(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley. Content warning for allusions to sexual assault.)

A former foster kid, Lori is used to feeling abandoned. When she wakes up alone one day to find that almost everyone on earth has seemingly vanished overnight, it almost doesn't come as a surprise to her. She quickly bands together with fellow "weird-ass rapture" survivors Annette and Beatrice, scavenging for food; trying to keep warm and sheltered; and all while evading the Dogs, a local gang whose hobbies include sex slavery (charming).

Things go from weird to downright bonkers with the appearance of two giants - one that glows a fiery red, the other emerald - and a pack of supernatural wolves. When Red starts feeding and then collecting the humans like pets, Lori's instincts tell her to run. Though well-earned, is Lori's cynicism misplaced?

I wasn't entirely sure what to make of WE CALLED THEM GIANTS. While the artwork is gorgeous, the story feels a little incomplete. (Who are these giants and where did they come from? We'll never know!) I suppose it's a tale about fostering communication and understanding against seemingly insurmountable odds (politics, sigh), but it was hard to empathize with the giant(s) since we know so little about them.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

I really liked the art style (reminded me of DIE), and the story was interesting all the way through. It's a short story, and so not everything is explained. It's from Lori's perspective, so it's more about how she deals with trust issues and survival, all on top of just really pretty artwork. I think their use of color palettes is done really well, both to keep scenes from being visually overwhelming and to convey the emotion of it all. Oh, and I thought the way the giant communicated with the people was funny; it was a nice touch.

Thank you NetGalley for the Advance Reader copy.
I really liked the artwork. Its beautifully done and I enjoyed my time with this graphic novel, but I felt something was missing from the story. I needed a little more, I'd love to know more about the giants, where they're from and why Red is the way he is.

The artwork is beautiful! The storyline was easy to follow and pretty interesting. I'm normally not a post apocalyptic girlie but the scifi kept me drawn in.

The art in this graphic novel is incredible. Some of the most stunning, emotional art that I’ve seen in graphic novels. The concept of the book is also quite interesting and drew me in. Unfortunately, the book was missing so much information and so many answers. If it was a series, that would make sense, but as a standalone book, it just didn’t have enough to it. Even the sort of “lesson” at the end was a blink and you’ll miss it situation. It just needed more all around.

We Called Them Giants has big ideas, and great art, but the writing doesn't quite carry it.

The world and some of the concepts are intriguing, but they are largely left vague and mysterious to the point of frustration. Nearly every mystery the book sets up is left unresolved, and hand waved as unimportant, in service to the character development that's virtually nonexistent. The characters are basically all one dimensional, and exist solely to push forward the narrative, and sadly, that narrative is as wide as a puddle, and as deep as one as well.

Gillen is great, especially with big stories about small folk confronting godly beings...I dunno what went wrong here. This is not his best work by a long mile.

*ARC provided by NetGalley & Image Comics*

4 stars.

Wow, graphic novels very rarely have an emotional reaction from me but this one did. The ending was sad and bittersweet. I would have loved this to be a series, to follow the characters and the found family they created in such a difficult time. I thought the story was clear and interesting.

The art style is beautiful and detailed, a good mixture of realistic and animated. The detail was brilliant.

Definitely recommend giving this graphic novel a read!

It's just a surprisingly uplifting read that is and is not what I expected when I started reading it. I'd still recommend this to appreciate the illustrations and because the story is inventive despite the lack of development.

This is a dystopian graphic novel that takes place after a massive portion of the population disappeared

The art is absolutely stunning and it reeled me in and kept me hooked. I would have liked a more fleshed-out story; it was super fast-paced, and I would have loved a deeper dive into why everyone disappeared and where the giants came from. The writing also felt a little disjointed and unnatural at times. I really enjoyed the setting and the artwork, but the pace of the story and the writing left me wanting more.

This was an okay read that was made good by the artwork, unfortunately the pacing just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for this ARC.

Thank you Net Galley for providing this e-arc. We Called Them Giants is a dystopian sci-fi graphic novel that explodes on the page with its vibrant coloring and design. We called them giants inviting the reader to imagine a world in which only a select few are still alive and have to choose to adapt to a new world. Our main character Lori has always had to look out for herself due to her rough upbringing. Now Lori in this new world has to navigate past trauma while learning to trust new species and new people. I don't want to give too much away but I would suggest this e-arc for fans of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeats and Iron Giant.

Ok so I need to start by saying this was kind of phenomenal and I honestly cried at the end. A fantastic setting, some great, emotional storytelling, and the art of course was beautiful beyond words.

