Huge Detective #2 Review

 

Writer: Adam Rose

Artist: Magenta King

Colorists: Magenta King & Minimone

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Pedro Cobiaco, Magenta King & Marcelo Costa

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 18, 2024

 

Detective McKenzie Tamaki wants to find a girl’s killer. The chief suspect, Manny, is convinced he is a Huge. Detective Gyant is among the few Huge who interact with Humans outside of Brobdingnag. Can Tamaki get answers from her schizophrenic chief suspect? Can Gyant assist with her investigation? And is the girl’s death in the cave related to the strange incidents on the moon? Let’s slip on our seven-league boots, leap into Huge Detective #2, and find out!

 

Story

The Huge arose forty years ago. Because most surfaced in Australia, the Huge expelled the tiny Humans and declared their new nation of Brobdingnag. Aside from the Doll Theme Parks in Brobdingnag, Humans and Huge rarely interact. But each needs the other. Many Huge want products that Humans make. A few, such as Stonecutter Mustardpanzer, welcome Humans into backpack hotels and transport them between continents faster than an airplane. The world has changed drastically after the Omega Event, but prejudice and hatred over the bloody war linger.

 

Park Rangers found Manny beside a dead girl at Belter's Cave. Detective Tamaki is tired of calling Manny’s cell on a megaphone. She forced her way into the prison and questioned him outside his cell. In Huge Detective #2, Detective Tamaki rushes into his cell and pulls Manny from a water-filled sink. She gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. When the prison psychiatrist arrives, Dr Crawford gives Manny a sedative and Detective Tamaki a lecture.

 

Manny has an intriguing link with Detective Gyant. Dr Crawford doesn't understand it. All she sees is how badly Manny injures himself when he invokes his psychic link with the Huge Detective. Detective Tamaki needs Manny's knowledge, and perhaps his psychic abilities, to solve the girl's death. Still, she wishes she didn't have to partner with a Huge. Detective Gyant may seem friendly and easy-going, but the Omega Event left an indelible mark on Tamaki.

 

Manny’s mother raised him to become a Huge. Manny believes he will grow so tall he can touch the moon. Until then, Manny tries to increase the time he can hold his breath. The Huge can hold their breath for up to two hours. Detective Gyant utilizes this ability in Huge Detective #2. While Detective Tamaki learns of recent developments on the moon, Detective Gyant searches the lake near Belter’s Cave. He finds another entrance that swiftly rises above the water line. What Detective Gyant discovers inside casts an intriguing light on Manny’s visions and missing Human hikers. 

 

Art

Magenta King's art has an innocent, childlike quality, befitting this story about people surviving the tragedy of the Omega Event. Tamaki's suffering is apparent, but so is her growing concern for Manny. Detective Gyant resembles Frankenstein’s monster. Amid panels steeped in bold, rich colors, his skin is gray. Detective Gyant’s yellow shirt and undershorts pair with another tragic scene on the lakebed and mirror the astounding events on the moon.

 

Magenta King & Minimone’s coloring gives Huge Detective #2 texture and depth. The handcrafted appeal also invokes a cosmic look. After glimpsing the distant white stars amid the black void above the moon's surface, Detective Gyant rises above the water in the cave. His yellow shirt glows with green and white dots, suggesting his travel through a nebula to reach a strange, enclosed world.

 

DC Hopkins projects black uppercase lettering into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. Breaking News reports appear in colored banners and as white letters in black fields. Sound effects convey Detective Gyant’s pain, the lyrics of an English folk song, and underline the dangers Humans face in Brobdingnag's Doll Theme Parks. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Amid Detective Gyant’s discoveries in Belter's Cave and an eruption on the moon's Copernicus Crater, Manny's psychic connection to Gyant increases while Detective Tamaki’s health worsens in Huge Detective #2.

 

Rating 9/10 

To preview interior art see my preview at The Dragon's Cache.