Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Giant Days, Vol. 2 by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, and Max Sarin

I will keep telling you to read John Allison's comics until either you do so or you stop listening to me entirely. So take that part as read -- like Scarygoround and Bad Machinery, Giant Days is a lovely mix of smart dialogue and real characters and quirky situations. Though Giant Days, being set away from Tackleford, those quirky situations are less likely to involve dimensional portals and selkies and alien potato creatures. (At least so far....)

Volume Two finishes up the first term at an unnamed British University for our three main characters -- Susan and Daisy and Esther -- who have a big formal dance, and a big visit back to Susan's hometown during the break, and the big finals, and then...um...a big new boyfriend for Esther? (Parallelism can only go so far, it seems.)

These four issues also see the big art hand-off, as original artist Lissa Treiman bows out after what was supposed to be the six-issue mini-series and Max Sarin steps in. To my eye, Sarin's lines are a bit thinner than Treiman's, and his her art seem to have less depth...but, then, when does anyone ever think the new artist on a favorite comic is an improvement? He She does a good job, and I'm sure I'll bitterly resent it if he she ever leaves Giant Days and someone else takes over.

So: female-focused writing, with believable people and real-world situations and some of the best dialogue available in comics anywhere. What are you waiting for?

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