Customer Reviews

Tiny Giants

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I feel so overwelmed by this book right now. I admit that I know this author, and i'm sure that makes me more naturally open to Nate's work, but for God's sake do not overlook this book at any cost--I beg of you!!

This author hails from a band called Soophie Nun Squad, and anyone who comes in contact with this crew is given a gift of pure joy if they can open their eyes to see it as it lies before them in such simple form. The whole band is full of a very particular kind of magic that is extremely rare and should never be overlooked.

I tell people that David Lynch movies "make no sense" just so that I can feel normal and fit it--the truth is that they make perfect sense to me because life has no thesis statement and I see that man as a messiah of the highest high in filmaking. Nate has captured the open ended paranoia of Lynch perfectly with characters that seem to just sit there with such simple thoughts as the world emotionally sandblasts them.

Nate is 23, and I never doubted that any member of Soophie Nun Squad could walk on water if they willed themselves to--however, this book leaves me speachless and in awe in a way where I simply cannot fathom what the Soophie gang is going to bless me with next. Eli-monster and his wife Marilie (Two other Soophie alumni) are simply breathtakingly youth-filled multimedia artists from middle America who seem to have tapped into a dam of eternal youth. Nate apparently has been drinking from the same well. OK--enough is enough--I should describe this now, but where on earth do I begin:

This book is a tangled web of disjoined emotions like the films of David Lynch. It paints a picture through a million crystal clear images like Robert Rauchenburg. It uses the simplest language to describe the most puzzling complexities in life--like Ray Bradbury did in "the Illustrated Man" or "The Halloween Tree". The stories are so dark in their style of ambition that at times it brings to mind Ann Rice, and I could picture the new generation of goth kids falling head over heals for this. I could even picture the emo kids going crazy for this because it's every bit as poetic as the lyrics of groups like "Death Cab For Cutie" and "the Postal Service" (if you like those groups then you should buy book this ASAP). Also those neo-punks who love the lyrics of "Mars Volta" or "At the Drive In" could easily love this. Even fans who love the lyrics of Palumbo from the band "Glassjaw" (though this book is not violent at all) The beautifull emptyness and negative space contained here can even at times bring to mind the simple elegance and understanding tone of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind."

See, what you might not understand (which I did not understand eaither until now)is that Nate Powell is not just an intensely eye catching visual artist, he is a writer and a thinker who is on the very cusp of something that is so critical to our culture right now. This is because he views the world with a gifted sense of carfull observation. Sure, you can go get a very bloody Todd McFarlane illustrated novel and say to yourself: "wow, i'm so cutting edge (that it takes intense gore to catch my attention and make me feel exclusive)," but Nate manages to rewind back to the heart of so many great movements in American culture. This is not a cutting edge take on super heros, this is a cutting edge take on humanity and sorrow. My all time favorite book (which became an adequate movie) is Denis Johnson's collection of short stories entitled "Jesus' Son" and although "Tiny Giants" is not a drug enduced tale, it still resonates with such an untainted and unashamed look at life, loss, and struggling to find our place in this confusing world. If you like "Jesus' Son" then you are wasting time by not buying "Tiny Giants" (and vica versa). I am so blessed for having stumbled upon this book, and having known Soophie Nun Squad, that I owe it to them to take their influence and build the most wonderfull things out of it that anyone has ever seen. Few people inspire me on a level like David Lynch, Robert Rauchenburg, and Denis Johnson--I certainly did not expect to find the next person on this list to be such a simple 23 year old guy from a band that has given me so much already that I could never fully repay them in five lifetimes.

When I first heard Bob Marley's "Catch a Fire" I was sure that it must have come through him from a higher power. It's clear to me now that Nate Powell has managed to pull off the same feat with his book "Tiny Giants." If you buy this book then you will be supporting one of the most independent/non-commercial artists I have ever met. I promise you this.

Wow. There's just so much to say about this collection that I'm not sure where to begin - or even how to say half of it. So let's start simply: the B&W artwork carries a style all its own, one that adapts itself to the mood of each story. Sometimes, the loose linework reminds me of Jules Feiffer; other times the drama of big blacks and wide whites makes me think of Miller's Sin City. Each change draws analogy to some other artist, but the fusion of them all comes uniquely from Powell's pen.

Those blends of reality and dream (or nightmare) convey Powell's subjects too - is there anything more concrete or more unreal than teenagers trying to find their place in the world? The style also works well with difficult topics that blend many feelings. The opening story, "Nineteen," seems simple: a man delivers a letter. In its few wordless pages, it comments on loyalty, prejudice, duty, tragedy, and probably more. That emotional whirl starts on the first page, where points of view orbit the somber central character. It continues to the last panel, where we suddenly learn that the whole story was really about another, unseen character.

Every story of the fifteen or so has that same density of meaning, and at least as much ambiguity. That's why I want to call this "graphic poetry," to distinguish it from the more linear and explanatory books called graphic novels. And, as with poetry, the meanings don't always present themselves for easy inspection. The sense often has to be teased out of Powell's personal imagery. It sometimes takes two or three readings, or more, for all the parts to come together.

These stories, collected from "Walkie Talkie" magazines, truly expand the world of comic storytelling and art. "Tiny Giants" has my highest recommendation.

-- wiredweird

First, I am not a graphic novel reader. This is my first. Second, I'm a boring, typical middle-class teacher with a high degree of critical awareness and sociological imagination. So take the following with a grain of salt.


When I first became aware of the lies and half-truths perpetuated by our culture, I was shocked and angry. This book contains this level of shock and anger and the "preaching" that often comes on the heels of this realization... much like you overhear in the college coffee house by kids reading Marx for the first time and being influenced by their radical professor.

And, ya' know, that's fine. But the storytelling itself in this book is weak. The author does a lot of telling, and oddly little showing despite the graphic nature. Characters aren't discovering but rather breaking into very forced diatribes about dominant culture:

"Where are all the listeners if everyone's just waiting for their turn to speak? Maybe if lips keep moving, we won't find ourselves all alone in a moment, listening to our own voice just echoing off the concrete." This smacks of a High School Literary Journal contribution and not work worth serious publication.

Or these personal revelations:

"Sometimes change is so overwhelming, so relentless, that one begins to treasure the provision of a timely sate of inertia-- the lifetimes between moments."

This hollow social "insight":

"all the while we young women play along with shame and a sigh, burying and relegating our specialness, our strengths, to the house party refuse pile with plenty of other dark secrets."

I have no doubt the author is honest and these ideas are sincere; nonetheless, they're sophmoric, undeveloped, and uninteresting. So I guess if you're in this stage of your life this book with be a revelation like the other reviewers. If you've moved beyond twenties-angst into thirties pay your mortgage, read to your kids, make a difference in your own way, then this book is trite.

The art is compelling and I did enjoy that component. I quickly put this down and finished reading "Animal Farm" which does a brilliant job of showing rather than pedantically telling the reader "what's goin' on".