Goliath

by Tom Gauld

A master of stripped-down, powerful storytelling reworks the David-and-Goliath myth.

Goliath of Gath isn’t much of a fighter. Given half a choice, he would pick admin work over patrolling in a heartbeat, to say nothing of his distaste for engaging in combat. Nonetheless, at the behest of the king, he finds himself issuing a twice-daily challenge to the Israelites: “Choose a man. Let him come to me that we may fight. If he be able to kill me then we shall be your servants. But if I kill him, then you shall be our servants.” Day after day he reluctantly repeats his speech, and the isolation of this duty gives him the chance to banter with his shield-bearer and reflect on the beauty of his surroundings.

This is the story of David and Goliath as seen from Goliath’s side of the Valley of Elah. Quiet moments in Goliath’s life as a soldier are accentuated by Tom Gauld’s drawing style, which contrasts minimalist scenery and near-geometric humans with densely crosshatched detail reminiscent of Edward Gorey. Goliath’s battle is simultaneously tragic and bleakly funny, as bureaucracy pervades even this most mythic of figures. Goliath displays a sensitive wit, a bold line, and a traditional narrative reworked, remade, and revolutionized.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Religion, Bande Dessinée

96 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2012

About the author

Tom Gauld is a cartoonist and illustrator. He draws weekly cartoons for the Guardian newspaper and New Scientist magazine. He has created eight covers for the New Yorker and a number of comic books. He lives and works in London.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh, god - poor goliath!



singled out because of his massive size, forced to wear ceremonial armor that crumbles around him and stand in the same place day after day, quoting the same prepared script after sleeping exposed to the elements all night, just to intimidate the enemy and prevent them from attacking.



he's just a big sweet guy who took a promotion he didn't really want that turned out to be a pretty boring job.

until.

some punk kid comes on the scene.

and you know what happens next.

poor, poor goliath.

i love tom gauld.he is able to pour so much sympathy and humanity into this story that everyone knows, and give it a completely convincing reversal.

i wish it took more than ten minutes to read, but what can you do?

come to my blog!

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Putting the spotlight on Goliath rather than David, this tragic and wryly comical version of the biblical story radically twists its message from yes-you-can to anti-war. Tom Gauld’s Goliath is no monster but a gentle and meek man who gets pushed to the front line by a careless king and his ruthless captain merely because he happens to be tall. What may sound like a cheap gimmick becomes in Gauld’s capable hands a clever and rather macabre critique of fundamental Western values and ideals.

[Greta G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor Goliath! He should have won the fight, so he could go back to his administration. He even didn’t like to fight. And the stories people tell about him aren’t true, either. He can’t burn things just by staring at them. And he did not punch a camel and kill it. He doesn’t eat rocks, and he doesn’t have a gigantic you-know-what ... I think.
A senseless waste of human life.
And a waste of money.

[merixien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok sade ve melankolik bir çizimle tarihin yazılmayan kısımlarını, perde arkasını anlatıyor. Golyat’ın yalnızca boyutları yüzünden “yanlışlıkla” bir dövüşcüye dönüşmesinin hikayesini nehirde bulunan taş ile başlayıp yine bir taş ile sonlandırıyor. Hikayede bağımsız gibi görünen bütün unsurların altına sakladığı imaları-anlamları ile az sözle çok şey anlatan çizgi romanlardan. Gauld’un diğer çizgi romanlarında da olduğu gibi, bittiğinde kalbiniz kırılıyor.

[Mariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are soldiers you know.
Ok. Next time I'll kill somebody.
Really?
No.

