Giga: The Complete Series

by Alex Paknadel, Alex Paknadel, John Lê (Illustrations)

Ever since their world-shattering war ended, the slumbering mecha called 'Giga' have been both gods and habitats for the surviving humans. Then disgraced engineer Evan Calhoun discovers a murdered Giga, and the very fabric of society stars unraveling around him.

A GIANT MECH MURDER MYSTERY.

Nobody knows why the skyscraper-sized mechs known as ‘Giga’ fought their bitter, centuries’ long war. All they know is that when the fighting finally stopped, the dormant Giga became humanity’s new habitat and new gods in one. When disgraced engineer Evan Calhoun finds an apparently murdered Giga, his society and the fascistic tech-centered religious order that controls it are rapidly thrown into chaos..
From writer Alex Paknadel (Friendo, Turncoat, Incursion) and rising star John Le comes another Vault & White Noise partnership about what happens after the mechs stop fighting.

Collects the complete five-issue series.
 

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2023

Reviews

[melhara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a world where people worship and live in giant dormant robots called Giga, this comic primarily follows Evan, an engineer and double amputee in a wheelchair, who finds a murdered Giga.

I really liked the artwork by John Le though there were some graphic content (there's quite a bit of violence and dead bodies). The worldbuilding also has a lot of potential but was rather rushed in order to wrap this up and make it into a standalone comic book (though the ending does provide opportunities for a future comic and for the worldbuilding to be expanded further).

The story/plot was the weakest part of this comic. The story was rushed to make way for worldbuilding. It's a shame that this was reduced to a 5-issue series as I think both the pacing of the story and worldbuilding would have benefited from a longer series to fully establish the characters as well as the political and religious tension. Nevertheless, there's a lot more to the story that can be inferred from the illustrations, which is a quality that I love in comics such as this one.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took too long to come out as floppies and I lost any enthusiasm for it. Giant robot gods who forget why they exist. The end is rushed.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giga: The Complete Series by Alex Paknadel is about an engineer who is trying to survive in a world that is dominated by gigantic mechas, commonly known as “Gigas”. Evan Calhoun is a disgraced engineer who is trying to scavenge parts to get enough points to buy food. While out searching for parts, he comes across a murdered Giga in the middle of the forest.

Gigas are huge mechas that allow humans to inhabit them. There isn’t much known about them other than they are slumbering after fighting a world shattering war that ended many many years ago. They are just lying in wait for their next mission. The people who inhabit the machines treat them as shelters but also as Gods.

Since Evan has found the dead Giga, he finds himself in this web. People from his past re-entered his life but he isn’t sure who to trust. He knows the only way he can go back to his quiet life is if he figures out who is behind the murder. If he isn’t able to find a viable suspect, he fears the authorities will blame him for the murder since he found the body. Will Evan be able to solve the murder before society starts to crumble around him?

I thought the book was an okay read. It was hard to follow along with the story at times. It would jump back into the past or the author would hint it at something that wasn’t very clear to me. It took a long time for me to get into the story and then the ending felt rushed and incomplete. I felt like we were left to assume what the ending meant instead of being told. If you like graphic novels with giant robots, then you might enjoy this sci-fi graphic novel more than I did.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This premise intrigued me. It could have been a longer series, but ultimately it said what it had to say and did what it had to do. I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of peripheral characters to keep track of for a five-issue endeavor. A smaller cast would have tightened it up a bit more. If there were another five issues we could have spent more time with side characters and factions to move them out of one-dimensional prop mode, but sometimes that is alright.

The diety/dogmatism/religious components of this book were most interesting. It seemed like a critique of deism and in praise of an incarnate deity.

[Jaimes_Mystical_Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting science fiction graphic novel! I loved the illustrations and color palette! This was a great, quick read with a very intriguing storyline! This graphic novel will be a great read for lovers of science fiction.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this. The artwork succeeds and the story setup is great. However, the end falls flat. It could have easily taken up several more issues because of the religious elements, political intrigue, sci-fi, etc.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This is pure speculative science fiction that is both original and yet some how ultimately derivative; a different look at the same story we have seen often. But the characters are nicely nuanced, the story is given room to breathe and expand organically, and it has a strong arc.

