I was excited when I saw this graphic novel compilation. I love stories about imagination and delusion and people who...well, kick ass. I Kill Giants appeared to be right up that particular alley. It stars a pre-teen girl named Barbara who is geeky and nerdy and proud and who also, in her spare time, kills giants with her great hammer Covaleski.

Barbara isn't a normal pre-teen girl, a fact that the writers somewhat shove down the readers throats by constantly pointing out the vacuous, chatterboxes lining the halls of her school who incessantly talk about celebrities and cute boys and etc etc etc... Barbara, on the flip side, likes to play Dungeons and Dragons and conconts strange mythologies. It's difficult to say that she's different in an age where different is often considered chic, a term that renders the difference of different completely invalid. But at her school, Barbara is a black sheep, and her exclusion from popular society is evident. This makes her both likeable and naturally brings about a sense of pity because she doesn't get along with the other girls. Nevermind the fact that most readers of this graphic novel would probably be in the same boat. I suppose had it not felt so contrived, this mechanic could have worked better, but it feels a little cliche at this point. Yes, Barbara is an outcast. We get it.

The giant-killing thing is the obvious draw here, but there's frankly not enough of it. Barbara kills one giant in the entire series, and it doesn't even end up being a real giant but rather a metaphor for something else that also feels cliche and over-used.

Mostly, I'm disappointed by I Kill Giants. I expected something more than one long and disappointing metaphor for a girl's struggle against dealing with reality. And even if such a message is to be conveyed, it can be done in a less obvious manner. The style is great, there is plenty of comedy and personality to the cast of characters, and there are plenty of asian influences that make it lovable, but the manner in which the actual story, the part that matters, is told is too blunt and in a way misleading for this to be a great comic. Perhaps we can expect more from Kelly later on. I'd certainly give his next effort a look.