‘I Kill Giants’ review
By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor
5/5
I originally picked up I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly after a Goodreads recommendation from a friend, and luckily that friend seems to know me pretty well. This graphic novel is probably one of the most entertaining reads I’ve had in a really long time.
Joe Kelly, better known for Deadpool and Spiderman, took a more whimsical approach when he created I Kill Giants. Fifth-grader Barbara is not the most popular kid in school, nor is she the smartest, but the one thing she can do that none of her classmates can is kill giants. Half-fantasy, half-metaphor for growing up, I Kill Giants is extremely dynamic not only in its action but in its emotional content as well. Alienation, friends, family, and identity—Kelly manages to cover it all in this humorous narrative, which is very reminiscent of cartoons like Recess and Hey Arnold, except a little darker.
Artistically, I can’t praise this book enough: nobody draws gangly pre-teens like J. M. Ken Niimura. Outside of this graphic novel, Niimura is not extremely well known, but I can assure you, this is probably one of the better artist introductions I have seen. Stylistically, I Kill Giants is very simplistic and cartoonish. There is no focus on accurate portrayals of anatomy, and I can’t imagine this book succeeding any other way. The art perfectly matches the tone of the plot, and vice versa.
I’m sure reactions to this graphic novel will probably be extremely polarized, since it has a love it or hate it kind of vibe. I definitely recommend picking this one up, even if stories about grade schoolers don’t really appeal to you. Believe me, this is much more than just a kids’ book.