Story: Evan was never fit to be a part of the ruling order - a religion revering the giant sleeping mecha as gods and saviors of the human race. When he washes out as an initiate, he spends his days scavenging and barely surviving in his run down dystopian world. Unfortunately for Evan, his friends are both too smart and too dedicated to their own ideals: one working as an enforcer for the order and the other leading rebels. There's no place for Evan in either world but he will soon be forced to become involved in both.

The maguffin of the story is the quest to find out about the mecha "giga", how they were created and why they fought a war that devastated humanity. Most are lying derelict, sleeping with cities growing up around them. Evan is a talented engineer who always questioned the religion of revering the mecha as gods. Aiko only ever wanted to find out the truth of the mecha. Mason saw the best course of action was to serve the religious order and lead a good life and also come closer to understanding the mecha In the middle of the three is an automaton built by Evan and Aiko who might just have the answers that not all of them want or need.

The artwork is the prototypical gritty science fiction but fortunately it is easy to discern the action and not get lost. The colors are also in the sci fi palette and about what I would expect from this type of story. Bladerunner, as always, seems to serve as the inspiration for the dystopian cityscape. This is a dialogue heavy piece and at times I felt it would have done better as an illustrated novel rather than a full graphic novel treatment. It can get long in places but at the same time that indulgence really lets the story build at a good pace.

In all, I was engaged through the whole story. The plot was nothing new - but I appreciated the pathos of the characters as well as the philosophical questions asked. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Marybeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 ½ stars

"Sometimes, a problem can't be solved unless one flirts a little with damnation."

I had low expectations of this one, but it surprised me in the best way.

"You're supposed to be our gods! I'm sorry, but that means you gotta do more than just keep out the rain."

Giant sleeping mechs (Gigas) lay everywhere, after fighting a war decades ago. Now, they are gods to the humans left behind, & where the humans make their homes.

"We are the meat that haunts the ducts. We are the meat that haunts the world."

Not everyone agrees with treating the rusting silent corpses as gods, though, & when the religious order dedicated to the Gigas is in charge of running the world, you can imagine tbis doesn't go over well.

"Somehow it always finds its way back to me." "Yeah, across a causeway of bodies." "That's all time is, silly."

The art is simple & a bit jarring, but it mostly works. There was a few times where I had thought I skipped a page, but I hadn't. The text is great, a self-contained story with a beginning, middle, & end that makes complete sense, & there's great bits of prose.

"I knew it! I knew this was blasphemy! You can't just read a god's thoughts & not expect consequences!"

Obviously, you can't talk about artificial intelligence without discussing the ethics of it. I absolutely love how it was handled here.

"The people who made you spent more time trying to understand us than they did trying to understand each other."

Representation: Black disabled MC (lower limb double amputee & wheelchair user)

"'No heresy among the initiated,' right?"

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giga: The Complete Series is a graphic novel written by author, Alex Paknadel. I appreciated their imagination all throughout the book. There are a diverse set of characters that are involved in this intriguing tale. It was full of adventure, danger, and action. I liked it.
Giga: The Complete Series is illustrated by the talented artist, John Lê. The graphics all throughout the book were appealing to the eye and perfectly go with the story. They greatly help the plot flow.
I am giving Giga: The Complete Series three stars. I believe adult fans of graphic novels, as well as, dystopian and fantasy books will want to give it a try. I would be interested to meeting these characters again in the future.
I received a paperback copy of Giga: The Complete Series from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.

[John Bernardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was very much looking forward to this book but looking at other reviews here it seems I am not alone. The concept is rushed. It’s just an information dump without any real explanation. Unfortunately a great concept just not well executed

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting setting, but the story drags too much, and even though the plot seems to have a great scale, in the end, the way things are resolved left me frustrated.

When you hint giant robots, you should pay it off, at least partially.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very cool concept, but I'd like to have seen more world building before the shit hit the fan.

[Mee Too]

The low score and mixed reviews peaked my interest.

[tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Mitchell Rey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story was average at best. Art was done by one of my favorite artists John Le and that's really the only reason to pick up this comic.

[B.J. Burgess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't understand GIGA the first time, and I had to reread it twice to grasp the giant mecha war set before the events of the five-issue run. Alex Paknadel has created a vast giant robot mythology that serves as the foundation and environment of GIGA—a gritty science fiction tale told through stunning illustrations by John Lê. The central plot involves a murder mystery—an apparently murdered GIGA discovered by a disgraced engineer, Evan Calhoun.

Overall, I enjoyed reading GIGA—the three times I read it. ╌★★★★✰