Rereading I Kill Giants
It’s been raining all day so there’s not much to do. Nats game was rained out and Caps are going to OT against the Bruins. A good time to read some good comics. Check out IKG is you haven’t. It’s a really great story with an awesome message of strength and perserverance.
I Kill Giants
Time for my first post dedicated to an Image comic book. I recently picked up the trade paperback of I Kill Giants (IKG) and oddly enough I remember buying the first issue but never reading the rest for some reason. I finally got around to getting this trade after reading great things about the story. I’m happy to say that IKG has an inspiring story that a lot of people can relate to.
IKG is written by Joe Kelly and drawn by JM Ken Niimura and originally published a couple years ago I believe. IKG is the story of Barbara Thorson a sarcastic, smart, vulnerable, witty, and snarky elementary school girl who slays giants. She takes her duty very seriously, often at the expense of people questioning her sanity because she’s also very cryptic and odd about it. You see it’s not immediately made clear if Barbara is really slaying giants or if she has a wild imagination. Barbara also sees and can communicate with what I guess are fairies.
In fact readers are left wondering about a lot of things concerning Barbara. She lives at home with her older sister and brothers. Her older sister cares for them and her parents aren’t mentioned in great detail. The family dynamic is interesting there’s obviously love amongst them but they argue a lot as her sister struggles to keep the family together while also working a job.
I don’t want to spoil the major details of the story, but I think a lot of people can relate to Barbara’s situation. It turns out her situation is a real life situation and a magnificent ending that some may find inspiring. Joe does a really great job of humanizing Barbara. She gets bullied, teased, and accused of being crazy but never caves to the pressure. She’s quite the role model as well, especially when it comes to dealing with bullies.
IKG keeps quite a bit of the plot a mystery until the final issues, but it’s a great payoff and you find yourself feeling happy for Barbara and her family by the end. If you dig strong female leads IKG is worth checking out because Barbara kicks ass and she is awfully young. But again the plot to IKG is very strong and I think any collection needs this title in it.
You can definitely see the cartoony manga influence in Niimura’s sketchy art. He draws Barbara with various animal ear hats, I’m sure you’ve seen something similar in manga or anime. As with most manga influenced art emotional scenes are usually portrayed very well due to the exaggerated facial expressions and body language. She sports a pair of rabbit ears the most and they sometimes reflect her mood. They’ll stick straight up if she is excited or scared. In other scenes they’re drooping because she is nervous or tired. Oh and there’s no colors here, IKG is in black and white and it’s a beautiful book to look at.
The trade also has some neat behind the scenes material in the back that offers some cool insight into the making of I Kill Giants.
