Goliath Girls #3
From MAJK’s Coffee Corner:
Goliath Girls #3 dropped this week and if you are an Amazon Prime or ComiXology Unlimited member who hasn’t checked this series out then you need to get on it. This is a five-issue series and we are more than halfway through. The story is one of the more original plots I’ve seen recently. This is also a great comic for both teens and adults, especially if they are into anime. The art style is bold and fun, the characters are relatable, and the plot intricate and engaging. All in all, this is a fantastic offering from the ComiXology Originals line of comics.
ComiXology Originals line of comics is part of the exclusive digital content only available on ComiXology and Kindle. This title is available as part of ComiXology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited, and Prime Reading.
Spoiler Warning: If you have not read Goliath Girls #2 or #3 there may be spoilers below!
Creative Team:
Publisher: Shadow Valley Writer: Sam Humphries Lettering: Jodi Wynne
Artist: Miralti Firmansyah Colors: Brittany Peer and Sara Talmadge
Series Rating: 4.85/5 Issue Rating: 9.5/10
The Story So Far:
Goliath Girls #2 left Eunice dealing with a painful breakup and betrayal on top of what appears to be a serious biological issue. Having not told her friends about either, she’s in a heck of a tight spot. Zelda is dealing with her own convictions conflicting with her mother’s expectations of her.
Meanwhile, Paul is facing Brother Worm’s wrath after his failure to defeat his sisters, the Goliath Girls for the Third Eye.
As a team, the Goliath Girls came off a hard-won victory only to face the threat of arrest by the International Ajax Agency for Goliath Control. Defiant and determined, the girls refuse to surrender and now Ginger Spice faces Ajax’s fierce Space Ape without a second of downtime after her victory over Krotara.
Pain and Loyalty
Goliath Girls #3 packs a lot of story into this issue. Deftly woven throughout the intense battle between Space Ape and Ginger Spice is a lot of the backstory. Trapped in the Citadel of the Third Eye, Paul is hounded by Brother Worm about his loyalty. Through Paul’s eyes, we see his introduction into The Foundation and learn what the true goal of the foundation was initially.
We also learn what led Paul to join the Third Eye and oppose the Goliath Girls. There is a lot of deep hatred in Paul and we get a peek at what caused it. We also learn Paul’s weakness, the one thread that holds him back from complete loyalty to Brother Worm.
History and Hatred
Paul’s torture isn’t the only place in Goliath Girls #3 we get detailed backstory. Throughout the fight between Ginger Spice and Space Ape, the Girls from Ajax and the Goliath Girls trade taunts and barbs that lead to flashbacks of the history between them. We learn that Zelda’s mom was the head of The Foundation and that it was The Foundation that trained all the kids we’ve met including Alex and Paul.
It’s hard to believe that once all these ladies were on the same side, with the same goals and dreams. We see bits and pieces of what tore them apart. We also get a look at the birth of Ginger Spice. The emotions run high and the cuteness of the baby Kaiju is so many levels of adorable that I just want them to produce a stuffed Ginger Spice toy.
Art & Writing
Everything about the art works in Goliath Girls #3. In fact, throughout the series, the art sets the tones and creates the feeling that you’ve stepped into a dystopian anime. The bold colors and manga-style character designs lend well to both the action sequences and the intense emotions of our characters.
The story has a lot of depth and, in fact, offers a lot more that could be explored. Who are the Third Eye and what is their purpose? How did the International Ajax Agency for Goliath Control form and why does it appear to have more authority than the Goliath Girls team? How did the kids go from The Foundations stated goal of killing all the Goliaths to idealists who wanted to co-exist peacefully with the very creatures that made them orphans?
The only real downside I am seeing in this series is the fact that it is limited to a five-issue run. There is a lot more to explore in this series than I think this limited run can cover well. For this reason, the pacing is more rushed than I like.
Goliath Girls #3 felt like it had to cram in a lot of backstory. Despite that, Humphries and Firmansyah do a fabulous job of constructing the intricate web of a then/now narrative using both dialogue and visuals. They avoid weighty exposition and let the characters emotions and interactions tell us much of the tale.
Goliath Girls is an incredible series. The world is rich and well-developed, the visuals striking, and the actions scenes are engaging and properly paced. The tension by the time we hit the cliff-hanger ending is wound so tight that waiting on the next issues is going to be a challenge. I’d love to see this be an ongoing series that allows us to get deeper into the details of the whole story.
Next Issue: March 6, 2019
