First off, that #21 cover has some bitchin’ ‘Susan as hard-boiled detective’ art.
Our girls have been burgled! Well, their apartment has, which is somehow even worse, considering it forces us to visit Susan’s room.
The issue turns very serious when Daisy reveals to Esther and Susan that the only keepsakes she had left from her parents have been stolen, too, which opens the door to us learning so much more about Daisy’s childhood than we did before.
So like her to end up being the grown-up, calming down her friends. It’s not long until the girls come up with the latest insane plan, this time to reappropriate Daisy’s keepsakes! However could that go wrong, you ask? For one, we get to see Esther in what I can best describe as un-Esther clothing. That, my friends, is a vile attack on goth chic fashion, and I will not stand for it. I mean, just look at what it does to Esther
I adore how Susan is into her role, though; she’s trying really hard to pass off as one of those sly criminals we all root for from our living rooms…I’ll let you imagine how well that goes for her. It’s a fun, warm story that once more deepens the friendship defining the pages of Giant Days, and I shan’t spoil the conclusion, but by the opening of the following issue (#22), DAISY’S SMOOCH BUDDY IS IN THE HOUSE! Of course, Daisy freaks out:
Meanwhile, Esther is being a responsible employee, and learning the joys of hard work, and Susan is having trouble climbing up hills—who knew smoking like a chimney might slow you down somewhat?
Daisy’s adventures with Ingrid, meanwhile, demand more and more of her, drying her goodness like a fig, until the sweetest human in slice-of-life is turned once more into an evil hound of hell (see previous volumes for more of this). On the off-hand that’s not enough, we do get to see Esther experiencing cosmic horror:
As the following issue commences, we’ve got Ester feeling lonely, Susan coughing like she’s a seventy-year-old smoker instead of a nineteen-year-old one, and Daisy enjoying life to the max. Sounds like a great time for a party, doesn’t it?
But here’s the trick, we’ve been getting some panels with the girls’ neighbour, an elderly grumpus, and with a party incoming….whatever’s bound to happen? Conversations, is wot—and only those conversations that truly showcase the depth of that penetrative intelligence so many nineteen-year-olds possess.
This, truly, is when I realised how much I love Ingrid’s character—she has no filter whatsoever and it’s altogether too funny to watch the chaos her words create.
I am particularly fond of how the Hulk versus Wolvering conversation comes back around when Esther is having an interview for her (possible?) dream job:
Come Issue #25, it finally happens! Not since the very first volume have we experienced the joy of one of our characters being this sick, not since then have we had the chance to fully appreciate the myriad ways in which disease can be used for a thousand brands of comedy! And now, threats:
The three girls become infantilized by the parental presence in their life in the span of three weeks, until tragedy strikes and Susan murders a man in cold blood:
I love Giant Days. See you next time, BAI!
The Grimoire Reliquary 