It could almost be a Hardy Boys mystery: The Secret of Belter’s Cave. Except it’s been 40 years since “The Omega Event,” and there’s been a murder. Maybe many. The only witness is also the only suspect, a mentally ill man named Manny who believes himself to be a Huge. In the context of Huge Detective, that makes perfect sense. Because The Omega Event denotes when a race of giants awoke from their eons old slumber and changed everything about life on Earth.
In the years since, the Huges have reached a detente with us. They stopped stomping around and eating humans, and we gave them Australia. The world economy recovered once humanity realized that giants capable of walking across oceans were great for transport. For whatever reason, they also seem to have mimicked human society. It’s easy to forget they’re not human — especially as, inexplicably so far, their DNA matches ours.
But Manny knows they’re not, and has retreated into a fantasy world. Something terrible happened to him, and our justice system has tried to accommodate his illness. To solve the mystery, it’s going to take a Huge Detective.
It’s rare that a book comes along with a premise this simple and yet so complicated. Writer Adam Rose and artist Magenta King have clearly worked out the rules of this brave new (Huge) world. Though they drop plenty of clues, they’re not laying it all out in this first issue. As readers, we have work to do, and that’s terrific. It’s good to read a book that’s entertaining and at least one giant step ahead.
The noir elements are here, too. To help us through, we have an embittered human investigator, fighting health issues that the Huge Detective can’t help but smell. After all, he can “fee fi fo fum” with the best of them. But King consistently portrays the giant as imposing yet somehow well-meaning. Occasional lines from Rose only hint at a darker history. There hasn’t just been a grotesque murder among us “dolls” as they call us. Two Huge have disappeared. How do you lose giants?
The answer will come… you just have to keep buying this book to find out.
