As summer arrives, Sheffield University breaks up and, after two years, so do our three studenteers! Susan and Daisy are swanning off to live with their beloveds leaving poor single Esther all alone – who will take her in? Enter: lovesick Ed Gemmell, secretly pining for the goth princess this whole time, who may have the answer: his place! Will he have the guts to suggest it? Bah, who needs guts when you’ve got booze! Except a near-deadly night on the lash threatens to thwart the carefully laid plans of micemen!
Giant Days is my dependably good comics rock. And yet… I’m slightly fallen of crest to say that Volume 9 is the first book in the series I haven’t totally loved as much as Ed does Esther. I still enjoyed it a lot but usually I get that weird, fuzzy sensation of joy at reading transcendence itself and this time something was missing.
I suspect ‘twas the unsatisfying way writer John Allison looked like he was finally addressing Esther/Ed’s will they/won’t they relationship only to quickly back away from barely developing it – you teaseth too much, Mr Allison! And, because that takes up much of the book, there’s not a whole lot else happening, so that could be why it feels oddly insubstantial.
Volume 9 is still pretty tops though. Ed’s face when Esther half-jokingly suggested they live together was the funniest thing I’ve seen all year! I loved the visuals of the student vultures lusting after the girls’ former house and Ed hallucinating living with Dean for another year – artist Max Sarin absolutely kills it with the art as per ush.
An Esther-Mite materialises temporarily in the form of Lottie, the little sister of one of Esther’s mates, prompting Susan and Daisy to don their auntie hats and endure her painful kiddie truth bombs. I get the feeling that Lottie is a carryover from Allison’s other series, Bad Machinery, though I only read the first book of that title – it wasn’t for me – so I can’t say for sure. Esther and Ed’s pub crawl was great, as was the reveal of their secret origins, and Daisy continues to grow beautifully as a character. Allison’s writing sparkles with dry wit and genial humour and Sarin’s art is perfection, page after page - they is absolutely one of the finest creative teams in all of comicsdom eva!
Giant Days, Volume 9 surprisingly isn’t the home-run I’ve come to expect from this series though it’s another delightfully charming read. Nine books in and Giant Days remains a quality title but it might be starting to flag.
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