''I Kill Giants'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

beginning in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. The comic was created by writer Joe Kelly and artist J. M. Ken Niimura and features Barbara Thorson, a girl struggling with life by escaping into a fantasy life of magic and monsters.

Synopsis

According to Kelly: "It's a story about a girl who’s a bit of an outsider – she's funny, but totally in our geekland: she's obsessed with ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'', she doesn't have a lot of friends, she’s a bit of a social misfit. She's taken her fantasy life a little far, and really only talks about giants to people. She's convinced that giants are real and giants are coming, and it's her responsibility to stop them when they show up. This weird little fantasy life that she's going has started seeping into her real life, and as we see things from her point of view, we see that she sees pixies and she sees signs in the clouds and other things that might be telling her that bad things might be coming."

Collected editions

The series has been collected into an individual volume: *''I Kill Giants'' (softcover, Image Comics, 184 pages, May 2009, , hardcover, 300 pages, November 2009, Image Comics, ,

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

, )

Awards

''I Kill Giants'' won the "Best Indy Book of 2008" by

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

, as well as making it onto the list of the ten best comics of 2009 compiled by ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine's Dan Kois. It was also a 2010 top ten great graphic novels for teens by the

Young Adult Library Services Association The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...

. It won the Gold Award at the 5th

International Manga Award file:Taro Aso in World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos (cropped).jpg, Tarō Asō, the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan is an annual award established to encourage non-Japanese Mangaka, manga artists in 2007. This award was created by Ministe ...

in 2012. It was voted the second best foreign comic book published in Japan in the

Gaiman Award The is a Japanese award given since 2011 to comic books created outside Japan and translated to Japanese. The word "gaiman" is a shortening of ''gaikoku no manga'' (foreign manga), encompassing styles like American comics, French bande dessinée ...

Film adaptation

In March 2015, Treehouse Pictures announced a film adaption of the novel, which would be directed by

Anders Walter Anders Walter (born February 5, 1978) is a Danish filmmaker. At the 86th Academy Awards held in March 2014, Walter and fellow producer Kim Magnusson won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for the 2013 film ''Helium (film), Helium'' ...

, based on a screenplay by author Joe Kelly. In September 13, 2015, actresses

Zoe Saldaña Zoë Yadira Saldaña-Perego (née Saldaña Nazario; born June 19, 1978) is an American actress widely known for her work in science fiction franchises, she has appeared in three of the five highest-grossing films of all time (''Avatar'', '' Av ...

and

Madison Wolfe Madison Wolfe (born October 16, 2002) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the adventure drama '' On the Road'' (2012) and her television debut in the HBO series '' True Detective'' (2014). She starred in the horror film ''The Con ...

signed on to play Ms. Molle and Barbara in the film.

In popular culture

New Zealand band

The Naked And Famous The Naked and Famous are a New Zealand indie electronic band from Auckland, formed in 2007. The band currently consists of Alisa Xayalith (vocals, keyboards) and Thom Powers (vocals, guitars). The band has released four studio albums: ''Passiv ...

included a song "

I Kill Giants ''I Kill Giants'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), limited series published by Image Comics beginning in 2008 in comics, 2008. The comic was created by writer Joe Kelly (comics), Joe Kelly and artist J. M. Ken Niimura and featur ...

" on their album ''

In Rolling Waves ''In Rolling Waves'' is the second studio album by New Zealand indie electronic band The Naked and Famous. It was released on 13 September 2013 by Fiction Records and Island Records. On 23 July 2013, the album's lead single, " Hearts Like Ours" ...

''. Boston band I Kill Giants' name is based on the graphic novel.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Reviews

{{More footnotes, section, date=May 2010
BooklistOnlineGraphicNovelReporter.comComicBookResources.comMinnesotaReads.com1FOE.com
Comics by Joe Kelly (comics writer) International Manga Award winners