Die, Volume 1

This fell a little flat for me. The art is absolutely gorgeous, but the narrative just never clicked; the characters are trapped in a dark fantasy land and want to go back because they worry about the loved ones and responsibilities they left behind, but other than reminding the reader they exist from time to time, these consequences aren't really explored (in these 5 issues at least). If a character is worried about the groceries they bought and left on the counter, I'd appreciate a panel showing me they're beginning to spoil or at least the expiration date lol

The edginess also turned me off from the comic. It portrays the antagonist and (partial?) designer of the world as an eternal teen that's into edgy/dark fantasy themes and tropes, and positions him in contrast with the other characters who have gone on to become adults with different tastes at the beginning of the volume, but this goes mostly unexplored by them embodying their characters with such ease and lack of hesitation that by the end of the volume its become an afterthought. The "split" at the end of the volume also came out of nowhere to me.

In general I think the comic has a problem with trying to portray the antagonist as someone whose emotional development has been stunted by him being stuck in the fantasy world, which the comic wants as a theme, while at the same time absolutely loving the world he has created and relishing in it and extending that appreciation to the other characters, which compromises that theme.

Reading DIE is the equivalent of going on a school trip, but none of your friends made it and you're stuck with only people you dislike and can't get along with. It's supposed to be fun, but it isn't.

I appreciate the gorgeous artwork and fleshed out world (hey, the entire world is literally a giant die), but the story is trying too hard to be ambiguous, and the characters are insufferable. All the characters are gloomy middle aged adults that hate their lives, they rarely ever talk unless it's to whine about something or take jabs at eachother, and they act like children. Even the main character seems to be a person that loves being the leader despite being hated and kind of an apathetic asshole.

It's a shame, because I really wanted to love this comic, but by the end of the volume it just felt like a slog to read through the edgy narration and extreme amounts of exposition. Despite feeling too long, the events of the volume felt too rushed, and it feels like a great concept that quickly turned into a mess. Very disappointing.

Gillen describes Die as goth Jumanji, which is a pretty fair summary. The art, by Stephanie Hans, is painterly and gorgeous and is by far my favorite part of the book.

Imagine, if you will, a group of friends who shared a horrifying trauma many years ago. They’ve drifted apart in the intervening years, but something draws them back together and throws them into the mix of a new and developing trauma. Needless to say, they are cranky about it.

In the first volume of Die, we meet that group of former friends, now splintered apart and living emotionally damaged existences. Once, when they were young, they played an intense and dangerous game that pulled them into another universe with real and lasting consequences, including the disappearance and presumed death of one of their number.

Many years later, they reluctantly decide to get the gang back together after the delivery of a die belonging to their lost friend. This artifact transports them back into the game that changed their lives and forces them to reckon with the many ways this alternate universe has changed and moved on since they went home and tried to resume their former lives.

This first volume is bleak and cynical and sets up the horrifying consequences of something that should have been nothing more than a game. The characters are all flawed and searching for something they lost or never had. It’s a fascinating world, and I can’t wait to read more.

Every time I remember that The Wicked + The Divine is nearly over, I start to get upset. Thank goodness I’ve started reading Die. Unlike Wic + Div, which I read in single issues, I decided to be patient and wait for the first volume. I will always be torn between the quick gratification of having single issues of a comic to read on the (sometimes semi) regular and the satisfaction of getting to read an entire collection of issues at once. I suppose that’s why I continue to do both. Die is about a group of 1990s teenage D&D players who vanish for 2 years into their game. 30 years later, now all grown up, they get sucked right back in again. Depending on your perspective, this is either the worst nightmare or a dream come true for tabletop role-playing gamers. Either way, it’s wonderfully dark and jaw-droppingly stylish fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed the first volume and can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.