I got lost in Goliath's giant figure slumped against nondescript rock formations. Peaceful in their in the middle of nowhere nondescriptness. Day, night, almost day, almost night and behind your back. His face hidden under a beard I didn't attach my feelings to puzzlement. A longing to sit at a desk and do admin work. Goliath was good at admin work. Days behind your back. I imagine days would be better if the day before was certain to be admin work. He avoids patrol duty. Hands dirty and could you see your own toes if you were too fat from being caught red handed doing what you were told. Days before your back.
From down below, by the feet is his shield carrier the boy helper. He isn't sure if he's holding it all that well. Sure, I'll come to work every day. From orders of the king. The king is a sadistic bastard. He keeps a bear hitched to a post. You wanna fight the bear for a public spectacle? No. You wanna challenge our neighbors the Philistines to kill you and we'll be their slaves or you kill one of theirs and they'll be our slaves? No, not really. Go sit there by those rocks and wait in a mist. I didn't attach to the mist but it was getting kind of beautiful, kind of peaceful, with all of that nothing. The king fights them lions, tigers and poor beasts. I wonder what his face would show if he thought one of the days before might put behind him a defeated champion. He was probably a figure of meaningless mindless nothing all that time. A not kind of beautiful and a not kind of peaceful, if your time is borrowed on what you might have to do, just because some sadistic asshat said so. The bear got away. Should we bring him back? No. Not an empathic no, but an empathetic one in a spotting the retreating like figure from the same traitored days. I liked Goliath. He'd let them wander around in their own kind of peaceful nothing. That made him my fixed figure in the nothing. I got used to him sitting there. Until David comes along and knocks his eye out with his slingshot of I guess he had a different kind of king with words that ring in heads of a fulfilling something. I don't know. I don't hear those words and his figure is just doing something someone else told him to do. I know I felt so damned sad when I saw that bear hitched to that post. At least he got away. I hope he got away. I hope when the old Philistines became the story in the end and the old story became the Philistines he doesn't get to be the same bear on another post. He probably did. If stories gotta have endings and faces come closer and there's no more figures getting to do their own thing.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book, very strong with clean, bold lines and a dry wit and sad. The idea, to write the David and Goliath story in terms of a reluctant Goliath, reminds me of Grendel or The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf...

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t normally read graphic novels, but I quite enjoyed this imaginative retelling of the old Bible story. Not only is it told from Goliath’s perspective, but in these pages he’s very much a gentle giant and, as the blurb says, not much of a fighter. He’s happiest in the army when he gets the chance to do admin work, which he’s very good at. It’s his sheer size that leads the Philistine commander to send him out every day to issue a challenge to the Israelites.

At the start of the story Goliath is subject to the kind of unwelcome intrusions that tend to happen to those who are different from the norm. A fellow soldier who runs a betting operation tries to get him to fight a captive bear held in the camp. “We’ll make it worth your while. These fights make us a lot of money. We’ll split the proceeds fifty-fifty and ‘Giant versus Bear’, that’s gold!" On another occasion he even gets asked about the size of his you-know-what.

When he is sent out to challenge the Israelites, Goliath has to wait in the valley all day in case his challenge is answered. His only companion is a young boy appointed as his shield bearer, who’s bored out of his mind. Over time Goliath comes to appreciate the solitude of the valley and the chance to escape being seen as a freak. Eventually he stops going to back to the camp at night.

The story is quite heavy on symbolism. I suppose the graphic format is suited to that. My one reservation is that the story itself is quite short and the book is quite expensive to buy – I imagine the author/publisher would say you are paying for the artwork.

Also, many of us will already know how it ends…

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from the perspective of Goliath...we hear a side of the famous story never heard before. I really like this concept; telling the story from the perspective of the 'bad' guy/gal. Think it often adds depth to the original work - a very interesting book that will make you think about how there are always two sides to a story.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

A freakishly tall yet meek army admin clerk called Goliath is tricked into pretending to be his army’s “giant champion”, a symbol that one of the King’s advisors hopes will end the conflict if the opposing army’s champion fails to meet Goliath’s challenge. Alas, we all know how it ends…

Tom Gauld shows a different side to the famous David and Goliath story with Goliath portrayed as not the giant he was purported to be but an overly tall chap near 7 feet tall, who prefers working quietly at his desk to fighting. You feel sorry for him being used as he is solely for his appearance to trick the enemy into surrendering, especially when that enemy sends a champion with a slingshot out to face Goliath.

