Sunday, November 9, 2008

Gigantic #1

Written by Rick Remender
Art by Eric Nguyen

The text piece by Remender explains the concept best:
"I wanted to... do a book with giant robots and monsters destroying cities that also explored the idea that advanced life throughout the universe likely watches a metric ton of television."


As far as high concepts go, it's an effective one here. The story shows us how the entire planet is a set for a reality TV show being broadcast around the galaxy (a la the Truman Show). Add to that a giant robot (or is it a suit with a big guy in it?) is trying to escape from his TV contract and lands in San Francisco, being hunted by monsters, and you have the first issue. Okay, maybe it rings a little bit of "Escape from Mojo-world", but it's an excellent comic.

The main reason for its excellence is the contributions of Eric Nguyen, and colourist Matthew Wilson. The book is absolutely beautiful. Nguyen has come a long way from when he and Remender started "Strange Girl" (also an excellent book). His work is cleaner than before - especially in the human scenes that set up our Peter Parker protagonist. The colours are absolutely gorgeous.

I find that when Remender does creator-owned work, it's always a worthy purchase. Strange Girl, Crawlspace: XXXombies, End League, and of course Fear Agent are recent or current favourites of mine.

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