A comiXologist Recommends:
Eric Arroyo recommends Giant Days #2

John Allison’s (scarygoround) Giant Days brings the sass and flavor of Bad Machinery and Scary-Go-Round to the first weeks of college, where freshmen form bonds with the first people they see and navigate the challenges of independence, often disastrously. After cementing their friendship through brawling a gang of former head girls/martial artists, Esther de Groot, Daisy Wooton, and Susan Ptolemy find themselves simultaneously stumbling through matters of love and that annoying band upstairs that won’t stop practicing at night.

Although Esther, Daisy, and Susan are still figuring out their identities, cartoonist John Allison has a firm grasp on their characters. Allison cements the girls’ personalities and dynamics through authentic dialogue and playful mannerisms. As they play off each other, they naturally roll into the kind of young adult tussles that are easy to identify with, but portrayed with enough wit and self-awareness to be as hilarious as they are embarrassing. Matters of long-distance relationships and unrequited love are dealt with with a frankness and lack of melodrama that’s awfully refreshing; characters aren’t villainized for their poor decisions, and the young women’s agency over their sexuality isn’t scandalous.

Giant Days #2 may not feature the more fantastic beat-downs of its first issue, but it maintains the well-paced, interlocked rollercoaster of humor and teen drama, synching the two rails at the end for a fiasco of a climax. If you fondly remember the neighbors you met the first time you locked yourself out of your dorm, or if you hate their awful mugs, dive back into university with Giant Days.

[Pick up Giant Days #2 here!]

For fans of: female leads, slice of life

_{Eric Alexander Arroyo is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist and a Digital Editor at comiXology. He’s probably drawing giant robots or listening to ABBA.}