Graphic Novels

Rolling in like a slow, fuzzed-out guitar line from an Orange-brand amp, The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book lives up to the good vibes promised in its title.

Artist and writer Joe Daly's full-color graphic novel collects two stories starring best buds Dave and Paul, as they wander about Cape Town while fully under the influence. Dave has a genetic disorder he calls "monkey feet," where his feet have what appear to be opposable digits. Throughout the book, Dave tries to overcome insecurities stemming from this oddity, and Paul tries his best to compliment his friend's feet ("You're a lucky dude, Dave…I guess."). In the first story, Paul drops in on Dave, sheepishly asking to borrow money, but Dave's internal monologue betrays a bit of resentment from past experience. No clichéd flashbacks or expository dialogue break the moment, though, and it passes sharply. The duo share a friendship so realized that I wondered if I hadn't somehow missed an earlier volume or two. 

This may sound like a strange compliment, but the color separation in The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book is a highlight. It's clean, crisp, and exact. In one panel, Dave is in an apartment surrounded by frogs, each with individually-colored patterns and pigmentation. One leaps from a pool of water, giving off a splash that sends droplets of blue about the room and onto Dave. Daly is careful to separate this blue from the tint in the sky that lies behind Dave through an open window. The attention to detail only deepens as Dave and Paul cruise the city in Dave's "cool old car," past a shipyard, into a rainforest, and more. Cape Town feels and looks like Cape Town, so much that it is easy to take for granted as the story opens wide.

Having recently finished Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice and Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City, I couldn't help but consider The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book as a distant third-cousin to those titles. Daly's work includes the psychedelic mystery elements from Inherent Vice (the aforementioned apartment full of hallucinogenic amphibians and a quest to locate a capybara named "John Wesley Harding"--yes, named after the Bob Dylan album), and all the spacey dialogue from Chronic City ("That was a really great moment when Kermit the Frog and Ray Charles sang together on The Muppet Show, hey, dude?").

The bad news is that I could not find more Dave and Paul stories, but the good news is that I wanted to. In my search, I found that Joe Daly has an earlier book, Scrublands, and a new title arriving later in 2010 called Dungeon Quest: Book One (all of his books are from Fantagraphics). While waiting for the latter, The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book is a weekend read, best consumed with your feet propped up, opposable digits or not.

--Alex

This holiday season, are you looking for that perfect gift to give to the comics fan in your life? You have my sympathies. We are an admittedly obsessive, persnickety bunch. Our interests are byzantine, but there is a great equalizer in Alan Moore.  No matter the distance he has put between himself and mainstream comics of late, Moore's catalog is still unrivaled in its scope, reach, and influence. That said, when a body of work is as vast as his, even Alan Moore fans can play favorites. It's with this in mind that DC Comics wisely peppered the 2009 holiday season with a feast for all Moore fans.

If your favorite comics fan prefers the dystopian Alan Moore, a la Watchmen , then look no further than Absolute V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and artist David Lloyd's bleak depiction of a totalitarian United Kingdom in need of a revolution.

The Absolute V for Vendetta boasts over 100 more pages than the trade paperback, including an expanded sketchbook section, Lloyd's "silent" pages (collected here for the first time), as well as a slipcase, a new dust-jacket, and all the supplemental goodies (intros by Moore and Lloyd, and an long afterward by Moore) collected elsewhere. Plenty of ink went into the enlarged artwork here, featuring some of the best coloring I've seen of this story, and it's all presented on thick, durable pages.

If that favorite comics fan prefers his or her stories with a touch of magic, then you can't go wrong with Absolute Promethea: Volume 1. In an earlier Omni post, I recounted my love for this series in (embarrassing) detail, but I never thought I'd see this underrated story in the Absolute format. This is Moore's most personal and most ambitious work, and it all starts within this volume, which collects the first 12 issues on an oversized canvas. Artist J.H. Williams III's artwork can only be fully appreciated in such a package.

