REVIEW: ‘Goliath Girls,’ Volume 1

Goliath Girls Volume 1 is a spunky riff on the kaiju genre written by Sam Humphries with art by Anti Firmansyah, colors by Brittany Peer, and letters by Jodi Wynne. The volume is a ComiXology Original by Shadow Valley. The Goliath Girls live in a time after the end times. Kaiju, known as Goliaths, emerged. The world was decimated. And The Foundation has emerged to train kids orphaned by Goliath attacks to kill the Goliaths and eventually fight to control the King of Monsters. Controlling the King would mean controlling all of the Goliaths.

This series is great. It’s a clear riff on the Godzilla mythos, down to a rivalry with a giant ape and an extraterrestrial third party. But it’s a unique spin. It’s unique for its focus more on the humans and their relationships to the kaiju, and it’s unique for its being about kids who raise a Goliath from an egg into a giant. The fight for your friends-found family aspect of the comic, particularly that the family includes a Goliath, is extremely charming and makes for a very fun book. The dialogue does get cheesy on occasion, but honestly, even just its attempt at colloquialisms helps make the characters feel all the more endearing.

I only wish it could have been longer. There are a few aspects of the story, like some of the foundations of the world’s history, the characters’ pasts, and the extraterrestrial presence, that I so badly want to know more about. Many of these pieces do get fleshed out slowly over the volume through flashbacks, but still, I want more. The world this series has built isn’t necessarily novel, but it’s filled with so much heart and with a particularly interesting backstory for the main heroes and antagonists. It’s very impressive, though, how much the series can weave some dangling plot threads back together and subtly bring in new elements repeatedly over the course of the volume, despite its brevity. The way it uses expectations, especially around the Super Sovereign Goliath, to drive the plot is smart, even if a little predictable.

The art perfectly compliments the tone of Goliath Girls Volume 1. Every character has a clear and distinct visual that lends itself to totally apparent and endearing personalities. Even the villains of the series are given strong personalities that are brought out well through the illustration. The kaiju are also very fun to look at, especially my girl Ginger Spice. Their designs are not completely novel, but their personality is evident, especially for Ginger Spice. Being able to give her, a giant monster, a personality through illustration alone, since she doesn’t speak, is key to helping the reader form the same attachment that the Goliath Girls feel towards her.

There are some brilliant moments of color throughout the volume, all of which would be spoilers to mention. But they are varied, and each adds so much to the awe of the moments they are portraying. Particularly, Brother Worm, the seemingly extraterrestrial presence, is drawn and colored absolutely menacingly. It’s a creepy design that plays to the emotional stakes of the scenes he is part of. The lettering is also very well done, using different colored boxes to indicate different speakers when they are off-panel and using apt fonts for certain characters. Brother Worm receives a nails-on-chalkboard font that adds to his creepiness while, in the interest of avoiding spoilers, certain other characters receive some giant and scratchy lettering at the end. Both add a lot to the voices of the characters they’re speaking for.

For its rich character relationships, creative use of kaiju as members of the found family, and excellent subtle story-building through flashbacks and expectation setting, Goliath Girls Volume 1 is a great comic volume, and I hope to see the continuation of this story and these characters’ journies.

Goliath Girls Volume 1 is available now on ComiXology.