Comic Review: Giant Days #52

Giant Days #52

BOOM! Studios

Writer: John Allison

Artist: Max Sarin

Another issue down.

Three more to go.

Giant Days is so close to being over, it’s almost palpable. I’m gonna miss these guys, but I’m almost incredibly eager to see how John Allison ends his tale of university life. But I’ve spoken about all this before. The reason I’m bringing it up again is that it’s actually made me enjoy the final issues even more.  Giant Days has never had a dud issue, but thanks to the fact I know this is nearly all over I’m savouring every panel, every character beat, every moment even more.

I absolutely adore how Allison writes his characters. They feel real like they could be actual people in the real world rather than simply comic characters. Usually, Giant Days focuses on an ensemble cast of characters, but here it focuses mostly on Esther, with a few inconsequential cutbacks to Susan and Daisy just relaxing at a Spa day. But as I said, this is Esther’s story, a follow-up to the 2017 Giant Days Holiday Special issue. Esther heads back down to London with a job interview and reunites with her friend Shelley. However, Shelley is feeling disenfranchised with her job, so Esther decides to help her find some more joy in life. To say any more would be spoiling the issue, but it’s a really heartfelt issue (at least for me, but it’ll likely mean more to some than others).

The art is, as ever, wonderful. I actually only started reading Giant Days around a month and a half ago, so it’s taken me a while to adjust to this art style. But I’ve adjusted to it now, and I can say easily that it’s one of my favourite art styles in a modern comic. Somehow, Max Sarin’s art not only allows for scenes that feel real and at least to this reader, relatable (admittedly I am myself a university student and started reading it while in the midst of the most stressful period of my first year, which is probably part of the reason), but it allows for creativity in expression.

While Giant Days #52 focuses on Esther rather than the traditional ensemble cast, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a wonderfully written character piece dealing with what comes after university for her, what happens next. It’s a terrifying process in any students life, and Allison captures this incredibly in his writing, as does Sarin in his art. An easy recommendation and inevitably one of my issues of the week.