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Giant Days collected #14
Giant Days, Vol. 14
THE END IS HERE! KINDA!
Return to Sheffield one last time as Daisy and Esther are about to graduate - with Susan there to cheer them on! But it’s not goodbye, because one year later Daisy and Susan must join forces to save Esther from the head girls who’re making her life hell! And then it really might just be goodbye...
Return to Sheffield one last time as Daisy and Esther are about to graduate - with Susan there to cheer them on! But it’s not goodbye, because one year later Daisy and Susan must join forces to save Esther from the head girls who’re making her life hell! And then it really might just be goodbye...
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 2020
About the author
John Allison
266 books816 followersJohn Allison is the author and artist of the British webcomics Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 334 reviews
March 23, 2020
“I think what makes it good is that it doesn’t last. The best things are rare.” - Esther de Groot
Be strong (lip trembles) - deep breath.
Giant Days...
is...
over.
My (now formerly ongoing) favourite comic closes out its almost perfect run with… a disappointingly mediocre final book. So maybe it was for the best that John Allison called it quits now before it possibly got bad?
Esther, Daisy and Susan sit their finals as their time at university comes to an end. Daisy must thwart the plans of serial prankster Coralie at the last smash ball and the girls spend their final summer together before heading off into the scary (go round) adult world of working for a living: Daisy at archaeological digs, Esther at a London publishing house and Susan with her doctoring.
The book comprises two issues, #53 and #54, and a bumper special one-shot, As Time Goes By, and I think issue #53 is the only issue in the entire run that I disliked. It just wasn’t interesting. Daisy taking flu pills and becoming a Matrix’d version of Daisy going after a pranker just wasn’t very interesting on any level.
But then #54 - I mean, I’m not made of stone, guys. How could I not get the feels as the gang said their goodbyes like that? And the special one-shot wasn’t totally bad either. I appreciate John Allison showing how shaky post-university life is for graduates, even if the girls, particularly Esther, landed on their feet more than most do, and I loved the parts with Susan and McGraw. I’d love to see John Allison revisit these characters later on in life to show us how they ended up - I hope this isn’t the end end, ya know?
Even in the special though, I did not care for the evil publishing twins. They weren’t funny and for some reason Allison took the story in a Scott Pilgrim-y direction which isn’t really something he’s done before in the series so it didn’t suit it at all. And it was a crap ending to a crap story anyway!
Max Sarin’s art is as spectacular as it’s been throughout - hats off to her, she made this title as much her own as John Allison did and it wouldn’t have been as incredible a series as it was without her contributions. I will follow this artist religiously going forward.
John Allison - you sir are a genius. How you managed to make (nearly) every Giant Days book as inventive, funny, warm, and inspired, I will never know - but somehow you did and that is one helluva achievement. Well done, really. A dependably good comic is a unicorn and I’ll miss these because they were my rock.
The final volume wasn’t as great as I’ve come to expect from the other 13 VOLUMES but I still feel that Giant Days deserves its spot in the pantheon of near-as-dammit perfect comics alongside the likes of Scalped and Freakangels. If you’ve yet to experience it, give the first volume a try - I wasn’t sure about the first volume initially either, for no other reason than it looked a bit too YA-y for my blood, and I’m so glad I gave it a chance.
And, because he already wrote it perfectly in the comic, I’ll leave things here with John Allison’s words:
Bye, Esther, you magnificent sepulchral ghost empress.
Bye, Daisy, ultimate kindness duchess.
Bye, Susan, toughest broad in South Yorkshire.
Giant Days indeed.
(*bawls* - COME BAAAAAAACK!!!)
Be strong (lip trembles) - deep breath.
Giant Days...
is...
over.
My (now formerly ongoing) favourite comic closes out its almost perfect run with… a disappointingly mediocre final book. So maybe it was for the best that John Allison called it quits now before it possibly got bad?
Esther, Daisy and Susan sit their finals as their time at university comes to an end. Daisy must thwart the plans of serial prankster Coralie at the last smash ball and the girls spend their final summer together before heading off into the scary (go round) adult world of working for a living: Daisy at archaeological digs, Esther at a London publishing house and Susan with her doctoring.
The book comprises two issues, #53 and #54, and a bumper special one-shot, As Time Goes By, and I think issue #53 is the only issue in the entire run that I disliked. It just wasn’t interesting. Daisy taking flu pills and becoming a Matrix’d version of Daisy going after a pranker just wasn’t very interesting on any level.
