Comic Review: Giant-Man (2019-) #2

Giant-Man (2019-) #2

Marvel Comics

Writers: Leah Williams

Artists: Marco Castiello & Rachelle Rosenberg

Marvel’s summer event War of the Realms is having fun go with many of its tie-ins. There’s a ton of silly and serious imaginings out on the shelves now and I’m loving it. Creators seem to just be picking up Jason Aaron’s ideas and running with them, making frivolous thrills. Unfortunately, whenever there’s a grab bag of characters and action during a summer event, there are also a few mediocre books. I hate to say it but Giant-Man leans into the latter.

The story’s crux is that four rather off-beat, size-changing heroes are on a mission for Freyja, All-Mother of Asgard. They need to infiltrate Ice Giant territory assassinate Ymir since he’s providing Primal Giants for the War of the Realms. The story feels purely concept-driven as if that’s the only reason this book was made. A bunch of Giant-Men dresses up like Ice Giants sounds fun but its more depressing than anything. Each one has a chip on their shoulder about their circumstances and powers, but they just complain about it. This story isn’t made for confronting these complaints, only serving to touch on them and then evading them.

It’s also difficult to care for a plot when it’s repetitive and there are no repercussions for events. The heroes are discovered by the Ice Giants a ton of times and always make it out just fine. I’d be cool with it if it happened once but it happens multiple times without consequence. There’s a slightly redeeming part wherein the heroes drink with Ice Giants but they wind up being found out again. It leads to a humorous brawl but it’s not a satisfying one and delivers the same result; they get away. The story needs a grounded moment for readers to connect with and doesn’t deliver till its too late.

The characters are cool and I definitely want to see more of them, but they’re only here for the concept. Personally, Scott is the only one who has endearing character moments for me in this book. Honestly, if the story gave more focus on him and Raz or only had them, it’d probably feel more put-together. They have the most emotional set up since Scott fears losing his daughter and Raz is healing after a break-up. At least the story still has Scott going through the motions of dealing with his emotions, but mostly off-panel. At one point he leaves to cry in a tent which is build up to when he later cries on-panel. There’s an emptiness to the book since Scott has to carry all the drama, humor, pain, etc. The series doesn’t give the other Giant-Men anything to work with.

The art catches the feel of iciness throughout a Florida run by Ice Giants, but that’s its strongest point. I can’t speak much to the art because I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t seem the most impressive. I’m sure the art team can do grandeur and the like, but it isn’t in this book. Overall, I can’t recommend Giant-Man simply cause it feels more like work than fun. It’s a task to get through the issue.