When asked where the idea for the series came from, Gillen responded:
Role-playing games are part of the cultural conversation in a way they haven’t been since the 1980s. I suspect “DIE” is going to sit a little apart from most of it, especially the comics. Most of the D&D comics either are straight satires or leaning into the fun and games of those memories. We’re a lot bleaker. It’s me, so it’s still playful, but I take fantasy games as seriously as I take pop music and this is a product of that.
Fundamentally, it’s a book about a group of adults who realize their lives have not measured up to their teenage hopes, merged with a “Planetary”-esque examination of everything that lead fed into D&D (And how D&D took over the world’s conception of fantasy.) That’s pretty heavy, and necessary, and its timeliness adds to the sense that it really needs to be done.
Gillen and Hans previously worked together at Marvel where Hans provided covers for Gillen’s run on “Journey into Mystery.” Since then, the pair have been dying to work together on a fantasy series. Hans described their collaboration saying, “I always think that working as a team is like a dance. You have to trust your partner while he does the same. Funny enough, I see panels as music notes. But in this one, Kieron is a lot like the game master, I trust him to do build a beautiful narrative while I do the gesticulation. Worth mentioning: when I was still roleplaying, I used to describe an RPG as a beautiful story that you create as a group. In a way, we have come full circle.”
Gillen also said he has designed a completely new role-playing game, and that some version of the game would be available with the first trade and in the backmatter of issues after the first arc. “DIE” #1 will be out in December from Image Comics. You can check out a look at the teaser for the series and the cover for issue #1 below.