But then #54 - I mean, I’m not made of stone, guys. How could I not get the feels as the gang said their goodbyes like that? And the special one-shot wasn’t totally bad either. I appreciate John Allison showing how shaky post-university life is for graduates, even if the girls, particularly Esther, landed on their feet more than most do, and I loved the parts with Susan and McGraw. I’d love to see John Allison revisit these characters later on in life to show us how they ended up - I hope this isn’t the end end, ya know?
Even in the special though, I did not care for the evil publishing twins. They weren’t funny and for some reason Allison took the story in a Scott Pilgrim-y direction which isn’t really something he’s done before in the series so it didn’t suit it at all. And it was a crap ending to a crap story anyway!
Max Sarin’s art is as spectacular as it’s been throughout - hats off to her, she made this title as much her own as John Allison did and it wouldn’t have been as incredible a series as it was without her contributions. I will follow this artist religiously going forward.
John Allison - you sir are a genius. How you managed to make (nearly) every Giant Days book as inventive, funny, warm, and inspired, I will never know - but somehow you did and that is one helluva achievement. Well done, really. A dependably good comic is a unicorn and I’ll miss these because they were my rock.
The final volume wasn’t as great as I’ve come to expect from the other 13 VOLUMES but I still feel that Giant Days deserves its spot in the pantheon of near-as-dammit perfect comics alongside the likes of Scalped and Freakangels. If you’ve yet to experience it, give the first volume a try - I wasn’t sure about the first volume initially either, for no other reason than it looked a bit too YA-y for my blood, and I’m so glad I gave it a chance.
And, because he already wrote it perfectly in the comic, I’ll leave things here with John Allison’s words:
Bye, Esther, you magnificent sepulchral ghost empress.
Bye, Daisy, ultimate kindness duchess.
Bye, Susan, toughest broad in South Yorkshire.
Giant Days indeed.
(*bawls* - COME BAAAAAAACK!!!)
November 18, 2022
It's such a shame that after thirteen very good or excellent volumes of Giant Days, Allison and Sarin chose to end the series with THIS. I'd expected this final volume to tie all the series' various loose ends of together; instead, they gave us a stupid, messy story that only occasionally made sense, and which brought far more questions than answers.
November 14, 2020
And so this is the end of a great comics series. Finally I get to read it, and it is not the best of endings, maybe 3 stars in a 5 star series, but I'll say 4 stars to make sure I don't discourage anyone from reading it. It's good, just not great.
Thanks to terrific writer John Allison and terrific artist Max Sarin, Eisner-award winners, for bringing the humor and energy and feels for all this time. Thanks especially to Esther, Daisy, and Susan, bff, and the rest of the goofy cast of characters. Exams, graduation, goodbyes, all are never as fun as first year uni. But it has to end somehow and they go off their separate ways. With good jobs?! Maybe we’ll see an issue of them in their late twenties, a reunion, but we already know it won’t be the same. This series is well worth checking out, and now you can binge read it all in a weekend!
Thanks to terrific writer John Allison and terrific artist Max Sarin, Eisner-award winners, for bringing the humor and energy and feels for all this time. Thanks especially to Esther, Daisy, and Susan, bff, and the rest of the goofy cast of characters. Exams, graduation, goodbyes, all are never as fun as first year uni. But it has to end somehow and they go off their separate ways. With good jobs?! Maybe we’ll see an issue of them in their late twenties, a reunion, but we already know it won’t be the same. This series is well worth checking out, and now you can binge read it all in a weekend!
September 28, 2021
This was overall a good end to the series, but I wish so badly it had been just a little bit longer - not only because I didn't want to say goodbye to what has been my favorite graphic novel series of all time, but also because there are some loose threads left at the end, and while I understand why they were left open, I don't have to be happy about it. Sigh. I'll miss you, Giant Days.
March 21, 2021
And It's over. This volume is closer to 3 stars but I give 4 stars to last volume more as reflection of quality of rest of the series.
This series might not be 5 stars worthy and might not make it to my favorites shelf. After all this was just a story about three friends and their days at university, without too much melodrama, tearjerking moments or twists but it has gotten under my skin and I enjoyed every page of it. It's amazing how quality of writing and illustration remained consistent for so long. I'm going to miss Daisy, Esther and Susan and the rest of the cast.
