‘We Called Them Giants Vol. 1’ HC (review)

Written by Kieron Gillen 
Art by Stephanie Hans
Published by Image Comics

I went into this one completely blind. I had never even heard of this book before cracking it open. I had read some books before that were written by Kieron Gillen and I enjoyed them enough. And Stephanie Hans always has done some pretty strong artwork with each book that she’s on.

With two solid creators like this, I figured that I would give this book a look.

I am glad that I did as there is a lot of incredibly great things that happen here in this book and it is a truly unique and wonderful concept that they make shine.

This book is a little bit different than what we usually see from the two creators.

It is a self contained story that you don’t have to read anything else before or after to understand.

Image Comics has been doing that with a few of their creators lately and it is rather appealing. The only drawback is that the book is roughly ninety pages and you wish you can spend more time with the two main characters.

The story is pretty straightforward and a bit basic. The story is about Lori and Annette, two girls who have to give it their all to survive the post apocalyptic landscape that they find themselves in. They come across many factions in their travels including gangs and weird creatures throughout. They also come across the rather large giants that the title of the book suggest.

We get to see these two girls navigate this crazy hell that they find themselves in. It is not easy for them as they have a ton of obstacles in their way that we making it difficult.

The giants of the book have their own sort of mythology to them that is really interesting.

Kieron Gillen always has a unique way with these things, and here he does it as well. He builds a nice and unique background for these giants. They are also visually interesting to look at. The color palette used here works very well for the book as well.

The two main characters have a lot of doubts when we first meet the giants. They are wondering if the giants can be trusted or if they are really nefarious. The theme of trust is explored here to a very large degree and it is interesting in how it all plays out.

The book is a little fact paced, and at times, it is almost too fast.

Certain scenes got a little muddled as a result. The action is well choreographed, but you definitely can see that the quiet, more character driven moments are where this excels.

The two main characters are also a bit generic and it becomes increasingly harder as the book goes on to sympathize with either one of them. The reader just isn’t given enough time or space to care about them so they become a bit lost.

The ideas in this book are pretty great and grand. I wish that they had more time to explore them in a way that was more significant. By the end of the book I was left wondering if they were planning future installments. Or maybe they were thinking that it might be a series?

Whatever it was, I felt that this whole thing came up just a little bit too short.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t great things about the book. The design work and the artistic storytelling are true highlights. Stephanie Hans really does an original job with both. She makes the artwork the real selling point with every image she creates. Every picture she creates is worth looking at again and again. I love what she does with the artwork here. Her work has always been great, but here she really levels up. I can’t wait to see where she goes next.

Overall, this is a pretty decent read. It does have some pacing issues but it didn’t interfere too much with the reading experience. It seems like the two creators have a really expansive world in these pages. Maybe they can come back and fill that world in some more.

There is a lot that could be explored for sure. Also, maybe they can fill in some of the gaps that this book seemed to have.

RATING: B