From the first few black and white pages delivering the premise of Huge Detective to the final explosive splash, there’s a palpable sense of excitement surrounding artist Magenta King and writer Adam Rose’s debut of their new speculative fiction series at Titan Comics. Huge Detective #1 introduces readers to Tamaki and Gyant, a human and giant (or Huge in the series’ parlance) detective collaborating in a world where Huges reemerged 40 years ago to resettle Australia after a costly conflict with humanity. At scales ranging from the interplanetary to the deeply personal, it’s a premise loaded with interest accompanied by layered characters and conflicts that make it easy to overlook storytelling flaws in this busy introduction.
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The first three pages do excellent work summarizing this alternate history and provide readers a sense of the need for a detective’s lens on this fantasy concept to unravel the sorts of conspiracies bound up in decades of interspecies relations and global war. Yet every few pages readers are led to discover a new facet to consider including the stiff interpersonal dynamics between the series’ protagonists, dual and almost certainly linked murder cases, and even hints at events off planet. There’s no risk of the issue growing dull as additional layers are added without losing track of Tamaki and Gyant at their center.
The introduction of these threads ranges in efficacy, though. The detectives give the series a familiar heart that will appeal to fans of True Detective. Although clearly haunted by distinct demons, the pair bring distinctive personalities and plenty of skills to bear in exploring this setting – offering readers plenty of insight along the way. King’s impressionistic forms capture their expressions and actions well in these instances.
Yet cutaways to the moon arrive without clear transitions and are so sparsely detailed as to leave readers questioning what they are reading and why it is significant. In this instance, there is only an implied mystery that doesn’t possess the same immediacy as a couple of missing Huges and a murder mystery. Another thread involving a schizophrenic prisoner also suffers in its introduction from a clear lack of purpose, although this is alleviated somewhat by the issue’s end.
The sequences that seem most lacking are also those lacking in Huges. It’s apparent that the most immediate appeal of Huge Detective lies in the world it presents as each new detail provides an alternative history with apparent depth. A brief cutaway to an amusement park is simultaneously ridiculous and horrifying, and many panels featuring Gyant or other Huge figures deliver similarly potent ideas. It’s a wonder to investigate the world of Gyant and Tamaki as they investigate a collection of mysteries, some still unidentified.
Published by Titan Comics
On August 21, 2024
Written by Adam Rose
Art by Magenta King
Colors by Magenta King and Minimone
Letters by DC Hopkins
Cover by Paul Pope and Lovern Kindzierski
