Nobody knows why the skyscraper-sized mechs known as ‘Giga’ fought their bitter, centuries’ long war. All they know is that when the fighting finally stopped, the dormant Giga became humanity’s new habitat and new gods in one. When disgraced engineer Evan Calhoun finds an apparently murdered Giga, his society and the fascistic tech-centered religious order that controls it are rapidly thrown into chaos. Enter this new world with Giga #1.

There aren’t many writers whose work I will pick up without question, and Alex Paknadel is quickly becoming one of them. I have yet to read a comic written by him that I haven’t enjoyed, and given the quality of Paknadel’s writing, With Giga #1 Paknadel takes you to a distant future that finds humanity living inside of giant robots, docile veterans of a long war, acting almost as a symbiotic partner to the robot’s existence. This idea, that the robots need the humans like humans need bacteria, is brought up a couple of times in the comic, and it’s something that sets the series apart from a lot of the other science fiction I’ve been read of late.

The idea of humanity as a virus isn’t new, but humanity as a bacteria isn’t something I have ever seen before. It provides a fascinating backdrop as the story plays out within the dormant giant robots and a world that’s not quite post-apocalyptic anymore, but the scars of the war are still evident if you know where to look. John Lê‘s art, colored by Rosh, is beautiful.

Stylistically the art is clean and vibrant, with the details never getting lost on the page – the world is at times muddy, the interiors often caked in dirt and the detritus of years pushed to the side in a vague attempt at cleanliness, but it’s drawn so well that you never lose focus on what is happening on the page. An interesting factoid from a recent conversation with Paknadel is that one of the textures in the comic was taken by Rosh from bird shit, which makes me wonder what else is lying just beneath the surface of the art in this comic.

It is one of the many reasons to reread this book.

Giga #1 is clearly a labour of love. I have never read a comic from Paknadel that I haven’t enjoyed, and this is another prime example of why. From the very start of the comic this is a wonderful experience; Paknadel treats his audience with a level of respect and trusts us to pick out the history of the world from what we’re shown within the story itself, he doesn’t waste a page on an opening crawl (although there’s nothing wrong opening crawls, they can be over used and tell you too much about what’s about to happen). The comic continues with that level of trust and respect, both for the characters within the book who are fully formed from the moment you see them, and the audience ourselves. Whether it’s the pacing, the dialogue, the world building, the narration boxes… there’s isn’t a wasted syllable in this comic.

I also want to take a moment to point out the lettering of Aditya Bidikar; the speech bubbles are one of the things you’ll notice on the second read through (or first at this point), and at first you may not understand why they grabbed your attention because there’s a subtle uniqueness to them that adds to the visual presentation of an already stunning comic.

If I’m honest, while I expected to like this book, I didn’t expect it to take me the way it has. I should be surprised, honestly, given how much I enjoy Paknadel’s other work. Giga #1 is easily the best thing I have ever read that has come from Paknadel’s keyboard; there’s something here for so many different aspects of fandom, but at the end of the day, what’s most important is whether this comic is any good – and it is. It’s one of those comics that you need to add to your pull list immediately (and thankfully a lot of you have been as the book has already gone for a second printing).

Giga has the potential to be the kind of generational story that’s talked about for decades. Don’t miss the first issue.

Story: Alex Paknadel Art: John Lê
Colorist: Rosh Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Story: 9.2 Art: 9.1 Overall: 9.3 Recommendation: Buy

Vault Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics

Imagine a world where the Transformers (Called Giga in the story) are worshiped like gods and have a fanatical religion dedicated to them called the Order of the Red Relay. Also, humans live in their bodies. This is the world of Giga from writer Alex Paknadel, artist John Lê, colorist Rosh, and letterer extraordinaire Aditya Bidikar whose use of single lines connected to word balloons adds to the dystopian vibes of the book. The first issue introduces readers to the protagonist, Evan, a disabled Black man, who uses a wheelchair and has left the Order to follow his own path. There’s lots of dead human and Giga bodies, but Paknadel and Lê take the slow burn route and show what life is like in this post-apocalyptic, mecha-filled world before setting up a bigger conflict or mystery.

Alex Paknadel and Lê show the tension between devotees of the Giga, the Luddite Duster gang, and then folks like Evan and his robot buddy Laurel, who are caught in between these various parties. But there aren’t epic battles or big “gotcha” moments beyond an incident in Evan’s past that is responsible for him leaving the Order, or him and his friend Mayra finding a bunch of dead bodies in a heavily damaged Giga that is similar to that incident. Paknadel and Lê seem more concerned in showing what day-to-day life is like for Evan and his complex web of relationships that include the aforementioned Mayra and Laurel (Who is adorable is hell and an action figure or plush waiting to happen) as well as Mason, his buddy from the Order, who wants him to return. Their conversation is relatable for anyone who was raised in any kind of fundamentalist-adjacent religion, still interact with friends and family from that background, and maybe even still feel a little guilty for leaving to forge their own path.

Lê and colorist Rosh’s art do an excellent job showing the size and scale of the Giga and the humans that either hate, worship, or simply tolerate them. For example, the opening scene with explosions, bodies flying everywhere, and intense reds from Rosh cuts to a wide, double page splash of just a little smoking in the the head area of Giga, which is surrounded by other Gigas. It’s like they had an ear infection or accidentally burned a burger on the grill. It’s a slight convenience for them compared to the utter trauma on Evan’s face. The sequence of pages also drive the home the elegant, yet scatological metaphor that he mentioned to his teacher about humans basically being the cleaning/regulating microbes of the Giga. They’re not friends or beloved followers; they’re the plumbing system or the little remora fish that eat parasites off sharks.

John Le’s art truly drives home the point that Giga #1 is set in a post-apocalyptic world with all kinds of small touches like annoying rain puddles, cluttered living arrangement, and fluids dripping from the ceiling. (That might serve a larger plot point down the road when Mason wipes one off his Order outfit.) This is a world where you’re on your own unless you comply to the Order or anti-tech Dusters, who get a short scene that shows that being anti-technology might be a bad idea when it comes to healthcare. They come across as a metaphor for anti-vaxxers, but more post-apocalyptic chic. Even if they don’t directly connect to Evan’s story yet, it’s cool to see the world of Giga from a variety of perspectives.

Giga #1 has some interesting world-building and ideas and is a solid mash-up of mecha and post-apocalyptic fiction with a color palette that is both bleak and intense courtesy of Rosh. There are a couple of explosions and some big damn (and one little) robots, but Alex Paknadel and John Lê structure their story around Evan’s relationships with the world around him instead of going the blockbuster action route and use these relationships to ask big picture questions about the connection between humans with different beliefs and humans and technology. Giga is sure to be another SF jewel in the Vault crown.

Story: Alex Paknadel Art: John Lê
Colors: Rosh Letters: Aditya Bidikar
Story: 7.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Vault provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics