By Cat Wyatt

It’s amazing how long this series has been running, and yet it still feels so new. In Giant Days #41 there’s no shortage of adventures that our wonderful group gets into, but that’s really no surprise, is it? This issue is pretty well balanced on the whole, showing us issues with Daisy, Esther, and Susan equally. There are also cameos from out two guys and what they’ve been up to during this time. It’s worth noting that Susan is on the cover of this issue, and her with skulls for pupils is an absolutely fantastic and accurate image.

This issue starts off with Susan, which fits perfectly, considering the cover. As usual, Susan looks utterly exhausted. This makes sense when one considers that she’s been doing night shifts as part of her training. That would be exhausting work. Having to come home to an apartment building full of screaming kids after a shift like that would be too much for any of us. For Susan? It’s practically a declaration of war.

You can probably guess how well her interaction with the children goes. Side note: This was the moment where Susan reminded herself to get her tubes tied – as if we needed further proof on how she felt about kids. Long story short, a soccer ball got popped and a tennis ball taken hostage. Yep. That sounds exactly like Susan.

To McGraw’s credit – he absolutely figured out what Susan was up to, and while he probably wasn’t okay with it, he also let it slide. That’s probably for the best, as there’s really no other way he could survive living with Susan than to tolerate her crazy days.

Speaking of people lovingly tolerating Susan’s habits – Esther has been hanging around their apartment. Quite possibly to try some makeup out on McGraw, but more likely to see Susan. Or both. It could be both. Regardless of her reason for being there, it all worked out pretty well, as Susan needed Esther to deal with the angry mother that arrived.

Picture a stereotypical angry mom, with sweatpants, hair rollers, and the works. Now up that by ten. Now you have an idea of the woman standing outside Susan and McGraw’s apartment. Now this woman may be scary, but she’s absolutely no match for Esther.

To be honest, she shouldn’t have been a match for Susan either, and yet Susan had to beg Esther to handle it. Something is clearly up. Susan’s gone and lost her edge. Okay, yeah, she’s still up for being mean to children, but when the time came for a real fight, she crumpled. That’s just not like her. Could it be her new life with McGraw is helping to mellow her out?

After having heroically saved Susan from the angry mother, Esther is off again! Of course, she is. That girl never stays still, does she? This time she’s heading to an art class with Daisy. If you’re going to read any part of this issue, please let it be this part. The commentary and sass from here is priceless.

Plus there’s the whole ex-drama creeping up. Remember last issue, where Ingrid made an appearance with a new guy? Well, she (and the guy) are back, and they're not subtle about it. This is all a pretty classic post-breakup situation. Daisy is happy to be free of Ingrid, especially after what Ingrid did post-breakup. Meanwhile, Ingrid desperately wants Daisy back, going so far as to flaunt her new relationship in front of her ex in hopes of igniting some jealousy.

Too bad for Ingrid that Daisy is too mature to fall for that. Too bad for Daisy that she’s so mature she feels compelled to try and talk to Ingrid. Okay, in all fairness it is the civil thing to do, but people like Ingrid take advantage of civil situations.

There’s another mystery brewing thanks to the art class – the case of the mystery naked guy. Wow, that sounds so creepy when phrased like that. It’s a modeling class – where there’s a nude model there for all the students to draw. In this case, the model is wearing a mask. Esther recognizes him, but she’s not sure who he is. Something is definitely starting here. More hints are dropped throughout the issue, but they’re more fun to find on their own.

Speaking of something starting – Ed and the sporty girl have been hanging out a lot. Ed still seems pretty clueless on the girl’s affection for him, but let’s be real. That girl knows what she wants, and it’s only a matter of time before she makes a move. Still, she’s taking the time to get to know him (and vice versa) first, which is always healthy for any relationship. It’s good to see Ed branching out a bit. Hopefully, this will help him get over Esther.

All three girls wind up going to the Halloween party – and you could probably guess how they all dress. Or not. Daisy went as an adorable lion, Esther as a geisha (which is a bit painful, admittedly), and Susan as a sexy plague doctor. Yes, you did, in fact, read that last part correctly. The costume looks pretty good, even if that is exceptionally hard to admit.

Being a Halloween party, there’s lots of drinking, dancing, and drama. Though not in that order. We finally get some closure for the whole Daisy/Ingrid breakup – it’s clear that there’s no going back on that one, which is fantastic news. Meanwhile, Esther may have figured out her the mystery nude man is, not that she’s bothered to tell us or anything. There’s also something going on with McGraw, but beyond some hints, it’s hard to say what.

This was another fantastic issue of Giant Days, though, on the whole, it did feel more balanced between the characters than other issues have been. While Esther probably got the most screen time, all three of the main characters had their own issues to deal with, all getting a few pages each. The inclusion of the party at the end, which had all three of them together, was a nice touch. It all flowed very nicely, and even set up a couple of new plots. It’s likely that we’ll be seeing an Esther focused plot next, or it could be Susan.

Score: 4/5

Giant Days #41
BOOM!/BOOM! Box