On Votaries, I discuss tiny people: The Littles, the Borrowers, and Gnomes. In part, what enchants readers about tiny people is that they are living lives separate from humans. They have their own homes and social orders.
What happens if the worlds combine? Tolkien combined them and gives us friendships between elves and dwarves--as well as dwarves and hobbits. What about marriages?
Jackson made the attempt, and I've argue that it worked, but it was fated to end.
What is impressive about Titan's Bride, story and art by ITKZ, is that the Titan falls happily in love with a halfling, the marriage is a success, and it looks right!
The halfling is Kouichi, a human, who on Earth is over 6 feet (and played basketball in high school).
The Titan is a giant. The difference is somewhat more than the difference used in Cherryh's Foreigner series. In that series, Cameron, the protagonist, is also over 6 feet, being 6'2" or more. Yet, he is the height of a tall pubescent Atevi teen boy (and the same height as the small, powerful Atevi grandmother).
Kouichi is the same height as a Titan 10-year-old.
It isn't the easiest difference to sell since one can't help but react to the height difference. A short woman at 5'1", I get seriously unnerved when I face an adult shorter than me (it does happen!). But I never react that way with an actual child. The brain distinguishes the difference--sometimes, it has to play catch-up.
Yet Titan's Bride offers art--which I frankly do not recommend to people who are squeamish about honestly drawn body parts (the series is erotica though not porn)--that manages to sell the relationship as that between two adults.
I have also, so far, been impressed by the internal conflict: Kouichi and Caius quickly come to love each other. Their physical differences aren't the problem (though, interestingly, the difference in libido is proving something of a difficulty).
The problem is Kouichi, snatched from Earth to fulfill a kingdom's needs, still feels an obligation to live up to expectations and decisions and connections in the world he came from. Love doesn't wipe all that out. Since Caius cares for him, he doesn't want Kouichi to suffer, even though he feels a responsibility to his own people.
Difficult decisions for both these characters exist despite mutual affection. And, oh yeah, they are a giant and a halfling.
Character comes before stature.
