Giant Days kicks off its third year here. Does this issue bode well for the rest of the year? Read on, and be aware there are some mild spoilers.
Written by John AllisonCover by Lissa Treiman
Penciled by Max Sarin
Inked by Liz Fleming
Colored by Whitney Cogar
Lettered by Jim CampbellSpecial oversized issue celebrating two years of Giant Days and the start of Year Three! Susan goes home for the holidays and attempts to repair the rift between her parents with the help of her six older siblings!
I’m a recent convert to “Giant Days” and have only read the first eight issues plus the one prior to this, so I’m not as up to date on the extended cast as other readers. Still, though, this perspective allowed me the opportunity to really see how the creative team builds their characters.
This issue’s focus on Susan and her family has its pros and cons. One the one hand, we don’t get much of the central cast interacting. The friendship between Susan, Esther, and Daisy has been the core of “Giant Days” so far, and the few pages where we see them together in this issue, I’d argue, are the most effective. However, the fact that the creative team is able to focus primarily on just one character and still deliver a fantastic issue shows how well developed all of them have become.
Other than her dad last issue, I’m not sure if any of Susan’s family has been introduced before. Nevertheless, by the end of the issue, I had a complete idea of who each of them were and how they interacted with one another. Allison uses Susan’s concern over her parents’ failing relationship as the central plot on which he applies all of the other character interactions. By doing this, we get little moments dedicated to each character for strong, clear development.
Early in the issue we see one of Susan’s sisters picking her up, and they have a brief exchange where the other five are mentioned. It’s a dense three panels, but because of Allison’s breezy dialogue, it doesn’t feel dense. A few pages later, we see all of the Ptolemy sisters together. Because of the art, that earlier dialogue all immediately made sense, and the characters immediately felt real.
Sarin draws the “awful old sister-witches,” as Susan called them, looking outgoing and mischievous on first sight, angled towards each other and making hand motions with wide facial expressions. She draws the sister who’s been “no fun since she spawned those demons” as looking like all the life has been drained from her, an extremely wide-eyed baby literally connected to her in a baby carrier. This spot-on art of the recognizable character types, combined with Allison’s sparse, exact dialogue, made all of Susan’s sisters relatable from first sight, and this is also true with all of the other characters we see.
Sarin doesn’t give any particular page a distinct layout, and I think it works for a book like this. Some panels are a bit bigger than others when needed, but ultimately almost everything is five to eight rectangular panels on a page. We then have to focus on what’s within the panels: wonderful, witty dialogue and clear, expressive art. “Giant Days” doesn’t get lost in trying to come up with innovative ways to deliver the story. Instead, we get a straightforward delivery done extremely well.
The dialogue likely wins as my favorite part of “Giant Days.” Each character has their own voice, and they’re all funny without overdoing the wit. All lines also sound conversational. When Susan asks her father about his mother’s driving, he responds saying, “It’s not really driving, is it? It’s more of a mobile murder spree looking for victims.” It fits in the conversation and gives just the right amount of wit without being too smart for conversation. Also helping is the fact that this is only one of two jokes on the page. The rest of the lines are the normal conversational dialect with certain grammar rules abandoned, as typically happens in conversation. The characters speak earnestly when appropriate, guarded when not, and realistically overall.
Continued belowAlso worth noting, Allison structures the story so most pages have their own central purpose, with the ultimate punchline usually in the last panel. In this way, reading “Giant Days” can sometimes feel like reading a collection of comic strips. Luckily, it doesn’t fall into the trap of having each page feel too segmented, which can happen with this joke-a-page format. Allison likely achieves this steady flow by sticking to an overarching plot and having each page within one scene lead into the next page. The art team also helps maintain a consistency across pages by only changing coloring or overall layout of each individual panel when the scene changes.
My coming to the series late didn’t matter: the creative team makes reading “Giant Days” a treat for all readers, new and old. From the precisely realistic dialogue to the expressive art to the relatable story and characters, this issue looks to start off an excellent new year.
Final Verdict: 8.2 – I’ve always had a great time with this comic in my limited exposure, and even with reduced roles for two of the leads, this issue is no different. If you enjoy slice-of-life sitcoms, check out “Giant Days.”
