REVIEW: ‘Giant Days,’ Issue #46

Giant Days #46 hails from BOOM! Studios and is written by John Allison, drawn by Max Sarin, colored by Jeremy Lawson, and lettered by Jim Campbell. I’m new to this book and despite it being 46 issues in, it didn’t stymie my understanding of the plot or characters. This book could function as a standalone issue, which makes this issue great new readers to the series, like myself.

The book centers on the Danger Nebula comic book shop in the UK and a goth lady who works there named Esther. Esther is a very cool character with some neat friends and this issue centers on comic book theft. Esther’s pal Susan’s attempts to play private eye and catch the fiend. This is not CSI or a psychological thriller by far instead, it’s just a fine comic with a super cool story to tell. 

As a funny book, the art by Sarin captures the feel of the writing in an eloquent cartoonish manner. I can’t quite compare it to anything animated as it is such a unique style, but I like its manic, quaint charm. Lawson matches this beat with simple colors, and some nice pages of black and white to suit a certain character’s point of view, which was one I happen to love. This is a fine-meshed netting of talent, putting out a great story about pals and their neighborhood and what matters most to them. It has fantastic humor, wit, and great characterizations.

As a comic book fan, I got it. From page one onward, I just was sucked in. The comic shop, geek talk, the small circle of loyal chums who get into your antics, no questions asked as they seriously tackle a very local problem. I loved it. The connections between the three feminine protagonists were sound, fun, and funny. The entire book has a relaxed atmosphere that shows off geek culture well. It pairs perfectly with the artwork of Max Sarin and Lawson’s colors. As usual, I came to appreciate BOOM! Studio’s usage of Jim Campbell’s lettering skills. 

This is a fun book that I simply have to get trade paperbacks for the back issues and suck them up. It’s an excellent romp into the world of geekdom, friendship, and hyperactive imagination geeks and non-geeks alike can appreciate. I recommend it to those reader’s who love stories of friendship, female comic fans as this is a girl-centric title, and superhero fans as this book is capeless. This book is about fans and our goofy ways.