One of the things I always loved about Allison’s art is the sharp angles and straight lines – it worked so well with the humour which is often taken to linguistic whimsy rather than, perhaps, more natural speech patterns. It was at first a bit of an adjustment as, whilst the humour is still undeniably Allison’s, the setting and style are very different from Tackleford. I only, so far, have the first two volumes of Giant Days, so whilst I am aware that the series changes artist later on (Max Sarin from issues 7-37, 40-47, and 49-54 Julia Madrigal for issues 38 and 39 and Allison himself for issue 48), I can only speak to the art of the beginning of the series – which is, as you would expect, excellent. As Giant Days recently won two Eisner awards (Best Continuing Series and Best Humor), it seemed only fitting I get my act in gear and finally review some of the work I’ve loved. They can be bought together through Allison’s website or as a collected work published by Boom! if you would like the bit of context to the start of the Giant Days narrative. The original three volumes were drawn and printed by Allison, and act as a prologue to this comic series, more in-tone with Scary-Go-Round than the new Giant Days, but acting as a bridge. Giant Days began as a spin-off from Scary-Go-Round, charting Dark Esther’s adventures as she leaves Tackleford to go to University.

It’s a bit like the Mighty Boosh in that respect, if a little less frenetic. I always loved his tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, surrealist humour. These, officially or otherwise, form some kind of broad, multi-generational saga based around the town of Tackleford, where nothing is ever quite as simple as it ought to be. I’ve been reading John Allison’s work since I was approximately 12 years old, starting with Bobbins, before following through Scary-Go-Round, Bad Machinery, New Bobbins, and Bobbins.horse. 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. Now, away from home for the first time, all three want to reinvent themselves.

Susan, Esther, and Daisy started at university three weeks ago and became fast friends. Genre: Graphic novel, humour, contemporary fiction Author/Artist: John Allison ( twitter / website) and Lissa Treiman ( twitter)

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