This series might not be 5 stars worthy and might not make it to my favorites shelf. After all this was just a story about three friends and their days at university, without too much melodrama, tearjerking moments or twists but it has gotten under my skin and I enjoyed every page of it. It's amazing how quality of writing and illustration remained consistent for so long. I'm going to miss Daisy, Esther and Susan and the rest of the cast.
December 5, 2020
Oh gosh, it's over and the girls have finally graduated! What a journey it has been, I may also have shed a few tears at the end of it. It was so nice to see their friendship become stronger throughout the years they spent together.
If you want a lovely comic series which depicts life at uni and realistic friendships, this is just the perfect choice, I can't recommend it enough!
If you want a lovely comic series which depicts life at uni and realistic friendships, this is just the perfect choice, I can't recommend it enough!
January 17, 2021
Actual rating 3.5/5 stars.
Giant Days is over! I'm so sad that there are no more drama-filled scenarios with this trio of best friends to giggle over. This final volume saw the girls spend their last week together and graduate. The additional instalment included an insight to their year apart and the women they are becoming. I found the contents less emotional than I had anticipated, but as full of unguessable turns and crazy antics as ever.
Giant Days is over! I'm so sad that there are no more drama-filled scenarios with this trio of best friends to giggle over. This final volume saw the girls spend their last week together and graduate. The additional instalment included an insight to their year apart and the women they are becoming. I found the contents less emotional than I had anticipated, but as full of unguessable turns and crazy antics as ever.
December 5, 2020
It's time to graduate from college, and our trio of twentysomethings get up to a typical mix of mostly humorous hijinks and a few dramatic moments. Unfortunately, for the final volume I was expecting something more than typical. It's a fine place to stop because they are done with college, but at the same time is also rather arbitrary instead of feeling dramatically organic to any of the characters' arcs.
Mostly this is my way of whining that the series should just keep on going, giving me the regular doses of Daisy, Esther, and Susan that I need instead of cutting me off.
Mostly this is my way of whining that the series should just keep on going, giving me the regular doses of Daisy, Esther, and Susan that I need instead of cutting me off.
October 16, 2020
Giant Days ends in much the same manner it's been going on for the last 50 issues - by punching you in the feels with emotions and punching you in the gut with hilarity.
These final three issues (including the oversized Days Gone By finale) are, if not a perfect end to the series, a perfect end to this chapter of the life of our three favourite girls. Their time at University is over, but their lives are only just beginning, so this is much less of a goodbye and much more of a 'Good luck, girls. You're going to need it.'
Giant Days has been a pure delight from start to finish, and while I will sorely miss these characters, it has ensured that I will buy literally anything John Allison writes in the future, so there's definitely that in its favour.
These final three issues (including the oversized Days Gone By finale) are, if not a perfect end to the series, a perfect end to this chapter of the life of our three favourite girls. Their time at University is over, but their lives are only just beginning, so this is much less of a goodbye and much more of a 'Good luck, girls. You're going to need it.'
Giant Days has been a pure delight from start to finish, and while I will sorely miss these characters, it has ensured that I will buy literally anything John Allison writes in the future, so there's definitely that in its favour.
April 3, 2020
Farewell
April 22, 2020
2.5
Oh, wow. These last three issues were... really bad.
It was an amazing series with a shitty ending, hey, what else is new?
Rtc.
Oh, wow. These last three issues were... really bad.
It was an amazing series with a shitty ending, hey, what else is new?
Rtc.
October 5, 2022
I'll miss so much these girl friends.
January 3, 2023
It wasn't the best last volume BUT I devoured 14 volumes of Giant Days in four days. Send a doctor :)
The series is brilliant and I encourage everyone to try it. While the last episode was nonsensical, I can't stop loving Esther, Daisy, and Susan.
I sincerely hope that the authors will revisit the world and its wonderful characters in the future.
The series is brilliant and I encourage everyone to try it. While the last episode was nonsensical, I can't stop loving Esther, Daisy, and Susan.
I sincerely hope that the authors will revisit the world and its wonderful characters in the future.
