Comic Review: DIE #10

Die #10

Image Comics

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artist: Stephanie Hans

Welcome back to the land of DIE, the best meta-fantasy/science fiction, roleplaying inspired, comic you’ll read this year. Also, probably the only meta-fantasy/science fiction, roleplaying inspired, comic you’ve ever read. Yeah. It’s a niche. But you gotta applaud Kieron Gillen for finding (or creating) the niche. In an era of Stranger Things, D&D playthrough podcasts, and a golden age of tabletop gaming, DIE is a risk as much as it’s part of a trending scene.

There are a lot of factions in DIE, all competing for space in a world that is on the brink of war. One character even compares it to Europe in 1939 (in a previous issue). Poland has been invaded and everyone is waiting for the next shoe to drop. The problem is, all the heroes or paragons (as the player characters are referred to) are in prison. They could break out, but the cost to the world and themselves would be astronomical. Unless they are freed, there’s nothing they can do. In the meantime, one of their numbers is free and seeking to change the rules of DIE to make herself a god. In a story in which heroes rise and fall so quickly, a monumental shift is about to take place.

An interesting aspect of this comic is the attention paid to tabletop RPG rules. There is often a narrator for each issue, though the narrator changes from player character-to-player character. This gives snapshots into each person’s motives, hopes, pains, dreams, but also how they interpret the rules of the game. For instance, there are rules that prevent a player from becoming a god. In order to get around it, Lady Ash must change the world of DIE forever. She doesn’t mind, not if she gets what she wants. Even if it’s at the expense of her friends.

The art of DIE has always been atmospheric. While many of the panels are candids of characters in conversation, Stephanie Hans lets a wash of color theme her scenes. Whether it’s a bright white that dispells color, a creeping blue that conjures dread, or a flourishing red that drives magic into the hearts of enemies, each scene flows as much through color gradients as character actions. The panels themselves are clean-cut, which gives the impression that there are rules governing this world, even though everything is in chaos. Basically, Hans has continued her stellar work in #10, as anyone who has kept up-to-date with DIE would expect.

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