Giantkiller is a limited comic book series written and drawn by Dan Brereton, and published by DC Comics. The series ran six issues from August of 1999 to January of 2000.
On October 28th, 1999, Mount Diablo erupts and unleashes giant monsters of unknown origin who proceed to wreak havoc all across the Diablo Valley. When conventional weapons prove useless against the creatures, the military turns to Dr. Steve Azuma, a brilliant scientist in the field of bio-engineering to create a genetic hybrid of human and monster to combat the rampaging beasts. This creature, nicknamed "Yochu" by Azuma and designated "Jack the Giant Slayer" by the US military, may prove to be humanity's last hope... or its greatest enemy.
Despite being published by DC, the comic has no connection whatsoever to The DCU.
Giantkiller contains the following tropes:
- Apocalypse Cult: Richard Gray Brigstine and his cult see the arrival of the Daikaiju as the end of the world and formed a religion dedicated to killing for and then being killed by Jotun.
- Apocalypse How: It is believed that Rroar has the potential to end all life on Earth.Jack: Jill, you said it yourself in the guide. If Rroar ever got loose, we'd all be in big trouble.Jill: Actually, Jack, what I said was could all kiss our rear ends goodbye, but Selkirk made me edit that out.
- Artificial Hybrid: Jill was near-fatally shot by Richard Gray Brigstine while trying to arrest him and his cult. She was found and taken to Steven Azuma who augmented her using a Daikaiju DNA sample he had found. Jill becomes the second human-Daikaiju hybrid, granting her super strength, speed and the ability to walk through Daikaiju territory without dying.
- Artistic License – Geology: Mount Diablo is referred to as an active volcano in the first issue. The real Mount Diablo is not a volcano at all.
- Asian and Nerdy: Dr. Steven Azuma is a Japanese-American scientist specializing in bioengineering. He is the one who created the titular Giantkiller by splicing human and Daikaiju DNA.
- Atrocious Arthropods:
- The first Daikaiju Jack fights is Ig, an insectoid creature resembling a beetle.
- Issue #3 introduces Zomm, a giant moth-like Daikaiju.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Jack has a claw at the end of his tail. However, he doesn't really use it in battle.
- Blood Knight: While watching Jack go to town on Kibosh and Shrill, Jill observes that Jack seems to enjoy killing his own kind. This gets deconstructed as it is revealed that Jack only sees himself as a weapon to be used and meeting Jill makes him feel more like a person.
- Canis Major: Jotun is a bipedal wolf Daikaiju with three heads.
- Crafted from Animals: Jack's sword was created from the shed tooth of one of the monsters.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Nox is named after a night deity and is a giant bat. He is also the only kaiju besides Jack who isn't hostile towards humans.
- David Versus Goliath: Jack is taller than humans but dwarfed by all Daikaiju. When he meets Rroar, the largest of the Daikaiju, Jack admits he is an ant compared to the former.
- Determinator: Agent Clay Hardesty has been pursuing Jill for 15 months with the intent of arresting her for smuggling monster parts when he is introduced. Despite not having her immunity to monster poisons, he drives through 22 miles of poisonous monster territory just to get her.
- Eye Scream: Jack does this to Kibosh while killing him.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Clay Hardesty thinks the monsters are just a hoax.
- Gender-Blender Name: Nox is male but is named after a Roman night goddess.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Jack fights with a sword, while Jill uses a crossbow.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Jack fights with a sword created from a monster's tooth.
- Head Blast: Jack can fire electric blasts from his forehead.
- Hunter of Their Own Kind: Jack is part-Daikaiju and kills full-blooded Daikaiju to protect humanity from them.
- I Call It "Vera": Jack names his sword "Kiba", the Japanese word for "fang".
- Instant Expert: It took two weeks for Jack to undertake a grades k through 9 education.
- Learnt English from Watching Television: Jack learns Japanese from watching Japanese monster movies. In particular, he learns the Japanese words for "giant monsters" ("Daikaiju") and "destruction" ("Hakai") from watching Japanese monster movies.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: Shrill lets out a piercing sonic scream that does a number on the nearby humans' ear drums. It doesn't phase Jack at all.
- Meaningful Name:
- No points for guessing why someone designed to kill giant monsters is called Jack the Giant Killer.
- Jill's name and her friendship with Jack is an obvious reference to the nursery rhyme, "Jack & Jill". The final scene of the book has her refer to herself as Jack's sister.
- The bat Daikaiju Nox is named after the Roman Goddess of the Night.
- A Molten Date with Death: The wormhole Rroar has been trapped in has left him somewhat weakened and vulnerable to volcanic temperatures. Jack uses this knowledge to kill him by luring him beneath the volcano where the magma kills him.
- Monster Lord: Rroar, the king and father of all Daikaiju.
- Multiple Head Case: Jotun is a bipedal wolf Daikaiju with three heads.
- Mystical White Hair: Jill is has white hair presumably from being brought from the brink of death by Dr. Azuma's treatment. A flashback shows her with normal blonde hair.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Unlike Rroar, Jack is able to survive falling into magma.
- Our Wormholes Are Different: The Daikaiju arrived in the human world through a wormhole that materialized under Mount Diablo.
- Person of Mass Destruction: The Daikaiju are able to turn any area they attack into a toxic wasteland only they can inhabit. And then there's Rroar who has the potential to destroy the entire planet if unleashed.
- Super-Senses: Jack has no issue seeing through the poisonous fog surrounding the toxic proximity of the Diablo Territory.
- Token Heroic Orc: Nox is the only full-blooded kaiju who isn't hostile to humans.
- Too Dumb to Live: Hardesty believes the monsters are a hoax despite clear, indisputable evidence. He chases Jill into poisonous monster territory just to arrest her and gets transformed into a zombie-like creature by Zomm.
- Venturous Smuggler: Jill makes a living by stealing and selling Daikaiju monster samples to research companies. The job is illegal
- Walking Wasteland: Any area attacked by the Daikaiji becomes a poisonous wasteland hazardous to humans, animals and plants. Jill is the only human capable of walking through these areas without needing any protection.