This edition, while slimmer than V, comes housed in a stunning slipcover (featured at left), and, in possibly a first for the Absolute line, without a dust-jacket. To be honest, I'm always worried about tearing the jacket every time I put them back into the slipcase. Plus, J.H. Williams III has crafted an all-new wraparound image for the hardcover, complete with a complex spot varnish, so who needs a dust-jacket? Bestselling author Brad Meltzer provides an afterword, but that's it for extras. Since this is only the first in a promised three-volume set, I have to believe that DC is saving the extras to pad the final two volumes.

[Note: In a conversation with DC, they confirmed that not only will Volume 3 feature the most extras, including the "Little Margie" stories and a section on the making of issue #32, but that Volume 2 will have approximately 25-30 pages devoted to an art gallery, plus pages of sketches, pinups, commissions, and more.  The breakup of extras across the latter two volumes was due to storytelling purposes.  So be good for goodness' sake.]

Let's say you are on a tighter budget, and your special someone has a flair for adventure--then allow me introduce you to Promethea's sister (or is that brother?) book, Tom Strong. Along with Promethea, Alan Moore created Tom Strong in a fit of creativity, where he devised an entire universe of linked characters and worlds (see also the Omni spotlight on the series). Tom Strong boasts a hefty cast, and this Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 features put-'em-up! action and artwork by co-creator Chris Sprouse. The first 12 issues are rip-roaring and cheery, and Sprouse turns over the reins for flashback sequences by Art Adams, Dave Gibbons, Rick Veitch, Jerry Ordway, and more. Aside from the slightly oversized format, there is a light sketchbook section here as well, mostly notable for the teaser image of Sprouse's forthcoming 2010 continuation of the series.

There's a very select but vocal corner of fans who wickedly call Moore's run on Swamp Thing their favorite work. Be advised that this is adult material, not to mention Horror comics at their finest. As a child, I was mistakenly given one of these issues, and I think it’s the basis for some of the worst nightmares I still have (it involves a creature with its hand sewn into his back). Initially collected across six paperbacks, Moore's (very) graphic epic is getting the hardcover treatment from DC's Vertigo imprint. Now on Book 2, these hardcovers collect over 200 pages each, with art by series staples Stephen Bissette and John Totleben. To be released in early December, Book 2 features a newly-restored forward by Neil Gaiman, plus the famous, bizarre, Mature Readers-labeled "Rite of Spring" chapter. Book 1 is a must-have precursor to this second collection, and it features the never-before-collected first issue of Moore's run.

There isn't another comics creator who has a spectrum so fully covered this holiday, and for the Alan Moore fan who has everything, 'tis the season.

This year was an invigorating one for Comics & Graphic Novels, marked, notably, by the debut of a New York Times Bestseller list for the medium. All of a sudden, comics went legit, extending beyond True Believers and into mainstream literary circles. Our editors' picks for 2009's Best of Comics and Graphic Novels showcase the wide spectrum of critical darlings and sleeper favorites that made this year a rewarding one for comics readers.

Kicking off our list is David Small's graphic memoir, Stitches, which recently caught a few eyes thanks to a National Book Award nomination. Amazon editor Anne Bartholomew, however, was an early fan and picked it as her Best of the Month selection for September. Stitches marks the first time an original graphic novel has ever cracked the Top 10 of Amazon's Best Books of the Year.

The medium, however, received no greater love letters than our No. #2 and #3 picks: Seth's George Sprott:(1894-1975) and David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp. Utilizing intricate and dizzying panel layouts as well as painstaking design--not to mention stories filled with heartbreak and challenging concepts, these are the graphic novelist's graphic novels.

This isn't to say that comics forgot where they came from, and 2009 had its share of superhero stories, including Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's end to their multiple Eisner-award winning run on All Star Superman. Together, they proved a Man of Steel can go home again.

But back on Earth, R. Crumb, underground comix extraordinaire, chose an auspicious subject for what many assumed would be his trademark ire: The Book of Genesis. What the project blossomed into, however, is a fairly straight-faced approach for Crumb, although it's told through his signature pencils. The Book of Genesis never looked so indie, yet it stays true to The Good Book's dense and complex storytelling. 

But our bookshelf runneth over. The Best of 2009 Store contains more graphic novels that made this a banner year for the medium, plus plenty of other top picks to explore.

