Living Up to Expectations: A Kingdom of Giants

I Kill Giants #5
Written By: Joe Kelly
Art By: JM Ken Niimura

A story that seemed so simple, a girl who believes she fights giants, has turned incredibly complex. This book was last mentioned in episode # 36, In which Scott picked it for just that reason: a slowly emerging complex and emotional plot story. The story continues in issue # 5 of I Kill Giants. Written by Joe Kelly and art by JM Ken Niimura, I Kill Giants is blossoming into a truly deep and thought provoking tale about a young girl’s struggle against the harshness of reality. In the last issue, the conflict in Barbara’s life came to the surface – her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Kelly takes this fact of life and deludes it to the understanding of a child, as something to defeat and kill, a giant. Upon this realization, this story takes off to a whole new level. It’s about the struggle of girl to fit in and to fight the reality that her mother is dying. The book is not all tears though, there are funny (especially if you’re a DM, like myself) and light-hearted scenes throughout the book that lighten the mood and improve the story. Issue #5 is a great addition to an already great story. Barbara is missing and her friend, Sophia, frantically tries to find her and ask why she has been absent from school. As the story continues, Barbara begins to collect dead animals to make a “sacrifice” to empower her “weapons” so that she can fight “giants” (a lot of symbolism going on by the way). All this wraps up into a very…huge…conclusion. Adding to Kelly’s script, Niimura really has a unique and creative drawing style and adds to the intensity and the emotion that resonates throughout the story (despite what the last page will tell you). I Kill Giants is a underrated book that deserves wide attention and praise. It helps you see that with a little imagination and hope you took can kill your giants.

Kingdom Come Special: Superman #1
Written By: Alex Ross
Art By: Alex Ross

The Multi-Verse. Man’s final frontier. This is the voyage of Darren, trying to understand what is going on. Kingdom Come Special: Superman (also entitled Kingdom Come 3 ½), written and illustrated by Alex Ross, hit the shelves this week. This is the first of three one-shots pertaining to the Justice Society of America series. I’m going to be very brief with this review because the Dorks will no doubt talk about this issue… LISTEN TO THE EPISODE. But there are many things in this issue that adds more complexity to the highly acclaimed Kingdom Come series. IF YOU LIKE KINGDOM COME GO BUY THIS ISSUE BECAUSE IT IS A MUST HAVE!!! Ahem…This issue felt like Kingdom Come. The art, the story, and even the characters. We also see the return of Norman McKay and see flashback from the original series. Emotions run high within these pages and your heart breaks constantly for superman time and time again. The biggest question about this issue is where do we place it within the Elseworld series. For about this conundrum… LISTEN TO THE EPISODE!