3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man

by Matt Kindt

Matt Kindt is now officially the cartoonist I most wish I'd known about years ago, as I can't believe I'd missed out on such amazing comics.  His Revolver graphic novel at Vertigo introduced me to his work, and this is now the third book I've read, after the brilliant Super Spy.

3 Story is about Craig Pressgang, a giant man.  Craig grew quickly as a youth, eventually growing to a height of more than three stories tall.  The book is divided into three stories, each focusing on a different woman in Craig's life.  The book opens with his mother narrating, and we see Craig both grow up and grow away from her.  It's a sad story, and it sets the tone for the rest of the book.

The second story focuses on Craig's wife, and it tells us the most about Craig.  We see his college days, followed by his growing celebrity, ad endorsement jobs, and world tours (which were in fact organized by the CIA as information-gathering trips).  It is in this story that Kindt explores Craig's gigantism from a novel perspective - the difficulty of building housing for him, the demands of the telephone, and the health and neurological consequences of being so large.  Like a with a dinosaur, it takes some time for signals from nerves in his extremities to reach Craig's brain.  This puts him at great risk of infection, as he could damage his feet without being aware of it for some time.

As Craig continues to grow, and has a few mishaps like the one at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it becomes increasingly clear that Craig can't remain.  The third story has his grown daughter searching for him.

This book is a touching and interesting look at a standard trope of superhero comics, but examined in a more realistic manner, except for the spy stuff, which Kindt can't seem to resist including.  I enjoyed this book a great deal, and can't understand why it didn't receive more press and buzz when it was released in 2009.