Giant Days Vol. 1

Susan, Esther, and Daisy started at university three weeks ago and became fast friends. Now, away from home for the first time, all three want to reinvent themselves. But in the face of hand-wringing boys, “personal experimentation,” influenza, mystery-mold, nu-chauvinism, and the willful, unwanted intrusion of “academia,” they may be lucky just to make it to spring alive. Going off to university is always a time of change and growth, but for Esther, Susan, and Daisy, things are about to get a little weird.

Giant Days Volume 1, created and written by longtime webcomic creator John Allison (Bad Machinery, Scary Go Round) and Disney artist Lissa Treiman collects the first four issues of the critically-acclaimed series from BOOM! Box.

Series: Giant Days

Paperback: 128 pages

Publisher: BOOM! Box (December 1, 2015)

Language: English

Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces

Reviews

"A cute, light series about three english girls in college. Funny, heartfelt and a pleasure to read."

- UMJAid

"I really like this book. The characters are fun, yet flawed. The art is BEAUTIFUL! It looks a little roughed, which is more than fine, because the characters poses and expressions are so expressive and detailed. The backgrounds are fleshed out impressively.

Story wise, it is fun. The characters play off of each other in interesting ways. It is college drama stuff, so if you aren't a fan of such things, that would be bad. Personally, I'm generally not a fan of that genera, and feel as though this does it right, or at least differently.

I guess one of the things about it is that this isn't "girl sees dude, falls in love, etc. etc." Which can be a lot of school books with a female protagonist. And while a dude is there who probably will be the protagonists boyfriend... again... he isn't the sole focus. Who knows, maybe in later volumes I will eat the words on this post, but for now the characters feel more human. and I like that.

Seriously I love this art."

- Eric

"The book arrived on time good service. Art work is great with a cartoonist style. Story was fine no direct line of plot . Just about the experiences of three girls in college with some humor. Characters are a little off , I can't really identify with them but it leaves room of them evolving as the story goes on."

- Joseph Peralta

"This is the story of three young women as they embark on their college careers. They discuss their families, school, dreams, romance, and social issues (as they apply to college, not the overall world - it is neither overtly nor subversively political). The dialogue is well done and sometimes funny (amusing, but not laugh out loud). The artists' work is good, but the facial expressions are particularly excellent."

- Frank L. Greenagel

"GIANT DAYS, by John Allison was, like NIMONA, born from a webcomic Allison had begun much earlier. On the pages of GIANT DAYS we find protagonists Susan Ptolemy, Esther de Groot, and Daisy Wooton hanging out together in Susan's dorm room after the events that take place in the webcomic/mini-series. The exposition is light, and honestly, it doesn't really matter much. GIANT DAYS is a slice of life comic/graphic novel that slowly explores the transition between teen to young adult as our little British girl gang runs and stumbles through their first year of college.

Timing is of great importance for GIANT DAYS, because with so many short/small plots that do conclude in some fashion the larger overall narrative could quickly become boring. But Allison manages to keep readers' engaged and interested in what happens next (and what happened before, and who are these girls?!) throughout. The art for the first volume, deftly drawn by animator Lissa Treiman, also adds a sense of motion and fluidity between each panel and page, and encourages the audience to really get into these cuties.

I was surprised to find that a lot of Allison's work has female protagonists at the center of the work. Although male, Allison's writing of the female experience doesn't seem contrived, 2-dimensional, or stereotypical. It's rich, varied, and layered - surprise, surprise - like real women's lives! And Allison cleverly tackles issues like romance, sexual exploration and identity, sexism, body image and body positivity, and more in a way that is thought-provoking and humorous."

- Suzi

About the Author

John Allison is the writer and artist of the webcomics Bobbins, Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery. He lives in Greater Manchester.