Well written and delightfully drawn in a deceptively simple yet captivating style that suits this quiet tale of a quiet man whose good nature was exploited by the cynicism of others. “Goliath” is an excellent comic book by a fantastic and underrated artist.

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet, sad retelling of the David-and-Goliath story from the Philistine's point of view. Goliath is an introspective gentle giant who's proud of his skill at paperwork and skeptical about this business of yelling challenges at the enemy camp. But duty calls and he's been assured that these actions will end the war without bloodshed...

There's an implicit criticism of the kind of disinterested or incompetent leadership that gets good people killed unnecessarily. David wasn't even the bad guy here. That falls to the king who'd sign anything to get out of listening to a boring briefing, and the captain who shamelessly abuses his underling's trust to get what he wants.

Loved the understated humor and the sense that there's more going on than the simple illustration and sparse dialogue would suggest.
-------------------------
SECOND READ

Shield Bearer: "Is it true that you can burn things just by staring at them?"
Goliath: "What? No! Where did you hear that?"
SB: "Everyone's talking about you. Did you punch a camel and kill it?"
G: "NO."
SB: "And you don't eat rocks?"
G: "No."
SB: "That's what I said. They all ask me about you."
G: "Who?"
SB: "Everyone. Have you got a wife?"
G: "No."
SB: "My aunt wanted to know."
SB: "She's got six daughters."
SB: ............
SB: "Do you have a gigantic you-know-what?"
G: "No more questions."

[Klinton Saha · Rating 3 out of 5]

বাইবেলের গোলিয়াথকে ভিন্ন দৃষ্টিকোণ থেকে দেখা। বিশাল আকৃতির গোলিয়াথ এখানে নিরীহ, শান্ত ; সৈনিকের কাজ নয় বরং সে লেখালেখির কাজ করতে পছন্দ করে। কিন্তু ফিলিস্তিন সেনাবাহিনীর উচ্চপদস্থ কর্মকর্তারা তাকে মুখপাত্র হিসেবে শত্রু শিবিরে পাঠায়। যুদ্ধে মন নেই অথচ সম্রাটের ইচ্ছা পালনের জন্য সে যুদ্ধে এগিয়ে যায়, সাথে যায় শিল্ড বহনকারী এক বালক। ভীতু গোলিয়াথ কিছুতেই শত্রু শিবিরে প্রবেশ করে না। অবশেষে ডেভিডের এক পাথরের আঘাতে ভূপতিত হয় গোলিয়াথ।

[Larnacouer de SH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biliyorsun ki bizler askeriz.

- Tamam bir dahaki sefere birini öldürürüm.

Gerçekten mi?

- Hayır.

[Deepthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered Gauld through his strips on readers and books. Mooncop and Goliath are wry humour at its best.

[verbava · Rating 4 out of 5]

мабуть, усі, хто береться за цю книжку, все ще знають, чим скінчився сюжет про голіафа й давида; а все-таки велетень у тома голда вийшов такий зворушливий, що, слухаючи його версію подій, весь час чекаєш якогось повороту чи підступу.
найбільший же підступ у тому, що жодного підступу зрештою не виявляється. том голд робить абсолютно прекрасну річ: перевершує горизонт очікування, розказуючи історію точнісінько так, як її знають читачі, аж дослівно. він не перший, хто береться за розповідь із точки зору начебто негативного персонажа, але в "голіафі" до несподіванки докладається форма. від коміксової історії – прості лінії, мінімум кольорів, умовні пейзажі, і все це в сумі надивовижу настроєве – чекаєш коміксового фіналу, трикстерної розв'язки, після якої всі собі вирушать у бік заходу сонця. проте не сьогодні.

