Sad, tense, wondrous, and hopeful, WE CALLED THEM GIANTS is a beautiful piece. Kieron Gillen’s words and Stephanie Hans’s and Clayton Cowles’s art are stunning. This graphic novel is well worth your time.

Heartbreakingly short - Gillen’s writing hints at more and Hans’s art is so delicious that I was legitimately disappointed by how quickly this wrapped up. That being said, it’s a tremendous little short story that works on several levels - exactly what original genre comics should be - and I support it wholeheartedly.

The art here is beautiful and despite her prickly nature I really enjoyed the main character. Here is a prickly ex-shelter cat cycled through fosterers and then turned out into a world where food is scarce and other strays are competition and threat, accompanied by a housecat and an old feral. And then there are giants.

The giants cannot be communicated with, their motives are impossible to divulge. One well-meaning giant feeds the strays in his back yard, another kicks dogs seemingly for the hell of it, sets his own dogs on them. Watching Lori having to learn to trust with no certainty, learning to accept love at a cost, is heartbreaking, though there's a hint of hope in the bittersweet ending.

*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

This was a good story but I felt like for a short story it was slow to get in to however, if this is to become a series that makes sense.
The artwork was absolutely beautiful and captivating.

Without the artwork I would have gave this a 3 Star but the artwork has pulled it up to a 4 star for me.

This was a beautifully drawn book with a story that is both gripping and poignant. I enjoyed it very much and will add it to my recommendations for my students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics for the ARC.

This has some of the most beautiful illustrations and colouring I've seen in graphic novels so far, but the story was shallow, the narrative and sentence structures often confusing, and leaves too many big questions unanswered. I liked the messages of overcoming cynicism, allowing yourself to love and trust, the found family trope, but they weren't explored with as much depth as they deserved. Such high concept stories shouldn't be told it what felt like a 100 page one-shot pilot.

3/5

I can’t get enough of the artwork in this novel, which is absolutely stunning! The colour palette used is fantastic, and its ethereal glow works incredibly well in a scifi story. It’s only a short novel, and while I would’ve devoured a story double its length, the plot was just the right length to tell the story it wanted to.

We Called Them Giants establishes a small group of strong characters incredibly quickly, and their personalities and character traits stay well defined throughout. This is particularly true of Lori, and her cynical view of the world and friendship after time spent in foster care. I thought including her character in an apocalypse survival story where most of the population vanishes was a clever and smart choice.

I think everyone who has read this wishes that there was more. The artwork is great and the story is too. But it's quite, quite short.
Don't worry though, something tells me Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans will be around for a while.
#NetGalley

I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel, the art was beautiful and really complemented the story. The story was great and really gripped me to the point where I devoured all 104 pages in a short sitting.
I am truly intrigued for future editions, this will be a series I will continue to find out more about the "Giants" and where they came from.

The only real critique I have is that it was a slightly slower burn and it took me a while to warm up to Lori. I would've enjoyed slightly more exposition but that is just the type of reader I am.

Overall an enjoyable first entry to a promising series.

4/5

An incredibly fun, rewarding, and surprisingly life-affirming adventure. There’s no dearth of darkness here, certainly, but there’s also plenty of light to fright the shadows away. I was hooked by the art and story from the first panel. And I plan on getting my friends and family hooked, too!

Truly sensational art that tells a story centered around the importance of kindness. Gillen tells a story of a world on its last legs, and the mysterious giants that might be responsible for its downfall.

I don't know how to feel about this because this is probably the most depressingly and hopeless graphic novel I've ever read. The art and writing were beautiful, but wow, I felt like watching a rom com after reading this. I wasn't expecting it to be just so miserable and sad of a story. I can see so many people loving this, but I don't love anything that makes me stare into space wishing I hadn't read it because I'm going to be depressed the rest of the day.

Beautiful illustrations that balances wonder with a strong unsettled feeling. Found the story super engaging and didn't want it to end.

Was a fun read with a interesting world. I do wish we could see more of it though to understand more about what is going on now with the world.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of We Called Them Giants. This was a nice quick graphic novel set in a fantasy, apocalyptic time. The artwork was nice and the dogs were creepy. The ending didn’t feel totally pulled together and finished but overall it was a good short story. Thanks again for the ARC!

I didn't expect this to bring me to tears like it did. It's a testament to the writer and illustrator that you were able to feel such emotion from the giant without him ever having said a word.

gorgeously illustrated graphic novel with an interesting post-apocalyptic setting and story. the art did so much for me. i enjoyed the characters and the story had an unexpected "twist," which i greatly enjoyed. i just wish there was more to the story as there seems to be so much unsaid world-building, and I wish had more interaction between our main characters and the Giants. Super recommend it though!

This one drew me in on cover alone. She looked like a fearless main character taking on the world, and that is exactly this story. Alone in a world filled with alien-like creatures, finding a friend who is exact opposite of you is another task for another day. Surviving over thriving and just trying to make the best of it. How scary it must be to realize everyone just vanished and having to figure it out. Truly mind boggling but I think I loved the emotional grasp of figuring out a scary situation. I have not read anything by this team but they quickly became one I will keep an eye out for anything they come up with because it is absolutely amazing. This is a immersive tale, you get to feel and see all the details of the world around them, while lacking in character details, it makes up with giving you life in this world. I think that is hard to do in many of this, is able to give you the whole picture, emotions of what these characters are going through. Absolutely stunning, and beautifully done. Cannot wait for more of these tales. Well done.

Beautifully drawn. Though the main character is not necessarily the nicest (but can you afford to be in the apocalypse?), she ends up learning a meaningful lesson from the feared Giants. Worth a read, but I feel it could be a bit more fleshed out. Hoping maybe there will be more eventually...

I really enjoyed the art of this graphic and the flow of the story was easy to follow. The story itself is where it kind of lost me. While it was good, I didn’t really like Lori as a character and I feel like there was part of the story missing.