Review by Karl Verhoven

In Free For All Patrick Horvath envisages a future in which those among the exceptionally wealthy are selected by lottery to donate half their wealth to the government to pay for essential services. If they don’t pay by a deadline they’re hauled into court, which is where we meet pharmaceutical magnate Cameron Miller, who’s judged to have avoided payment. “They’re gonna have to come take their money if they want it” perhaps wasn’t the wisest public statement under the circumstances. The penalty is payment anyway, plus gladiatorial combat televised as if a sport, complete with hosts and commentary.

It’s safe to say there’s a personal viewpoint infusing Horvath’s idealised society, but Miller isn’t the focus, which is his gladiatorial opponent Ted Brooks, a wealthy man who revels in the combat and volunteers for it. His next fight is with his ex-wife Luella, who’s built a fortune from the nothing he left her with.

Any social commentary rapidly fades after Luella’s introduction as Horvath instead focuses on the emotional drama of ex-husband vs. ex-wife. The reasoning is well bolstered, with Brooks transmitting as a complete bastard, and Horvath scatters little distractions of a futuristic society, good at designing robots and cybernetic augmentation. He’s better at drawing these than the people, who’re slightly wonky and distorted when pictured during day to day interactions. The generally bright colours, though, are a pleasant change for a dystopian world and bring out the figures.

While the cover represents what’s found within, it’s also an unnecessarily gruesome image, liable to repel as many people as it attracts, and therefore severely misjudged.

Around half the book is the eventual combat. It’s creatively choreographed, but leaves Free For All as an extremely slim experience overall. The book is rounded out with six pages of Horvath’s thoughts on the project and society in general.