Goliath

“There must be some mistake… I am one of the worst blades in my platoon… I am best for paperwork!” Goliath of Gath, Goliath the Philistine, Goliath the biblical giant is not a hero. Without really understanding this war of which he would be the Champion, he nevertheless agreed to play his role: he put on his brand new armor, took his spear and sat down, in the valley of Terebinths, to await the duel that will make him famous. A child is with he, who carries his shield, and their short discussions punctuate the days in this desert of rocks and mist. David will eventually come, he and his slingshot, but the story is not there. Tom Gauld revisits here with finesse the legend of David & Goliath. Contrary to the founding myth, it abandons the famous duel and builds his story around the forty days of patience and uncertainty that the preceding one. As is often the case in his work, the action is relegated to the second plan, to better focus on apparent little nothings — and these moments of empty, nourished by precise dialogues, both tragic and funny, deploy to give this funny Goliath a poignant thickness. From a Very fine, this book printed in two colors is Tom's sixth work Gauld at the 2024 editions (after Lunar Police, Towards the City and its strips: The Department of Smoky Theories, Cooking with Kafka and You Are All jealous of my jetpack). An outstanding storyteller and master of absurd humor, Tom Gauld lives in London and his work, which has won many awards (including the prestigious Eisner Award), is regularly published by several newspapers English and American (The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times, among others) others).