Yep! That's right, I'm back with more comic posts because I'm completely addicted and just can't seem to get enough of them and find them deeply comforting during the evenings of these colder months. I have been playing more games than I have been reading comics as of late, but I felt that itch returning as the games got a bit too stale with the countless hours I was sinking into them, and the simplicity of just turning off my brain and getting engaged within a vibrant and unique world became just as enticing. The other night I spent a few hours just searching through some comic series which finished a few years ago, preferring to find something that I could sink some time into without the current annoyance of waiting every few weeks for another volume to release with nothing else to fill that gap. I don't mind waiting for something new to come out, in fact despite the frustrations of being impatient, I actually quite enjoy having something to look forward to that I can't just binge through. Funnily I say that as I talk about finding a comic specifically for binging through, but that balance of both is precisely what I have been wanting. I have a few comics that have already finished that I stumbled across, and a few that I'll be starting once I sink my teeth into this one a bit more. And my choosing of Giants over the others was more the art style than anything else. It was the one that spoke to me the most.
As you can tell from the first image used in this first impressions post, the art is actually rather appealing. Not all of it is in this particular level of detail and style, but the general art style isn't too far off, albeit perhaps a slightly reduced use of colour. The panels are a bit more cartoonish, with a more universal set of colours used in them. And these panels have a grainy filmic look to them which I really have been enjoying so far. That grainy side of things removes some of the sharper look of the lines, making it seem a bit more cartoonish and traditional rather than digital and clean. Though detail is still very much visible, and looks pretty good when it comes to the environmental side of things. And it's with this that the story dives straight into things with little backstory into what's going on. Immediately showing us a frosty world in which gigantic monsters have managed to take over and dominate the environment. It had a bit more of a kaiju look to things which pulled me in a bit more, but there wasn't much context as to what had happened to the world and how it reached this point. Being thrown into things in this sense definitely managed to gain my attention as I got curious as to what the history was here; where did those giants come from? Who are these characters that are roaming the frozen landscape? Do the giants get bigger and more threatening?
As the comic progresses it does start to trickle some aspects of narrative into itself. A comet struck the Earth to which these giant monsters appeared and reduced the remainders of humanity into the underground. Above the surface it's just chaos, a frozen wasteland in which nobody is said to be able to survive up there for more than a few minutes. The story follows two teens that are aiming to get into some of the underground's sub cultures and are tasked with getting a material from the surface, which is effectively a death sentence for them and it's clear they're being manipulated to essentially go out and die. But they're naive and venture out anyway, which reveals a larger narrative over the surface as things take a turn for the worst. It's clear that there are some communities still alive up on the surface, saving one of the main characters while the other manages to make it back home under the assumption that they're the only survivor. I've been liking the way it trickles down aspects of character development with very small snippets of world building so far, not going into lengthy aspects of exposition to explain things, but giving us quick panels of context before moving on. It feels much more engaging this way, especially with that survival feeling as the characters must remain in constant motion. These moments of action are added into the story incredibly well, and I'm loving the use of perspective alongside the art style so far to display that chaos.
Within the story is that material that the characters are tasked with obtaining. It's almost like a more rare resource that the monsters feed upon, but it's also useful to humanity due to the additional properties it appears to have. It can be used as a fuel but also a fertiliser. Given the state of the world, that's pretty important as it allows few places to grow crops above the surface. I'm more interested in what greater presence this will have in the story going forward, as it seems like things are already a bit too 'green' on the other side given how early all of this unfolds.
One interesting feature of things so far is that it seems the larger giants don't have much interest in people. They're almost a bit like gentle giants that accidentally cause harm to humans rather than intentionally. There are some interactions between the characters and them that display this, but little more is told to us regarding that. It's an interesting story so far, I can see the writing on the wall with how there will be conflict between the two main characters as things progress, with how they're now on two different sides of life and it's clear they'll arrive in the same path sooner or later. Whether the quality can be maintained or not though, I'm not yet sure. But I'm definitely going to keep reading through to find it.
Certainly, the first image is quite appealing as you mentioned. That said, it seems like a worthwhile read.
Personally, I've never read a comic book and never really thought much about them, perhaps I should give it a shot?
On that note, I wonder if you might have access to the best platforms to get digital copies?