I Kill Giants

The story of Barbara; a young high school girl who is struggling to accept a tragedy in her family.

Barbara is sarcastic, bombastic, headstrong, hates school, loves D&D, isn’t interested in friends or dumb people, and oh yeh, she’s obsessed with giants – finding them, hunting them and killing them.

Saying that what writer Joe Kelly has produced is a work of genius probably doesn’t give IKG enough credit, but if you’re anything like me and have suffered a personal loss at a young age then this book definitely is as good as it gets. I bought the whole volume so I feel like I was lucky enough to take this in all at once and ‘feel the emotion’ all in one sitting – as opposed to waiting each month.

From the opening pages, Kelly sets the scene – a busy town, people going about their day to day life, and right in the middle of them, amongst them there’s Barb. Right from the get go with the manga-esque style, Barb’s appearance and the sci-fi-ish title it’s so easy to fall into the “this is just another fantasy book” trap - but IKG definitely isn’t that. This is a story about the real world, and real people. IKG wears a similar deceptive mask to those that are grieving or in pain.

This is a story about grief and loss. Kelly tells the story of Barbara and her relationships in such a deep and beautiful way that I was so thrown. It had such a strong impact on me as I felt I could identify with Barbara, and if you’ve ever been in a similar position, you know how comforting and helpful these mental retreats can be. Kelly brings so much emotion to this story as Barb battles her own demons. Her fear and turmoil slowly creeps through the pages and it culminates in an outlandish fantasy sequence in the penultimate chapter where she faces off with a Titan. It pretty much gets blurry at that point on account of all my sobbing.

Kelly manages to tell a difficult story that provides a simple but beautiful message about courage, hope and facing your fears. Even till the very end there’s no clear explanation as to whether these giants exists or not, and whilst it appears that they don’t, the penultimate chapter suggests otherwise. But when it comes to fear and adversity, don’t we all face our own giants?

Kelly’s work is only made more amazing by the pencils of Ken Niimura. What can I say about Niirmura’s work - it’s swift, graceful, beautiful and emotive. Some of the most perfect scenes of IKG are definitely the faces of the characters. The scenes which depict Barb finally confronting ‘the room’ are both heart-breaking and terrifying.

Niimura says everything he needs to in black and white. Even the small details such as Barb and her bunny ears mean so much. They are so random yet so her. The fact that on-one mentions a thing about them further displays her ‘oddness’ and that these have become the norm. Either that or maybe no-one really is paying attention.

I Kill Giants is amazing. Kelly and Niimura tell a heart-wrenching story through a metaphor of fantasy and art that transcends mere entertainment and displays the complexities of such raw emotion. It really goes on to fully illustrate Kelly’s words:

“To those fighting their own giants, you're stronger than you think”.

It definitely holds a strong place in my heart.