[Jesse A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad story. Reading this makes me think about how in war it's rarely good vs evil. While we know from the Bible story that Goliath was chosen for his purpose, we can't say he was a bad guy. Maybe he was just a simple admin.

[Özgür Atmaca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shaun Tan'dan sonra her şey vasat her şey yavan

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Endearing story

[Sgrtkn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Böyle bir son beklemiyordum 😅

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his somewhat stark and beautiful way, the author reminds us that no matter how often we've been told a story - we only know one side of that story.

A sad and lovely telling of the David and Goliath story. And now I have to go sit in a corner and feel terrible for Goliath.

**A day later and it continues to (this sounds melodramatic, but I'm going to use the word anyway) haunt me. In my world, that is a pretty sure indication that a book deserves five stars.**

[Fact100 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tarihi bir efsaneyi değişik, sade ve hüzünlü biçimde yorumlayan "Golyat", okuyucuya hoş ve kaliteli bir hikaye sunuyor. Gauld'un daha önce okumuş olduğum "Ay Polisi" kitabında olduğu gibi bunda da olabileceğinden daha kısa tutulmuş bir hikaye okudum hissi oluştu. Hikayeyi daha hoş kılan, belki de bu "Less is more" durumudur.

3/5

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of the story of David and Goliath, as told from the viewpoint of Goliath, who turns out to be mainly an administrator in the Philistine army, but was cast into the role of a Champion of the Philistines by a captain, eager to win the favour of the king.

Put into a badly made outfit of metal, he then has the task of sending his challenge to a battle with the champion of the armies of Israel, with the captain believing that the challenge would go unanswered due to Goliath's size. While waiting for a challenger, Goliath decides to stay in the desert, contemplating his life.

Of course, the challenge is finally answered and is a foregone conclusion. But the retelling, in excellent cartoon format by Gauld, shows that some stories may not be what they seem, and the characters involved may have been forced into their roles by others who may not have to suffer the life and death consequences.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful retelling of the David and Goliath story with Goliath as underdog protagonist. This book is not quite in black and white, more like black, brown and white, and the use of color, texture, black space and white space and perspective are all done with a very strong sense of mood and timing. This is a solemnly funny book, with a soulful dash of "Ferdinand" and perhaps the tiniest touch of Shrek. Gauld brings Goliath into its fabular fullness and it is hard not to fall in love with Goliath as modest, poetic shlemeil. But alas, we all know how this story ends.

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu tip farklı bakış açılarını seviyorum. Tarihe bir de tarihi yazmayanların gözünden bakar gibi bir alternatif tat veriyor.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up in the USA period when manga was a surreptitious introduction to 'Sailor Moon' in the sixth grade and clandestine aisle-way schmoozings at Borders (remember that?), and while it doesn't surprise me how popular it's grown once (some of) the racism no longer served as (overt) cultural currency, I don't think I'll ever stop instinctively marveling at it. Such a disconnect between my experience with "graphic novels" and what literature was "supposed" to be (Spiegleman's Maus may have won the Pulitzer near the start of my time spent among the living, but these things can take decades to percolate), it makes sense that I lurched towards bits and bobs like this work, Castle Waiting, and anything else that took the image far beyond the superhero and into some Americanized bridge between what I binged and what I breathed.

As for this particular work, the drawing style will always ring true with Gauld's iconic "You're all just jealous of my jetpack." forever enmeshed my neurons. However, the bare bones treatment of antiquity serving as a front for 'modern' sympathies leans a little hard on the generic and not enough on the original text for my tastes. For while it is emotive, it is also grounded in a specific culture and time far flown, and I feel more meat could have been added to the context without unduly interfering with the arc of Chekhov's slingshot. In any case, it was short, and thanks to the library, I can finally put it behind me. Whatever else, it's nice to have read it now when the options for satisfying my once furtive desire for the longform image are more myriad than ever, than to have taken it on when I first added it, caught between genuine interest and no small amount of shame.