Editors' Top Ten Picks in Comics & Graphic Novels

1. Stitches: A Memoir
2. George Sprott:(1894-1975)
3. Asterios Polyp
4. All Star Superman, Vol. 2
5. The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
6. Locas II: Maggie, Hopey, & Ray
7. The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders
8. A Drifting Life
9. The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
10. Masterpiece Comics

Customer Favorites in Comics & Graphic Novels

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
3. The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
4. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming
5. Star Trek: Countdown
6. Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)
7. Asterios Polyp
8. Batman: R.I.P.
9. Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
10. The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain

I’m avoiding the costumed crowds this year in favor of getting into the Halloween spirit at home with some of my favorite festivities: watching scary but funny movies (The Monster Squad), listening to creepy, tongue-in-cheek music (Type O Negative), and reading Horror comics. The latter is especially inviting, as Dark Horse Comics released three frightfully king-sized collections in time for All Hallow's Eve.

Cracking open any deluxe Hellboy edition is akin to discovering a delicious homemade caramel apple in your trick-or-treat bag amid the usual factory-sealed chocolates. Volume 3, the most recent installment, collects over 300 pages of Hellboy stories in a sturdy, well-crafted hardcover.

Volume 3starts off with Hellboy encountering cult-fave Lobster Johnson for the first time, and it doesn't take long for Hellboy to run into ancient mutant amphibians, talking-pig demons, and giant, evil worms. It's a crazed blend of Sci-Fi and Horror--and one that manages to satisfy both appetites. Senior Managing Editor Scott Allie offers a new introduction, calling this stage in Hellboy's career "the turning point, in every way," and director Guillermo Del Toro's intro is republished here as well. New to the bundled stories are over 30 pages of creator, writer, and artist Mike Mignola's sketches, pencils, unused panels, and designs.

Worth noting: The pages are not only heavy enough to lie flat when opened, but they also have extended margins so that the artwork doesn't curve down into the spine. Mignola's canvas is on full display in this oversized tome. 

Last October, I howled the praises of the first Creepy collection (now up to Volume 4), and my Lon Chaney, Jr. impression continues with Creepy's "cursed cousin," Eerie. Feel free to judge Volume 2 by its cover, where Frank Frazetta pits two sword-wielding beasts against a backdrop resembling a psychedelic brain. And speaking of bad trips, Steve Ditko and Archie Goodwin help kick off the first chapter with "Deep Ruby," a story about a jeweler held captive by the titular gem. Ditko lets loose with the bizarre imagery and "freak out!" expressions, although I was most impressed with "Cry Fear, Cry Phantom," another Goodwin-penned tale, but with art by Jerry Grandenetti. Some of the panels were shocking in their direction, with a German Expressionist/Dr. Caligari vibe. It's disorienting in the best way. Volume 2 also includes an interview with Frank Frazetta from 1985, as well as all of the original fan letters and kitschy ads ("Ants--Real ones, too…Live Delivery Guaranteed: $2.98").

Just in case readers have too much fun with the above and forget to switch on a nightlight this weekend, The Marquis: Inferno might very well be hiding under the bed. This dense paperback comes from not only the pen but also the mind of Guy Davis (B.P.R.D.), who has conjured up a legitimately terrifying and thoroughly disturbing eighteenth-century nightmare. Not for the squeamish, The Marquis: Inferno is a historical fantasy set in Venisalle, where citizens hide their sins behind lurid, distorted masks. Vol de Galle, a paranoid man battling spiritual doubt, receives a hallucinatory vision where he is granted special sight through a mask of his own. As The Marquis, he sees devils parading as humans, and he is charged with sending them back to Hell. Much of the fun of the early half of the book is trying to unravel if de Galle is truly on a higher mission, or if he's a schizophrenic serial killer. Davis avoids the traditional devil imagery of horns and wings, and breeds his own appalling vision of damnation with plenty of gnashed teeth and tentacles. Keep the flashlight close.

Happy Halloween!

