Giant Days

Giant Days is a comedic comic book written by John Allison, with art by Max Sarin and Lissa Treiman. The series follows three young women – Esther de Groot, Susan Ptolemy and Daisy Wooton – who share a hall of residence at university. Originally created as a webcomic spin-off from his previous series Scary Go Round, and then self-published as a series of small press comics, Giant Days was subsequently picked up by Boom! Studios first as a six-issue miniseries and then as a monthly ongoing series. In 2016 Giant Days was nominated for two Eisner Awards and four Harvey Awards.[2][3] In 2019, it won two Eisner awards, for Best Continuing Series and Best Humor Publication.[4]

Giant Days
Publication information
Publisher	Boom! Studios
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Genre	Varsity comedy
Publication date	2011 (webcomic) 2015 (comic book)–2019[1]
No. of issues	54 +3 webcomics +4 specials
Creative team
Created by	John Allison
Written by	John Allison
Artist(s)	John Allison (webcomic, issue 48) Lissa Treiman (issues 1–6) Max Sarin (issues 7–37, 40–47, 49–54) Julia Madrigal (issues 38–39)
Inker(s)	Liz Fleming (issues 13–35)
Letterer(s)	Jim Campbell (Boom)
Colorist(s)	Whitney Cogar (Boom)

Creation

Webcomic

Giant Days is part of the same universe as Allison's previous series Bobbins and Scary Go Round. When Scary Go Round came to end in 2009, Allison followed it with the series Bad Machinery. However, Bad Machinery – a mystery series about school-aged sleuths – was a departure from Scary Go Round, which had focused on a group of twenty-somethings, and Allison worried that the new series might alienate his audience. In case Bad Machinery failed, Allison began planning a second series based on the character of Esther de Groot from Scary Go Round.[5] Although Bad Machinery ultimately proved to be a success, he produced three short Giant Days stories between chapters of Bad Machinery. These were subsequently printed and sold by Allison.[6]

Ongoing series

In 2013, Boom! Studios launched "Boom! Box", an imprint for experimental comics from established artists outside the comics industry.[7] Allison, who was friends with Boom! editor Shannon Watters after catching her when she fell at a convention, saw Boom! Box as a good fit for continuing the Giant Days story and pitched it.[6] The series was initially picked up as a six-issue limited series with pencilling by Disney animator Lissa Treiman (who had previously written a guest comic for Scary Go Round). This was the first time Allison had written a comic but not drawn it.[6] Giant Days was a success, and after the final issue of the miniseries was picked up as ongoing series, with Max Sarin replacing Treiman (although Treiman remained the cover artist until issue 24).[8] Allison announced the end of the series at issue 55.[9] Later this was clarified as ending at issue #54, with a special over-sized issue As Time Goes By wrapping up the series.[10]

Setting

Giant Days is set at the University of Sheffield and has a more realistic, less paranormal atmosphere than Allison's other comics, which take place in the fictional town of Tackleford.[6] The series begins with Scary Go Round character Esther de Groot, a melodramatic goth, moving into her hall of residence and befriending her new neighbours: the cheerful homeschooled Daisy Wooton and the prickly but grounded Susan Ptolemy. The three webcomic storylines focus on Esther, as she is targeted by a gang of private school head girls, breaks up with her school boyfriend, and joins a black metal society. In the comic book series, Susan initially was the viewpoint character although the series remains an ensemble.[6]

Characters

Main

Esther de Groot

Esther is tall, slim, pale, and goth. She is an English Literature student who loves black metal. She is proficient in boxing and is often seen falling in and out of love with various young men. Her friends consider her to be a drama queen, but she is also a very loyal and protective friend.

Susan Ptolemy

Susan is shorter and more of a tomboy than the other girls. She grew up in Northampton, smokes a lot and adopts a tough attitude but is secretly very sensitive. Though she is a medical student, Susan also has a reputation for being very slovenly and her roommates are constantly trying to get her to clean her filthy room and laptop. At the beginning of the series, she is secretly in love with her childhood friend McGraw, whom she later dates. She is very caring for her friend.

Daisy Wooton

Daisy is biracial, tall, with curly/frizzy orangish hair and glasses, studying Archaeology. She is an orphan whose parents died in a plane crash, after which she was raised and homeschooled by her grandmother. Daisy struggles with her sexuality and eventually dates a woman. Her friends see her as an innocent, wide-eyed optimist. She is very sweet and always tries to see the best in people.

