A young girl named Lori wakes up on her birthday to see that her adoptive parents (Who promised her a kitten as a gift) are missing. She wanders the streets of her neighborhood to see that most everyone is missing except for her cheery, optimistic Annette are missing as well. What follows is We Called Them Giants, a dark fantasy tale of survival, unlikely friendship, bird mask wearing gangs, wolves, and of course, giants from Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles. There’s lots of 80s dark fantasy in the comic’s DNA with its menacing, yet kid-friendly tone along with some Iron Giant and, of course, classic post-apocalyptic fiction like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Gillen and Hans take a minimalist approach to world-building focusing on the relationship between Lori, Annette, and some of the survivors they meet as well as their feelings about the giants that tower over what is left of civilization.
On the art side, Stephanie Hans captures the tension of trying to find food and shelter in a confusing, dangerous landscape with plenty of close-ups of Lori and Annette freaking out, or of Lori just trying to channel Eeyore her way out of a jam. However, once the giants appear, Hans breaks out a more colorful palette that paired with some gnarly word balloons and letters from Cowles show just how alien they are compared to the remaining humans and animals. In the initial appearance of the ruby giant, Gillen and Hans uses tall and skinny panels to expand the story from two young girls trying to get food while avoiding a gang to something more epic in scope. Throughout the graphic novel, the giants are treated like powerful, unknowable beings that are definitely dangerous, but also have a bit of altruism in them too. In her designs for them, Stephanie Hans eschews the usual fairy tale or monster film cliches and instead makes them a bit otherworldly and high tech in an organic way. They remind me of the giant sculptures in the woods close to where I went to grad school in Kentucky, but swap out forest for something a little more Electric Forest.
I love how Kieron Gillen writes We Called Them Giants’ protagonist, Lori. (And not just because she has the same name as my mom.) From page one, he and Hans immediately unpack the reason why she’s distrustful and thinks that nothing good will happen to her as she’s recently been adopted, and before that, went from foster parent to foster parent. Early on, Lori says “Everyone will leave you”, and there’s immediately a Stephanie Hans splash of her crying to an empty street. She is more cautious than Annette who still believes in things like God and (early on) her parents returning and has impeccable survival instincts as evidenced by various panels where she sneaks (Or skulks) around the giants and gang members. However, once she lays eyes on that first giant, her life is irrevocably changed. Lori’s journey is beautiful and organic as she doesn’t make a full 180 as the book progresses, but she has several emotional realizations that made me connect to her and love her more as the main character.
Even though it’s a fantasy story, We Called Them Giants is different from much of Gillen’s previous output. There’s not a single pop culture or musical reference with most of the intertextuality coming from the Bible or mythology. (The Giants definitely have angelic energy whether that’s the Book of Genesis of Neon Genesis Evangelion.) Also, even though he’s written a lot of young adult-starring comics, Lori and Annette are a bit younger than the kids from WicDiv and Young Avengers and honestly the giants, wolves, and play of dark and garish colors are all metaphors for the melodrama of adolescence. All in all, We Called Them Giants is an expansive, yet intimate story about finding friends and families at the end of the world with career best art from Stephanie Hans.
Story: Kieron Gillen Art: Stephanie Hans Letters: Clayton Cowles
Story: 8.6 Art: 9.2 Overall: 8.9 Recommendation: Buy
Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
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