[Livietta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cinque stelle mi sembravano eccessive, ma quattro mi sembran poche.
Cos'è Goliath? E' il retelling di Davide e Golia, visto dal punto di vista di Golia.
Golia è un povero impiegato, alto alto, riservato e forse un po' strambo. Ma Golia potrebbe anche fare paura al nemico, per cui "vince" una promozione, viene armato di tutto punto, munito di scudiero e mandato al confine nella speranza di spaventare il nemico.

Questa storia, Tom Gauld ce la racconta in un racconto illustrato, quasi un silento book, di poche pagine, che riesce però ad avere una forza evocativa pazzesca.

Il tratto di Tom Gauld è minimale qui, e tramite questo minimalismo riesce a tirare fuori un sacco di cose: parla di pregiudizi, di bullismo, di guerra e ci fa empatizzare con Golia, uscendo da quello che è il mito raccontato nella bibbia. La Bibbia è una scusa per parlare di altro. E per farlo con pochi tratti, in pochissime pagine: uno spunto di riflessione con una ironia dolce e amara che gli riconosco anche nelle strisce.

Felicissima di averlo voluto recuperare, nonostante in italiano non sia stato tradotto.

P.S: Ma che personaggio delizioso è lo scudiero?!?!?!?

[Miriam Cihodariu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really cute and heartfelt story about the famous Goliath and how he was pushed in the role we all came to know him for, but against his will, predilection and talents. A tale as old as time about societal pressure and the obstacles that come between you and pursuing your calling.

[হাঁটুপানির জলদস্যু · Rating 4 out of 5]

চেনা একটা গল্পকে অদেখা ছাঁচে ফেলে বলা। আবহটা দারুণ ফুটেছে। গোল্ডের ন্যূনকল্পী অঙ্কনশৈলী খুবই পছন্দ হলো। গল্পে যেসব জিনিস বিশেষভাবে চোখে পড়েছে, সেগুলো লিখতে বসলে অন্যের পড়ার মজা মাটি হবে।

[Ahmad Gamal Saad-Eddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

تحفة.

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another thought-provoking graphic novel from cartoonist Tom Gauld.

Goliath re-imagines the fabled battle between David and Goliath from the giant's perspective. However, rather than being a cocky, threatening bully, Goliath is an unwilling soldier. Though he is large, Goliath lacks a killer instinct and would much rather be quietly getting on with admin back at camp. Nevertheless, when the King of the Philistines calls for him to challenge the Israelites to defeat him in combat, Goliath must follow orders.

He and his young shield bearer wait out on the plain for challengers for many days, returning to camp each night alive and relieved. The pages of wordless panels and subtle expression on Goliath's face really made me feel for the big guy who Gauld portrays as a victim of political machinations and arrogant war strategies. The ending does not diverge from the dogma and its tragedy is brutally swift.

This plot is not as populated with characters as Mooncop but then it is drawing attention to the lonely fear of a gentle giant forced to provoke the tenacious opposition. The sepia colouring worked for the ancient setting and Gauld's trademark side-on physical stances add a charming fragility to the overall style.

I was really taken with Goliath, as I have been with all of Tom Gauld's work so far. It's clever but understated and has a droll sense of humour. I recommend it to comic readers who find Gauld's style endearing and aren't precious about biblical accuracy.

[Ty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a retelling of the David and Goliath story, and this time you're friends with Goliath instead of David. It's slow in a way that I liked, with lots of scenes of Goliath and his shield-bearer sitting on rocks not doing anything. The art is simple and black and brown, and I liked that too. As a story it's only sort of satisfying, and would probably be baffling if you somehow didn't know the original version. As a criticism of the one-sidedness of Old Testament war stories it works pretty well in how easily it turns David into an insane-sounding killer. To do this though, Goliath has to become pretty wimpy, and all his coolest lines ( "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?! Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field!" ) get left out. He's slightly more complex here than in the Bible, but he's also less fun to think about.

http://tymelgren.com/books/may2012bookreport.html