Secondary

Graham McGraw

A fellow student and childhood friend/enemy of Susan's from Northampton who eventually dates her. He is very serious, mature, and an excellent handyman who often helps the girls do odd jobs around their apartment when they move off-campus.

Ed Gemmell

A fellow student who harbors an unrequited crush on Esther. He is also a friend and roommate of McGraw's.

Reception

Giant Days was well received, with reviewers especially positive about its depiction of women. Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club noted that "College-aged women are a demographic woefully underserved in the world of monthly comics, so when a new title caters to this group, it immediately stands out"[11] and that "Women make up a large portion of Disney fandom, and hiring a Disney animator for Giant Days gives the book a visual sensibility that will appeal to those fans while presenting a story they don’t get to see in the Disney house style."[12] Janelle Asselin writing for Comics Alliance praised its depiction of online shaming[13] while Comic Bastards singled out the depth of the characters, in particular the sympathetic treatment of Daisy's homeschooling and the nuance of her coming-out arc.[8] David Nieves, reviewing the first issue for Comics Beat, described Treiman's art as having the "emotional grandiose [sic] of Scott Pilgrim" and the writing as having "the feminine voice of HBO’s GIRLS", both with a newspaper comic strip influence, but noted that "a slice of life story needs a little more emotional stakes".[14]

Awards

• 2016 Eisner Awards: Nominated for Best Limited Series
• 2016 Eisner Awards: Nominated for Best Writer/Artist (John Allison)[2]
• 2016 Harvey Awards: Nominated for Best New Series
• 2016 Harvey Awards: Nominated for Most Promising New Talent (Lissa Treiman)
• 2016 Harvey Awards: Nominated for Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers
• 2016 Harvey Awards: Nominated for Best Continuing or Limited Series[3]
• 2018 Eisner Awards: Nominated for Best Continuing Series[15]
• 2019 Eisner Awards: Best Continuing Series[16]
• 2019 Eisner Awards: Best Humor Publication[16]
• 2019 Eisner Awards: Nominated for Best Lettering[16]

Issues

Issue	Publication date	Pencils	Inks	Cover
Webcomics
#1	2011	John Allison (including colors)
#2	2013
#3	2013
Boom! Box
#1	18 March 2015	Lissa Treiman
#2	5 April 2015
#3	13 May 2015
#4	17 June 2015
#5	15 July 2015
#6	19 August 2015
#7	21 October 2015	Max Sarin		Lissa Treiman
#8	18 November 2015
#9	9 December 2015
#10	6 January 2016
#11	3 February 2016
#12	2 March 2016
#13	6 April 2016	Max Sarin	Liz Fleming
#14	4 May 2016
#15	1 June 2016
#16	6 July 2016
#17	3 August 2016
#18	7 September 2016
#19	5 October 2016
2016 Holiday Special	26 October 2016	Lissa Treiman
		"How the Fishman Despoiled Christmas" Caanan Grall Colors: Jeremy Lawson
#20	2 November 2016	Max Sarin	Liz Fleming
#21	7 December 2016
#22	4 January 2017
#23	1 February 2017
#24	1 March 2017
#25	5 April 2017			Max Sarin
#26	3 May 2017
#27	7 June 2017
#28	5 July 2017
#29	2 August 2017
#30	6 September 2017
#31	4 October 2017
#32	1 November 2017
2017 Holiday Special	22 November 2017	Jenn St-Onge Colors: Sarah Stern
#33	6 December 2017	Max Sarin	Liz Fleming	Max Sarin
#34	3 January 2018
#35	7 February 2018
#36	7 March 2018	Max Sarin
#37	4 April 2018
#38	2 May 2018	Julia Madrigal		Max Sarin
#39	6 June 2018
#40	4 July 2018	Max Sarin
#41	1 August 2018
#42	5 September 2018
#43	3 October 2018
#44	7 November 2018
2018 Holiday Special	5 December 2018	"Where Women Glow and Men Plunder" John Allison
#45	12 December 2018	Max Sarin
#46	2 January 2019
#47	6 February 2019
#48	6 March 2019	John Allison		Max Sarin
#49	3 April 2019	Max Sarin
#50	1 May 2019
#51	5 June 2019
#52	3 July 2019
#53	7 August 2019
#54	4 September 2019
As Time Goes By	30 October 2019

