Comments on: Comics You Should Own – I Kill Giants

By: Travis Pelkie

Travis Pelkie — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:31:33 +0000

Other than the book dealing with an interesting afterlife, there is a significant Christian element to it, but you can kind of gloss over it. It’s not the most important element of the book, but it’s there (having to do with the afterlife — actually, until you brought it up, I had glossed over the Christian bit in my own mind, as it probably is the weakest element of the story). But overall, the story is funny, romantic, action-packed, and can switch gears between these on a dime without seeming forced. I’m going to read it again soon, but it just struck me as really good on first read.

I think the name thing just shows that there can be more to the story than even the author intends. I remember reading the CBR interview with Callahan when his GMozz book came out and he talked about having to face the “you’re reading too much into it” charge. Tim basically said, hey, it’s there, I just SHOWED you it’s there. Just because it wasn’t intended doesn’t mean it’s not there.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:12:56 +0000

Travis: Of course, I asked Kelly about the names last year, and he didn’t have any deeper meanings about them – I think he said they were the kids of a relative (his nieces, maybe?). I choose to ignore that and believe that somewhere deep in his unconscious his choice of names was important.

I’ve only read one thing by TenNapel and thought it was okay. Is Ghostopolis overtly Christian? The only thing I’ve read by him was aggressively Christian about halfway through, and while I don’t really care if you want to be aggressively Christian, I’d rather know it up front than have it come out of nowhere. If Ghostopolis is upfront about it or not concerned with Christianity at all, I might have to give it a look.

By: Travis Pelkie

Travis Pelkie — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 01:15:49 +0000

I don’t think Greg gave away as much in this review as the solicitations/reviews (not sure where I read some of it) as the book was coming out did. I knew one of the big reveals before I read this, and it did hurt as to my enjoyment of the book. I thought the blacked out words were an ingenious way of showing the “lalala I can’t HEAR you” quality that Barbara brought to the issue.

And I love your explanations of the names. It took this review up a notch.

I believe that the lightning/hammer motif as shown in the last page above was just the indication for “end of chapter”, since it was on the last page of each one.

Whenever you get back around to G, you should look at Doug TenNapel’s Ghostopolis. One of the best GN’s I’ve read in awhile.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:02:32 +0000

stealthwise: I do try not to give too much away, and everyone has a different opinion as to whether I do or not. While I was writing this, I was trying to work out how much to give away and what to conceal, and it’s always frustrating because I felt that if I wrote less about it, the entire post would be much shorter and it would be more “I think this is cool; trust me.” I try to strike a balance, and I think that something like I Kill Giants works perfectly well even if you know some things going in. I’ll keep trying, though!

In my original reviews, I felt kind of the same way as you do, although I thought it turned a corner in issue #3. I enjoyed the first two issues, but it didn’t seem like anything great. Then it took off, and you note, becomes emotionally wrenching. That’s why I think reading this in trade (or all at once, if you have the issues) is the way to go – I would hate to see that a lot of people dropped it after the first two issues, because they missed the greatness to come.

By: stealthwise

stealthwise — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 21:00:32 +0000

I finally read this, and it’s a phenomenal book, but man… you give away FAR too much in this review, as the tension between Barbara’s worldview and the “reality” of the world is really a huge part of the first read of this series, as you mention above.

I can’t imagine reading this in serial format though, as I likely would have dropped it after issue three or four. It really comes together and reads quite well as a single volume.

The ending had me weeping like a damn baby.

By: The Dane

The Dane — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:36:15 +0000

@Greg – Oh, cool. Being so late to the party, I didn’t know if anyone would ever see my comment. Thanks for responding You may be right about the earlier hit of puberty. I work with high schoolers and juniour highers on a fairly regular basis and there have been a few seventh grade girls that quite clearly have hit that change. I just didn’t know if it were reasonable to expect that of fifth graders too. *shrug*

By the way, you’re absolutely right about the book being worth a re-read. As I was handing the book to my wife to read, I casually flipped through and landed on one of the pages in which Barbara was home alone and she hears the terrifying scrawl of her own name echoing through the house. I flipped again and landed in the midst of the episode after her beat-down in which she’s warning Sophia of the certain peril lurking around the corner in her house.

And suddenly, it all made sense. Powerfully crafted stuff there. I’m not usually a fan of books/movies that withhold key information until the end, only allowing someone to properly absorb the story on a second read-through. But in this case, it felt more like value added to me and so i was okay with it.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:19:16 +0000

Dane: I’m not sure about the hammer insignia. Only Kelly and Niimura know!!!!

That’s an interesting point about Tyler. Maybe she got left back and she’s 12? I do know that I’ve been reading a lot about kids hitting puberty earlier these days because of hormones in the food, so maybe that’s it. I tend to think it’s just Niimura exaggerating how big she is to make her scarier, but I wonder if there’s more to it …

By: The Dane

The Dane — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:37:49 +0000

Okay, so this is REALLY late, but I just read I Kill Giants today and loved it. I only have one thing that stands out as being a bit off to me.

Taylor. The bully. They’re all fifth graders. In an elementary school. Taylor is in fifth grade too (as we see her at the start of the next school year in the same school, Birch Elementary). So what’s up with that? Do they really make ten-/eleven-year-olds that buxom these days? It’s been awhile since I was in fifth grade, but none of the girls in our school matured that fast. So was Taylor a mistake? Or made more robust by Barbara’s imagination?

Hm, one more thing. What do you make of the panels/pages that have the lightning hammer insignia stamped in? (The last sample page you post includes this motif.)

By: Rick Jones, really

Rick Jones, really — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:01:31 +0000

Joe Kelly has done some good work in the past, but nothing he has done is better than this mini-series. I loved this book and pushed the first issue on a number of folks, who then went on to buy the rest of the series. It’s among the best comic books I’ve read in years. I can’t wait for the trade to come out so I can start sending the whole series to my family and friends.

By: Kirk Warren

Kirk Warren — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:47:54 +0000

I also highly recommend I Kill Giants. Easily one of the best comics from last year.

By: danjack

danjack — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:48:12 +0000

Really like Joe Kelly!
will be on the lookout for a discounted copy of this someday…

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:00:12 +0000

I live to make you spend money, Bill!!!!

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:39:03 +0000

Another one for the list, I suppose.

It’s a long list. Egads…

By: fanboy d

fanboy d — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:52:11 +0000

LOVED i kill giants

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:29:21 +0000

Four Eyes is good, but only two issues have come out, so it’s too soon to tell. The art is beautiful, and the story – so far – is quite cool. I only hope it lasts long enough for Kelly to tell his complete story!

By: gerg

gerg — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:41:00 +0000

I enjoyed this series as well. I may be tempted to buy it again when its collected…plus the graphic design of the covers are eye catching…between the title and that, it was that extra push for me to check it out. The first issue of Four Eyes was entertaining…for the life of me…I can’t find the second issue anywhere…

By: BDaly

BDaly — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:05:17 +0000

I often like Kelly, and I like the look of the art. Plus, you usually get it right with your stuff one should own, so I’m definitely going to get this in trade. Is Four Eyes as good, or not quite?

By: Manglr

Manglr — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:33:16 +0000

Looking forward to the TPB of this one….

By: Dan Bailey

Dan Bailey — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:27:18 +0000

I’ll have to read the entire writeup later (I’m *supposed* to be working), but I simply want to second the “comics you should own” label for I KILL GIANTS. One of my favorite comics in … ever.