The only thing stopping this from being five stars was it just wasn't long enough. I don't mean that in a "I wish there was more" way (although I do), there's just so much information missing. Who the characters used to be, there's no backstory beyond a couple of sentences. Who the Giants are, there's only vague hypothesis. Maybe a prequel volume and a sequel volume could help in the future, but as a standalone it was lacking. The ending didn't feel satisfying, beautiful as it was there just wasn't a conclusion, there were no answers, you don't know what happens to them. There needed to be more depth to the story for it to feel complete.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

Then you to NetGalley and Image comics. I really enjoyed this comic. The artwork is beautiful and the characters are great. The story is interesting and I was glued to each page. It’s was beautiful and moving and I think it will definitely stay with me. I hope this series continues so I can continue reading about the characters and their journey.

This was a gorgeously draw exploration of interactions when communication is non-existent. In this case, the lack of communication is between the human protagonists and the giants that have arrived on Earth. The theme of inaccessible communication though, is one that can be applied in our world where people don't share languages, where we interact with other animals, or where things like mutism and hearing loss come into play. It felt like part of what could be examined in the wake of this story was what it means to communicate, regardless of who the participants are, and what experiences can be considered part of the human experience.

Where wariness and mistrust dominated the majority of the story due to our main character's life experiences, by the end we see her realizing that despite being unable to speak with the red giant, she has come to understand them, at least in part.

As a big fan of DIE, I was very excited to hear about this graphic novel. The illustration style and colours did not disappoint, the writing provided an interesting take on the standard post-apocalyptic tale. As always, Gillen's work is dream-like and eerie, I will be ordering a copy for my libraries collection.

I was gifted the pleasure of experiencing this graphic novel through NetGalley.
The illustrations are beautiful and mesmerizing, with so much detail it is easy to get lost. You can feel the chill in the air while looking at the snow covered landscape. Through the story you can feel the relationship between Lori and Annette, and feel the love that has grown between the two after being thrown together under such unlikely circumstances.
When our characters are forced together, we meet them just after the apocalypses takes place. We are led to believe it all happened very suddenly. The question is raised in the text if this could be the rapture. Two young girls, Lori and Annette come together as the last remaining people in their community, and as they recognize each other from school it's as good a pairing as one could hope for.
As with any post apocalypse story, there has to be a reason. There also has to be those left behind who become wild with the lack of civilization. This story is no different in that respect, with the men calling themselves DOGS hunting and scavenging for any food or supplies they can find.
What makes this story different, the introduction of large beings. Could they be aliens, angels? "We called them giants."
Where did they come from. Are they here with a sinister plot, or could they be friendly? Leave it to our characters to find out.

We Called Them Giants is a very quick post apocalyptic story with beautiful illustrations. The story is interesting, but I felt it was a bit short. I wish we could have learned more about the giants, why some people stayed behind, and what exactly happened. Overall, it was an enjoyable graphic novel. Thanks to Netgalley and Image Comics for the arc.

we called them giants is an absolutely beautiful story, radiating warmth even in it’s coldest pages - a celebration of love and persistence that showcases how true connection transcends all man made triviality.

as the gorgeous cover was what initially drew me to this world, i cannot write this without first mentioning how lovely the illustrations were. with an incredible use of colour and composition, stephanie hans’ understanding of expression is what really helped this tale shine.

being just over a hundred pages, this graphic novel explores a fairly straightforward plot, beautiful in its simplicity - which is somehow what makes it work so well while simultaneously leaving me wanting for more.

at times, the pacing seemed to be running a bit of a marathon - and i feel there was an excess of narration where we could have benefited from having the plot showcased in other ways.

while i was skeptical for a while due to our main character’s cynicism, that was an ending worth waiting for, a beautiful message that truly spoke to my soul.

The art was great in this quick dystopian graphic novel. It’s only 100 or so pages so the story moves quickly as we try to work out what happened and why some people were gone while others were left behind. The food is gone, their family and friends are gone and why did they leave the canned beans behind?

Thanks to #NetGallery and publisher for a copy of this book.

"We Called Them Giants" is a post-apocalyptic, dark fantasy graphic novel. A very simple story, but accompanied with gobsmackingly beautiful illustrations. Truly impressive and stayed with me long after I finished the book.

I went into this one being a fan of the writer and artist on previous books. In a post apocalyptic world, many have disappeared, leaving our main character and her friend down the street one of the few left. In this world is a scary gang, deadly wolves, and giants. Do they trust the giants? I'm not sure what I expected from this one but I really enjoyed the story though I could have done with a few more pages at the end.