Collected editions

The series has so far been assembled into the following collections:

Trade paperbacks

Title	Material collected	Publication date	ISBN
Giant Days – Volume One	Giant Days #1–4	18 November 2015	9781608867899
Giant Days – Volume Two	Giant Days #5–8	30 March 2016	9781608868049
Giant Days – Volume Three	Giant Days #9–12	28 September 2016	9781608868513
Giant Days – Volume Four	Giant Days #13–16	1 March 2017	9781608869381
Giant Days – Volume Five	Giant Days #17–20	7 June 2017	9781608869824
Giant Days – Volume Six	Giant Days #21–24	11 October 2017	9781684150281
Giant Days – Volume Seven	Giant Days #25–28	14 March 2018	9781684151318
Giant Days: Extra Credit – Volume One	Giant Days: 2016 Holiday Special Giant Days: 2017 Holiday Special "Fridge Raider" (BOOM! Box Mix Tape 2015 short story) "Music Is Important" (BOOM! Box Mix Tape 2016 short story) Destroy History (webcomic strips)	13 June 2018	9781684152223
Giant Days – Volume Eight	Giant Days #29–32	15 August 2018	9781684152070
Giant Days: Early Registration	Giant Days #1–3 (webcomic)	December, 2018[17]	9781684152650
Giant Days – Volume Nine	Giant Days #33–36	6 February 2019	9781684153107
Giant Days – Volume Ten	Giant Days #37–40	12 June 2019	9781684153718
Giant Days – Volume Eleven	Giant Days #41–44 Giant Days: 2018 Holiday Special	25 September 2019	9781684154371
Giant Days – Volume Twelve	Giant Days #45–48	29 January 2020	9781684154845
Giant Days – Volume Thirteen	Giant Days #49–52	3 June 2020	9781684155422
Giant Days – Volume Fourteen	Giant Days #53–54 Giant Days: As Time Goes By	14 October 2020	9781684156054

Hardcovers

Title	Material collected	Publication date	ISBN
Giant Days: Not on the Test Edition I—Fall Semester	Giant Days #1–8 Giant Days #1 (webcomic) "Fridge Raider" (BOOM! Box Mix Tape 2015 short story)	28 June 2017	9781608869947
Giant Days: Not on the Test Edition II—Winter Semester	Giant Days #9–16 Giant Days #2 (webcomic) "Music Is Important" (BOOM! Box Mix Tape 2016 short story)	10 January 2018	9781684150588
Giant Days: Not on the Test Edition III—Spring Semester	Giant Days #17–24 Giant Days #3 (webcomic)	31 October 2018	9781684152636

References

1. John Allison. "New Reader's Guide". Scary Go Round. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
2. "2016 Eisner Award Nominees". Comic Con. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
3. "2016 HARVEY AWARDS Nominees Announced". Newsarama. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
4. "Eisner Awards current info". ComicCon International San Diego. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
5. Christine Marie (3 May 2016). ""Giant Days Had A Long Genesis" An Interview With Writer John Allison". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
6. Steve Foxe (18 March 2015). "Giant Days Creator John Allison On Collaboration, Continuity and Quantum Leap". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
7. "Boom! Studios announces new imprint Boom! Box, an experimental line of titles created just 'for the love of it'". Boom! Studios. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
8. "Giant Days: How John Allison's Wonderful Series Avoids the Pitfalls of YA Literature". Comic Bastards. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
9. Lune, Matt. "That's The Issue Podcast: Taking the Joke Seriously, with Steve Morris and John Allison". Multiversity Comics. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
10. "GIANT DAYS Heading for GIANT End with AS TIME GOES BY". Newsarama. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
11. Oliver Sava (24 March 2015). "Howard The Duck is overstuffed; Giant Days and Sleepwalking captivate". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
12. Oliver Sava (21 August 2015). "Boom! targets female readers with the delightful Giant Days and Power Up". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
13. Janelle Asselin (15 May 2015). "Thumbnail: In Praise of 'Giant Days' Approach to Internetting". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016.
14. David Nieves (18 March 2015). "Review: Giant Days "Boy Drama Will Be On The Test"". The Beat. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
15. "2018 Eisner Awards Nominations". Newsarama. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
16. "2019 Eisner Awards Nominations". Newsarama. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
17. Mega, Al. "Giant Days Signs Up for Early Registration". Comic Crusaders. Comic Crusaders. Retrieved 3 February 2018.