Read
May 9, 2021I would have loved their university career to be like William Brown's schooldays, never quite throwing them out into the cold hard world, but alas, it's the end of the road for "magnificent sepulchral ghost empress" Esther, "ultimate kindness duchess" Daisy, and Susan, "toughest broad in South Yorkshire". And oh but it perfectly captures that last desperate week when one tries to have as much fun as one can before the curtain comes down. There are still a few last flourishes of plot, not least Project Disorderly Exit being revealed as more dastardly than could ever have been imagined, but mostly it's about sealing that moment into revisitable panels in just the way one could never quite manage in real life, on account of little things like 'time' and 'not being a hyperdimensional entity'. It would always have been an emotional read, of course it would – the end of a comic that wasn't quite like anything else, covering the end of a time in life that's not quite like anything else. But inevitably it's more so for being read now. There's already an occasional awareness here of the darkening wider world within which the story is set – "These are the salad days of climate change. The point where the slowly boiling frog thinks she's just at a day spa." But much of it is rendered even more poignant by this last dreadful year. The notion that the most terrible thing one could do to a final year student is stealing time, the most precious thing she has...and that happened to literally every final year student in the country. The epilogue's sense of new horizons opening up as compensation for the end of uni, exciting new jobs, new horizons in London...now youth unemployment is through the roof, and London is dead. Even the prospect of the next cohort coming up to student life (and I particularly liked the small enby taking Esther's job at the comics shop)...what kind of student experience will their real-world counterparts get, poor sods? Perhaps it's fitting that after the last issue proper there's a special, As Time Goes By, which focuses much more on the grind than the glamour, and is haunted by how easy it is to have the world pull you away from your friends. Concerns it's unable to resolve in even the Giant Days approximation of the real world, instead resorting to a harlequinade, with which it just about gets away by having seeded that word earlier. Not quite the right ending, perhaps, but then I don't think I could have altogether accepted any ending, because I didn't want it to end.
October 24, 2022
The last day of Giant Days is truly a sad thing, and I put it off for as long as I could. Ester, Susan and Daisy will always have a piece of my heart, and I will forever sit in awe that a man wrote these novels. No man has ever understood the friendships of college women so well.
And while I will always be sad that Ed and Ester didn’t end up together and wonder why we needed that weird stint in Australia, Giant Days gave me so much lightness this year, ever more needed in these “salad days.” Thank you, Jon Allison & Max Sarin. You two made magic in the form of true friendship.
And while I will always be sad that Ed and Ester didn’t end up together and wonder why we needed that weird stint in Australia, Giant Days gave me so much lightness this year, ever more needed in these “salad days.” Thank you, Jon Allison & Max Sarin. You two made magic in the form of true friendship.
July 29, 2022
#1) Giant Days, Vol. 1 ★★★★★
#2) Giant Days, Vol. 2 ★★★★★
#3) Giant Days, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
#4) Giant Days, Vol. 4 ★★★★★
#5) Giant Days, Vol. 5 ★★★★★
#6) Giant Days, Vol. 6 ★★★★★
#7) Giant Days, Vol. 7 ★★★★☆
#8) Giant Days, Vol. 8 ★★★★☆
#9) Giant Days, Vol. 9 ★★★★★
#10) Giant Days, Vol. 10 ★★★★☆
#11) Giant Days, Vol. 11 ★★★★☆
#12) Giant Days, Vol. 12 ★★★★★
#13) Giant Days, Vol. 13 ★★★★☆
▷ Representation: Daisy (mc) is a lesbian.
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph
November 30, 2020
NOOOOOOO!!!!
I didn't want this series to ever end. I still don't! I am holding out hope that John Allison will revisit Susan, Esther and Daisy somewhere down the line. Don't let me down, John Allison!
Anyway, a lot of folks on here are saying this was a much weaker volume than most, but I kind of disagree. Oh, it's definitely not one of the BEST volumes, but honestly I feel it's worth it just for the glimpse of dark Daisy--amazing! Susan and McGraw remain ridiculously adorable. Esther remains...Esther. Ed Gemmel gets a haircut. There is plenty to love here! Plenty!
So yeah, the last couple of issues are on the weird side, but they worked for me even so. Somehow the way the girls deal with the Cressidas is super hilarious to me and I loved it.
Really, my only complaint is that I wanted more.
MORE, JOHN ALLISON! Please???????
I didn't want this series to ever end. I still don't! I am holding out hope that John Allison will revisit Susan, Esther and Daisy somewhere down the line. Don't let me down, John Allison!
Anyway, a lot of folks on here are saying this was a much weaker volume than most, but I kind of disagree. Oh, it's definitely not one of the BEST volumes, but honestly I feel it's worth it just for the glimpse of dark Daisy--amazing! Susan and McGraw remain ridiculously adorable. Esther remains...Esther. Ed Gemmel gets a haircut. There is plenty to love here! Plenty!
