Here at io9, We are huge fans the fantastic RPG horror series by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans die-an incredible, grippingly subversive story of tabletop fantasies, which was actually so good at honoring the tabletop experience that it just became one Pretty awesome, one of them at some point too. But now Hans and Gillen are back, with a very different story… but one that’s just as fascinating to watch.
“After we were done dieWe knew we wanted to do something completely different. Rather than a sprawling ongoing process, do something smaller, more intimate, self-contained and truly pure,” Gillen told io9 in an emailed statement. “So in the middle of the coronavirus lockdowns, I was left alone with my cats, staring at them and staring at me, thinking about the wonder of relationships between beings of completely different intelligences and the wonder of leaping across that gap. Soon the image of the wild girl in the devastation and the giants appeared and we were gone.”
This picture was We called them giants, a new standalone original graphic novel that reunites Image Comics’ Gillen and Hans along with writer Clayton Cowles. The comic follows a young girl named Lori and shows her waking up one day to find that the world is suddenly much emptier than it should be – and that all that’s left of humanity is fighting for survival and fighting among themselves . And that’s before terrible, beautiful creatures suddenly appear in the picture and Lori’s life changes again.
“People will fall in love and have their hearts broken – the full Hans/Gillen experience,” Gillen continued. “Despite the post-apocalypse situation, the story has an almost eerie fable feel and essentially ends in a conversation between The Walking dead And The iron giant. Basically, We called them giants is the story of communication across a divide at the end of the world. People have seen what Stephanie does in a monthly rush for an ongoing comic. Here it’s exciting to see her having fun – creating this one long story and shaping the whole thing into a poignant, romantic and devastating canvas.”
“As an artist, it is always a pleasure to work on new challenges, especially when it is with such a great writer. “Kieron wrote an emotional story in which he let me run wild with the designs,” Hans added in her own statement. “It’s a new, beautiful end-of-the-world story, a little epic, a little nostalgic and a little thoughtful. Nothing is like it was before. In the best way.”
We called them giants is scheduled to be released on November 12th – click through for a few more glimpses of Hans’ beautiful, painterly artwork from the book.
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