“I think what makes it good is that it doesn’t last. The best things are rare.” - Esther de Groot
Be strong (lip trembles) - deep breath.
Giant Days...
is...
over.
My (now formerly ongoing) favourite comic closes out its almost perfect run with… a disappointingly mediocre final book. So maybe it was for the best that John Allison called it quits now before it possibly got bad?
Esther, Daisy and Susan sit their finals as their time at university comes to an end. Daisy must thwart the plans of serial prankster Coralie at the last smash ball and the girls spend their final summer together before heading off into the scary (go round) adult world of working for a living: Daisy at archaeological digs, Esther at a London publishing house and Susan with her doctoring.
The book comprises two issues, #53 and #54, and a bumper special one-shot, As Time Goes By, and I think issue #53 is the only issue in the entire run that I disliked. It just wasn’t interesting. Daisy taking flu pills and becoming a Matrix’d version of Daisy going after a pranker just wasn’t very interesting on any level.
But then #54 - I mean, I’m not made of stone, guys. How could I not get the feels as the gang said their goodbyes like that? And the special one-shot wasn’t totally bad either. I appreciate John Allison showing how shaky post-university life is for graduates, even if the girls, particularly Esther, landed on their feet more than most do, and I loved the parts with Susan and McGraw. I’d love to see John Allison revisit these characters later on in life to show us how they ended up - I hope this isn’t the end end, ya know?
Even in the special though, I did not care for the evil publishing twins. They weren’t funny and for some reason Allison took the story in a Scott Pilgrim-y direction which isn’t really something he’s done before in the series so it didn’t suit it at all. And it was a crap ending to a crap story anyway!
Max Sarin’s art is as spectacular as it’s been throughout - hats off to her, she made this title as much her own as John Allison did and it wouldn’t have been as incredible a series as it was without her contributions. I will follow this artist religiously going forward.
John Allison - you sir are a genius. How you managed to make (nearly) every Giant Days book as inventive, funny, warm, and inspired, I will never know - but somehow you did and that is one helluva achievement. Well done, really. A dependably good comic is a unicorn and I’ll miss these because they were my rock.
The final volume wasn’t as great as I’ve come to expect from the other 13 VOLUMES but I still feel that Giant Days deserves its spot in the pantheon of near-as-dammit perfect comics alongside the likes of Scalped and Freakangels. If you’ve yet to experience it, give the first volume a try - I wasn’t sure about the first volume initially either, for no other reason than it looked a bit too YA-y for my blood, and I’m so glad I gave it a chance.
And, because he already wrote it perfectly in the comic, I’ll leave things here with John Allison’s words:
Bye, Esther, you magnificent sepulchral ghost empress.
Bye, Daisy, ultimate kindness duchess.
Bye, Susan, toughest broad in South Yorkshire.
Giant Days indeed.
(*bawls* - COME BAAAAAAACK!!!)
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