Review – Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Giants #1 (BOOM! Studios)

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Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer and Artist: Conor Nolan
Released: 7th December 2016

Giants are real. At least, that’s what my mother told me when I was 12 years old and 5’11; and 17 years, and half-a-foot later, I’ve still not seen enough proof to make me believe otherwise. But then I’m not very observant. Which is absolutely a trait of giants, so I’m told…

Herein, we have a tale of a young giant, born from the stone of a peach, and adopted by the human couple who found said peach. The subject of much suspicion and gossip, our nameless boy giant one day overhears some refugees who’ve been displaced from their homes by vile ogres, and it’s at this moment that he finds the courage to prove that he’s not the scary, flesh-eating monster that the rest of the townsfolk think he is. Adventure inevitably follows.

There’s a wonderful, lyrical lilt to Nolan’s script that perfectly captures the essence of the show – channelling the swirling, heady story-telling of your epic free verse poems rather elegantly into the sequential art form. All the while, there’s a beautiful innocence to the whole thing – the most sinister thing in the story is the very thought of the ogres that are overtaking the land, and even then, the moral is that something that sounds scary rarely actually is, if you’re big enough for the task.

The art does a great job of accentuating this point to – whilst at first glance, it’s perhaps not the most immediately impressive art that you’ll’ve laid eyes upon this year, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Nolan’s style is a perfect fit for the Storyteller’s rebirth in comics. There’s a curious towing of the line between realistic detail and ligne-claire stylisation, imbuing the story with a wonderful dream-like quality. It’s especially magically when our hero is juxtaposed against the otherwise normal-sized world, Nolan toying with perspective and framing, again, as if the whole thing is a particularly pleasant dream.

Overall, this is just a lovely read, full of joy, love and just the right amount of adventure – and on top of all that, it carries a wonderfully effective message. With that said, whilst one can of course acquire, read and enjoy the book as a grown up, if you’ve small humans in your life, this is most certainly a book that you can and should share with them, especially if you’re looking for something other than the grim’n’dark capes’n’cowls. The only shame I can think of is that Nolan isn’t going to be a continuing writer/artist – but such is the nature of anthology series such as this. I’m definitely looking forward to next month’s.

Rating: 4/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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