband, Timór, displays towards him. There's some great character building here.

Esposito's letters also play an important role in setting the tone and atmosphere for the story nicely, as style and color change for the hallucinations, giving them a different feel. And, of course, the sound effects. A fight comic would pretty much be lacking were it not for the sound effects during the fight sequences, and this one excels nicely.

Overall, this is a wonderful meshing of a creative team in Sitterson, Ossio, and Esposito to tell an interesting story of what happens next. Don't fight the urge to pick this one up.

No One Left to Fight #1
Writer: Aubrey Sitterson
Artist: Fico Ossio
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: Dark Horse
Price: $3.99

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.