--Alex

Richard Sala's Cat Burglar Black is a charming and stylish escapade replete with homages to the Nancy Drew series, The Secret Garden, and even, in my opinion, the set-piece capers in the Tintin adventures. Teenaged K. is sent to Bellsong Academy after being raised by a cruel matron in an orphanage where she learned dubious skills like how to be a pickpocket. Once at Bellsong, K. soon learns that perhaps stifling orphanages have nothing on private prep schools for sheer eccentricity. Sala takes great delight in giving readers a host of strange and quirky characters, including the headmistress (who seems both sympathetic to K. and oddly hostile) and the somewhat nuts Dr. Kuvac. Soon K. is using her burglar skills to uncover the mystery at the heart of Bellsong Academy. Who are The Obtainers? What do Barbary Pirates have to do with it? Who is behind the talking statue?

I must admit to having a soft spot for mysteries set in schools--the principal appeal of the first three Harry Potter novels for me--and Sala's taken the best part of such childhood memories as Bugs Bunny or Abbott & Costello creeping through haunted mansions and wedded it to fond-remembered scenes involving the Thompson Twins (not, dear Misguided Ones, the pop band) and even, dare I say it, Scooby Doo.

Sala's rich colors and detailed but never cluttered compositions serve the story well, and his teenagers are neither too cloying nor too bratty. The mystery is complex and at times devilish. When you've finished, you remember with fondness nights as a child curled up with a book and a hot cocoa on the couch. The book might be aimed at a younger age group, but adults should get a nostalgic smile out of it.

One revelation before I leave you to your normal Friday perambulations: Growing up, I started out on the Hardy Boys--we had inherited the whole series from someone--but when I ran out of those I bit the bullet and started in on the Nancy Drews also in the box. I must confess I found them equally engrossing.

There are anticipated comics, and then there are anticipated comics.  Apocalypse Suite, the debut volume of The Umbrella Academy, won the 2008 Eisner for Best Finite/Limited series, and gave notice to fans that big things were brewing (and we named it our No. #1 pick for Best Graphic Novel of 2008). But writer Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá left big shoes to fill for their encore.

I'm happy to say that, yes, Way and rising-star artist Gabriel Bá have silenced any doubts of a sophomore slump. Umbrella Academy: Dallas fires up the action, humor, and intrigue, while throwing in a little time travel. New villains are introduced: the frighteningly violent but aloof Hazel and Cha-Cha, two hired guns with giant heads that look like something out of a sports team mascot's worst nightmare; an origin is revealed: we finally learn the secret(s) behind Number 5; national monuments are once again razed: this time, the team battles the Lincoln Memorial; and did I mention time travel? Members of the Academy mistakenly wind up in 1960s Vietnam, where they have to wait three years before they can travel to Dallas in an attempt to prevent JFK's assassination by one of their own. It walks a fine, manic line between full-tilt storytelling and tact.

To celebrate the return of the series, Dark Horse Comics has released the Dallas collection in two formats: the standard trade paperback and a limited edition, slipcased hardcover. Collectors will note that Apocalypse Suite received similar treatment, but the first volume's limited edition sold out so quickly that few were able to take advantage of its deluxe treatment. The limited edition for Dallas is no less impressive: oversized with 40 extra pages, including a new piece of artwork commissioned only for this edition, plus an extended supplemental art section, featuring work by both Way and Bá, as well as promotional materials and a sewn-in bookmark.

On this enlarged canvas (think DC's Absolute editions), Bá's artwork is consuming. His crowd scenes and backgrounds are full of tiny details, while his more splash-y pages are vibrant and kinetic [click pic at left for a magnified image from the limited edition]. Dave Stewart's colors do both the story and art many favors, especially in the Vietnam scenes and Spaceboy's dream sequences.

All that said, the standard edition is no slouch. It contains an introduction by Neil Gaiman and separate afterwards by Way and Bá, as well as a backup story, "Anywhere But Here," which fleshes out the relationship between The Kraken and Vanya (all of which are also included in the limited edition).

It's so refreshing to see a series like this continue to reward its readers. Way breathed fresh life into the concept of a "superhero team book." Dallas ups the ante again, while deftly avoiding any obvious attempts to outdo it predecessor. Way and Bá have already announced a third installment, Hotel Oblivion, for 2010, and the anticipation continues.

