All Talk, a graphic novel on gang culture and a ‘good kid’ who dies young

All Talk is a mature graphic novel that you wish didn’t have to exist. It’s a graphic novel that’s laden with violence, occasional foul language and drug use that deftly illustrates the unspoken pressures that weigh down teens in urban areas that are prone to gangs. The story, in and of itself, is fascinating and a relatively simple one, albeit complex for those beings who are in its proximity. It’s the art in All Talk that takes this premise and magnifies it to something that makes readers think more about the story, even if they’re worlds away from where it might actually happen.

The main character in All Talk is Rahim, a teenage kid who lives in an urban setting that’s surrounded by gangs and tough guys who claim it as theirs. It’s a typical big city, with another level of commerce and society existing in a more traditional, and lawful, status. However, what Rahim sees and associates himself with are the gangs who talk big talk and unfortunately act out some of that talk all too often.

Rahim, being one of the younger kids on the street looks up to the older young adults who seemingly run things and have more social status, when compared to him. He tries to fit in with Wood, a gang leader who is struggling to control his corner of the neighborhood. This is complicated by Era, who is only slightly older than Rahim, but seems much cooler, has more money and is respected on the street. Nobody knows who Rahim is and in his efforts to fit in with Wood’s crew becomes an errand boy of sorts to that gang.

The situation, through the eyes of Rahim becomes untenable, causing his continued lack of respect on the street to become magnified in how he’s perceived and what he’s missing out on. The girls don’t treat him the same as the older kids. The money and other spoils of criminal activity aren’t flowing his way despite his presence in the outer circles of Wood’s crew. This leads Rahim to take things too far, causing him to get shot in the arm and then jump out a four-story building. His ankle takes the brunt of that fall and ushers in a painful walk across town where his previous questionable choices catch up with him.

The art in All Talk is by Akeussel. It’s jarring, visceral, surreal and makes you care about the characters even if gangs or inner-city conflict are the last things on your radar. The perspectives change from panel to panel, vividly illustrating how minute actions or stories being re-told are meant to be inferred by Rahim. He wants to be tough, so he talks tough, and in those moments his stories are illustrated in a black-and-white, gangster motif that’s punctuated with bright red blood to accentuate his stories.

His audience in those instances; seemingly eats up the details, which makes him tell more stories. His mother tries her best, but since his father died, it’s much more challenging than it could be. His father was a good man. The neighborhood youth who got killed was a good kid. It’s that common descriptor that ties together many of the characters that make up their epitaph at the end of their story.

Rahim is described the same way and readers of All Talk can see that he’s got a mother who loves him and affords him numerous chances to straighten out his life, but in the end, he’s a good kid. That’s the common variable that anyone will understand if they live near a large city and have watched the local news. “‘A good kid’ is how friends and parents described them”, that’s usually the tag newscasters will say when wrapping up a story on a killing or body that was found downtown.

It’s a clichéd response that’s ultimately true, which is what makes All Talk uniformly understandable, regardless of where you live. As a graphic novel, the pivotal instances are understated, nuanced or powerfully obvious and the variety in which they’re displayed makes the graphic novel feel as if the camera is zooming in and panning out with abandon. The subtle touches dance with the overt moves in ways that make readers want to look at the graphic novel more than once. There’s the crown floating over Rahim’s head on the book’s cover for instance. He sees himself as one who is worthy of being a king on the street, even though everyone around him knows that path leads to a terminal, dead end.

All Talk is by Bartos Sztybor with illustrations by Akeussel and is available on Black Panel Press.

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