So yeah, the last couple of issues are on the weird side, but they worked for me even so. Somehow the way the girls deal with the Cressidas is super hilarious to me and I loved it.
Really, my only complaint is that I wanted more.
MORE, JOHN ALLISON! Please???????
December 10, 2020
This is such a non-finale...which would be fine if the ending didn't go so far off the rails. We get it Allison, you like doing wierd shit in your other comics, but not in Giant Days. Like, when have you ever done that shit in this grounded university life comic? Never, except at the very end because you got bored and didn't feel like giving us a proper ending to something people have been enjoying and become attached to for years. Bad form.
August 21, 2022
This one was just not. Great. I’m sad because this was the last volume and I’ve loved this series for so long. Getting to escape with Esther and Daisy and Susan. My loves. But this one took a weird turn and I just didn’t care for it. Le sigh :(
February 18, 2021
It’s hard to believe this was the final volume in the Giant Days series! I loved getting to follow Daisy, Esther, and Susan through their university days, following their ups and downs, fails and triumphs. I felt the final two issues of the series was a nice wrap up to the main story.
However, the one shot “As Time Goes By” was highly disappointing. It follows the friends a year after graduation but was muddled as it tried to cover a range of issues with each character is an extremely short amount of time, most spent on Esther and her struggles with publishing. Had this been used as introduction to a sequel series and been paced out better, I think it would have been fine. Otherwise, I would have been more content reading a slimmer volume covering just their university graduation.
However, the one shot “As Time Goes By” was highly disappointing. It follows the friends a year after graduation but was muddled as it tried to cover a range of issues with each character is an extremely short amount of time, most spent on Esther and her struggles with publishing. Had this been used as introduction to a sequel series and been paced out better, I think it would have been fine. Otherwise, I would have been more content reading a slimmer volume covering just their university graduation.
May 16, 2021
While I'm sad that these are over and I now need to find a new comfort series, I'm glad it cut off here because I feel like individual issue quality was really going down. Where before you'd typically have 3 good issues and maybe one more mediocre one in a volume, these last few have shifted to 1 stellar one surrounded by what feels like filler.
Somehow despite it being the second last issue, #53 really managed to feel like a whole lot of nothing which was really disappointing considering how good #54 was in contrast. I enjoyed the flash forward issue, but I feel like it should have been published as a "bonus volume" so the official 14 volumes had the clean cut that was the end of #54.
Also, PLEASE give me graphic novel series recs to fill the Giant Days sized hole in my heart.
Somehow despite it being the second last issue, #53 really managed to feel like a whole lot of nothing which was really disappointing considering how good #54 was in contrast. I enjoyed the flash forward issue, but I feel like it should have been published as a "bonus volume" so the official 14 volumes had the clean cut that was the end of #54.
Also, PLEASE give me graphic novel series recs to fill the Giant Days sized hole in my heart.
March 14, 2021
Wonderful. This whole series was just such a pleasure and so relatable for anyone who's ever even tried to flail their way through the madness that is uni life. Loved seeing these girls grow up over the course of three years - the various capers are hilarious and the friendship game is ON POINT.
December 1, 2020
Welp. That hurt. This was a wild ride from start to finish but I can't believe this is it. I'm sad now.
January 10, 2021
Can't cope with saying goodbye to this series yet 😭😭
February 14, 2021
(6.8/10) - ⭐⭐⭐
Read
September 23, 2022i am severely emotionally distraught, no one talk to me for 5-7 business days
** in my head, esther is now an english teacher who has just gotten her first publishing deal and is living with ed, who has a plan to propose on all saints’ day
** in my head, esther is now an english teacher who has just gotten her first publishing deal and is living with ed, who has a plan to propose on all saints’ day
February 25, 2023
I loved this series so much. All the uni memories and the art was so pretty. I’m sad I’ve finished it now.
May 1, 2021
I waited to read this book for months because I couldn’t bear the thought of finishing this wonderfully charming series. Bittersweet. This volume is not as strong as the previous 13 volumes. The last chapter was strange, but I’m rounding it up to 4 stars because I love the series so much.
February 5, 2024
Rep: lesbian mc
February 7, 2021
I can't believe it's over
Displaying 1 - 30 of 334 reviews