Review by Karl Verhoven

Huge Detective begins with the premise that giant humans have slept beneath the Earth since the dawn of humanity and have now wakened and risen to the surface, where they’re not pleased at what’s developed in their absence. Initial slaughter ceases with the creation of a new state Brobdingnag in Australia, where humans and huges live side by side.

That’s just the background to a crime drama where human detective Tamaki and her huge companion Gyant try to solve a murder, complicated by the only witness being Manny, a mentally challenged human considering himself a huge.

The trappings are to some extent a pleasing distraction, as Adam Rose has created a solid crime drama, albeit one contingent on the presence of giants, featuring a greater than usually mismatched pair of detectives. A huge can venture where humans can’t, such as deep under water, while also able to explain the intricacies of their race, which may have some bearing on what’s happened. Rose builds the mysteries compellingly, using some clever storytelling to suggest there may be some connection between Manny and Gyant.

Artist Magenta King switches between two styles. There’s the detailed, but wispy formulations used to indicate the past, while she colours the present day vividly and tightens the figures. There’s an occasional stiffness to these, and hints of Michael Allred’s art come through. Considering giants are integral to Huge Detective, there might be a feeling more could be made of the contrast with humans, who’re about the size of their fingers, but this only happens occasionally. Gyant is effectively designed to resemble the broadly recognised version of Frankenstein’s monster,

What begins as relatively straightforward, if involving giants, takes a sinister twist once the revelations begin pouring out, yet cleverly, Rose also manages to incorporate a healthy dose of the ridiculous. That’s worth bearing in mind, as it’s there from the start when a journalist asks Gyant “Is it true all huge have vowed never to eat humans again”, but not always apparent, so could confuse. Rose builds several simultaneous events to a credible crisis point, although fudges one threat. It’s been visually effective, but doesn’t pay off. Also puzzling is how Rose can characterise some people well, yet Tamaki is just an action repository for dialogue. There’s never any sense of a deeper personality.

Overall, though, Huge Detective is an inventive crime drama with some great unhinged characters.