Review – Every Last One #1 (One Shot Studios)

February 12, 2025

2–4 minutes

Publisher: One Shot Studios
Writer: Gary Chudleigh
Artist: Dani Coloma
Lettering: Rob Jones

With the Kickstarter for issue #2, having just launched, we’re taking a look back at the opening chapter of Every Last One, the latest offering from longtime BCP favourite Gary Chudleigh.

A man is found dead in the West End of Glasgow, and Inspector Ronnie Laing is on the case. It initially looks like a suicide, but something about it doesn’t add up. And what’s the deal with the strange man the victim was seen with outside the local kebab shop a few hours prior to his death? Meanwhile, in the city centre, Kay Anderson is struggling to hold things together with her work, relationship and family. Sure, she’s able to change people’s thoughts with just her mind, but that’s not exactly the most ethical way to deal with a lot of life’s problems, now is it?

I love the blend of the grounded and supernatural here, with the Ronnie Laing’s no-frills Glasgow police procedural being juxtaposed with Kay Anderson’s decidedly unnatural gifts. There’s a nice blend of horror and humour to the proceedings that has more than a whiff of Hellblazer about it, and this first issue does a solid job of getting its hooks into the reader with an intriguing mystery and an eye-widening cliffhanger on the final page.

Ronnie Laing is a potentially interesting character; surly, brash and clearly out of his depth when it comes to the subtleties of police work (don’t get him started on PowerPoint.) The series blurb mentions that he’s a former street thug turned police officer, but we don’t get much of that here other than a throwaway comment about his family name having some stigma attached to it. Oh, and the massive chib scar running the length of his cheek. Definitely something I’m intrigued to see explored as the series unfolds, though (did I mention the Kickstarter for issue #2 was live right now?)

As always, Chudleigh’s dialogue is great, and he really leans into the distinctive Glaswegian sense of humour here, including one officer describing a potential lead as being “as solid as my shite after fajita night.” Pure poetry.

On the visual side of things, artist Dani Coloma does a really solid job with the flow of the story, injecting his own visual style (including slightly elongated faces) to this predominantly grounded story. As a result of this commitment to realism, the brief flash of the supernatural really pops off the page, and the colour work during this sequence is really well done. My personal highlight of the issue is undoubtedly the death of the second victim, a beautifully executed and entirely wordless one-page sequence which is executed with a real cinematic flair.

As I mentioned above, the final page gives us a tantalising cliffhanger to encourage readers to stay on board, and adds an interesting wrinkle to a story that is clearly only just getting started. As an introductory chapter and an overall scene-setter, this certainly ticks a lot of boxes, and is well worth a look. A blend of gritty police procedural and supernatural horror set on the mean streets of Glasgow? What’s not to like?

You can pick up issue #1 and #2 of the series via the latest Kickstarter Page, which will be open until Monday the 24th of February 2024.