--Alex

   
 As I wrote in a post about the five-year anniversary of NBM publishing Sfar and Trondheim's amazing Dungeon series, the first volume in their "The Early Years" plotline explored "The Keeper’s idealistic early years...in this story of Machiavellian intrigue and betrayal. The Keeper becomes a kind of would-be super hero, defending justice in the city, only to come up against hard truths. One of the most complex tales in the series, morally ambiguous and at times heart-breaking." Now, in the newly released Volume 2, "Innocence Lost," the Keeper gets his heart's desire, in the form of a deadly catwoman assassin, Alexandra, only to find the situation more ambiguous than expected--and more dangerous. His rescue of Alexandra initiates their romance, but the Keeper soon finds himself in other relationships, entering into a period of debauchery. In the second half of the book, the Keeper is married and miserable until Alexandra re-enters his life.

One thing I like about "The Early Years" is that Sfar and Trondheim, through the art of Blain, give this story thread a very different look-and-feel. The art is darker, deliberately less detailed, moodier, and more evocative. As ever, in terms of story, Dungeon remains a series for adults, juxtaposing quests and adventure with the mundane events of daily life--most familiar to readers past their early twenties. Dungeon's both magical and down-to-earth in that respect, and much of even the darker comedy comes from the absurd clash between these two elements. "The Early Years," with some amazing phantasmagorical scenes wedded to complex moral situations, manages to entertain and provide yet another thought-provoking installment in what may well be the best epic fantasy series of all time.

    
(Two great panels from the Dungeon series.)

A few months ago, I read an interview over at comicbookresources with creator Dan Brereton. I was familiar with Brereton's artwork thanks to the DC Elseworlds tale, Batman: Thrillkiller. But I apparently missed his pride and joy: Nocturnals, whose follow-up, The Dark Forever and Other Tales, was recently published by Image Comics over the summer.

Nocturnals began in the mid-90s and follows Doc Horror, brilliant scientist turned mob enforcer, who fled his home with daughter Evening (a.k.a. "Halloween Girl") and built a refuge for creature misfits. Bandit, part-mobster, part-raccoon; Polychrome, a shapely wraith; Firelion, a sword-wielding firestarter; Starfish, a not-so-little mermaid; and more outcasts join Team Horror as they battle mad scientists, vampires, and Lovecraftian beasts. The stand-out character is The Gunwitch, an undead gunslinger who wears a witch's hat and has his mouth sewn shut. He serves as bodyguard to Halloween Girl and gets an adventure all his own in Volume 2.

After reading the interview, I had to find Volume 1. Sadly, it's either out of print or very difficult to find, and after I exhausted my usual haunts, I did a little trick-or-treating and unearthed a copy. Brereton's color palette sets the stories in a perpetual state of autumn, with plenty of orange, red, and gold hues illuminated by a full moon. If you can't find a copy, don't worry: the stories between Volume 1 and 2 are not entirely linear, and readers can pick up the readily available latter volume and dig in.

Volume 1 was published by Olympian Publishing, and they did a fantastic job in giving this dark gem a deserved polishing. What Image Comics has done, however, is just as impressive, as they took Olympian's deluxe format and faithfully transferred it over to Volume 2. The thick, durable black cover is here, and so is the heavy, black-trimmed paper-stock. The golden metallic cover text is also reproduced, lending a touch of class to these low-life characters. Sitting side-by-side on a shelf, the two collections could very well be from the same publisher, despite their unique packages. Now that's a commitment to both the property and fans.

Volume 2 opens with an All Hallow's Eve Gala Event, with contributions by Bruce Timm, Stan Sakai, Kieron Dwyer, Arthur Adams (!) and more (watch for Usagi Yojimbo's cameo). Brereton has plenty of room, however, to spread his brush, and the title story, "The Dark Forever," is easily my favorite and packs the two-fisted dialogue:

Starfish: "Hello, Bandit."

Bandit: "They don't call me that anymore...."

Starfish: "They'll be calling you 'Stumpy' if you don't move your hammy paw off my shoulder."

The artwork in Volume 2 is even richer than in Volume 1 (Image's reproduction is vibrant). There are subtle tonal shifts in color per scene depending on the focal character; backgrounds are fully rendered, spooky, and detailed; and the action is fluid--a feat for fully painted artwork like this, where rapid-fire movements can come across as stilted.  This is the supernatural made natural.  Get your hammy paws on either or both of these volumes this October for a perfect blend of horror, crime, and weird. Call it Monster Noir.  It's enough to make a pumpkin grin.

 
According to Booklist, Ball Peen Hammer is "not for gentle readers." Personally, I doubt the temperament of the reader makes much difference--gentle people read horror, too--but it's true this graphic novel by Adam Rapp and George O'Connor isn't for kids and never opts for morally simplistic answers. Rapp, who wrote Ball Peen Hammer, has imagined a frightening future in a decaying, nameless city infected by a kind of plague. Civil control has disintegrated, allowing thugs and mobs to run rampant. People are starving, hounded by soldiers, and often survive by performing terrible acts. The ball peen hammer of the title refers to a particularly heinous series of crimes against children. None of the main characters, from a man wasting away from disease to the writer who wants to document the lawlessness--or even a woman just trying to find her next meal and the street urchin she settles into an uneasy friendship with--are blameless. However, neither are most of them evil. When your environment is extreme, you take extreme measures to survive, or you die. (There's a running theme about art, but to my mind it's overwhelmed by more fundamental issues.)

What makes this bleak landscape palatable--besides the gritty, evocative artwork--are small acts of kindness, either in deed or in speech. In a sense, Rapp seems to be saying that such acts are a kind of defiance against the reality of the situation, and that in desperate times we are defined not so much by the monstrous things we must do but by the ability to still be caring toward other people despite doing monstrous things. Why? In part because acknowledging our humanity under extreme circumstances comes at a cost--it reminds us of what we've lost and are still losing. It also may weaken our resolve to do the necessary monstrous things. (At least, I hope Rapp's telling us this--it could be my brain just wants to rationalize being exposed to so much suffering and death.)

Ball Peen Hammer acknowledges this simple either-or, and provides a bracing, often pitiless antidote to more saccharine visions of the future, in which bleakness is used as window dressing or set design rather than as the core of the story. The book also serves as more evidence--did we need more?--that graphic novels are a potent vehicle for exploration of adult subject matter. You have to give First Second credit for putting out such a dark book. A romantic comedy this ain't.

Without real world repercussions, superpowers are a fun idea. Flight and invisibility, for example, are generally under the control of their respective users, and hey, if things get too out of control, there's usually a pack of super-friends to act as a safety net.  Rarely do readers glimpse what it must be like to wield a power that isn't so "super."

Cue Matt Kindt's 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, due in October from Dark Horse Books. In this original graphic novel, Craig Pressgang experiences an ever-increasing  condition that is less of a growth spurt and more of a long, painful stretch. He outgrows his clothes, car, and childhood home until he can no longer even hear normal speech, given how far removed his ears are from human sounds. In a clever dose of reality in an otherwise oft-used superpower, a doctor explains to Craig that because his nerve endings are so long, "There's a delay" in everyday sensations, like a kiss or a pin-prick.

The three women in Craig's life--his mother, wife, and daughter--tell their versions of living with (and without) the Giant Man, as his condition alienates then endears him in the eyes of the general public. At first co-opted as an attention-getter at a protest rally, Craig soon turns his "power" into something a little more lucrative, like shilling cigarettes ("Giant flavor!") and creating original pieces of art by using his handprints. Unlike a superhero, Craig cannot turn "off" his power, and he continues to grow long after the novelty is over, and he and his wife must deal with physical logistics in their relationship and living conditions.

It's a somber tale despite the wealth of cheap-shot opportunities, but Kindt keeps 3 Story from settling too far into woe-is-me fare with his autumnal watercolors and pleasant, easy-going artwork. His characters look almost approachable, and the panels range from measured to wide-open. Near the end, I really took my time with the pages, as the panels grew richer, and the story slows to match Craig's exhaustion.

Kindt is also credited with the design of 3 Story, and it feels very much like a creator-run project. Bits of pop culture litter the narratives via newspaper clippings, ads, childhood drawings, architectural blueprints, and more. The cover of the book features a cut-out window, which, when opened, reveals Craig to be reflecting on exactly the type of mundanity we all take for granted, but it's one the Giant Man can no longer have. These small touches build in the life and packaging of a character too large for even himself.