“Die” #2

In this issue, Fantasy gets Real.

Written by Kieron Gillen
Illustrated by Stephanie Hans
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
“FANTASY HEARTBREAKER,” Part Two
Remember last time, when we said “Goth Jumanji?” As the bleak, austere fantasy-horror ramps up, we start underlining the word “Goth” in black marker until we cut a hole through the page.

The second issue of “Die” does a lot in twenty plus pages. It works through a bunch of mechanical stuff like class kits and lays the foundation for plot. At the same time it reinforces and articulates themes and motifs from the first issue in the way a good second issue should.

One of the ways the issue quickly exposits everyone’s class and ties everything together is through the use of narration. Gillen’s script in this segment is interesting and challenges some of my thoughts on what makes for the effective use in comics. For there to be narration there has to be some kind narrator, in “Die” who and what perspective they are using gets a bit tricky as it can be read as multiple types all at once. I’m sure the more literary minded will be able to point out the technical differences, please do. In “Die” #2 the narration acts as both commentary on the nature of RPG, the events currently unfolding, an expository mechanism, and a confessional. There are a few beats that didn’t quite land but how everything is woven together makes up for those off notes.

I’m not quite sure who to credit with the running monologue in this issue. Now that they are in the world of Die, is this Dominic speaking or is this their character Ash, the Dictator? When Ash uses the voice, the lettering becomes like the narration. So until further notice I’ll do my best to just refer to a narrator or Dom/Ash specifically when I think it is clear who is doing the talking.

On some level the narration reads like a more depressed DM script Matt Mercer would read from on an episode of “Critical Role.” This is narration that tells the reader a bit of info about the place or a concept. Isabelle’s role as the Godbinder is quickly explained as “Clerics as demonologist.” When faced with the choice of going through the Front or Angria, there is a bit of background on each place. It helps build the theater of the mind.

All the while there is also the aspect commentary going on that reads a bit like a confession at times. The Party eventually run into a band of Fallen, the analog to Orcs. Per usual, the narrator gives a bit of background on them. How letterer Clayton Cowles segments this bit of scripting allows the moment to act on multiple levels. Cowles places one sentence off to the bottom away from everything, “it’s a good joke.” It creates this confessional tone as if the narrator is looking for some understanding or approval from the reader. Recognizing this “joke” allows for a nostalgic look back at a bit of wit at the time as well as how it may not have aged well given the history of the genre, and for all the cleverness they are still trying to kill them.

The few notes where Gillen’s script falls flat are due to it becoming less synergistic with Hans art and more repetitive. After the combat encounter is over the Party continues to wander. In one part Gillen writes about the length of this walk about and it read as unnecessary with the paneling Hans had done. Hans had done a couple of really beautiful wide landscape panels that sells the sense of monotony walking and being with ones thoughts has. Another minor off beat is when Dom, whom I’m crediting in this way due to it being a thought about his sister, thinks about all the stuff he can do now that the geas is lifted. This one is more due to what the paneling doesn’t show, that revelatory moment, and it straight tells us something.

The narration does an effective job of developing is that sense of painful retrospection and the horror of being home again. Something that is soon reflected in Hans artwork. The Party eventually come across the Elf Queen, and again their juvenile lust comes to haunt them. The Elf Queen is based on someone they knew from school. With the page design Hans contrasts the Queen with her real world equivalent, Maria Wardell. The panels with the Elf Queen are clean, while the memories of Maria plastered over them with a more painterly style. It was a great way of representing what the narrator means when they say Sol was good at making characters not look like their analog but how they felt. The past also comes calling for Ash in a more personal and horrifying way, as we meet Sir Lane.

Issues of “Die” are going to be a tad long than normal comics, 24-25 pages vs 20-22. Even with the couple of extra pages the ability by Gillen and Hans to explain the basics of everyone’s class is excellent. If this were Digimon each class would get a spotlight episode. Here they roll through everyone in a single encounter. As previously mentioned the Party run into a band of Fallen, we actually don’t see much combat. This has me curious to see how Hans art would translate to a fight sequence, her art is like a more painterly version of Bill Sienkiewicz graphic inky style from his run on “The Shadow.”

What is shown gives a pretty good idea of what each class can do. Isabelle communes (subjugates?) a bear spirit and charges into the fray after the foolish Chuck. The Neo is a product of fairy magic, and that magic has a literal price. The Greif Knight lives up to the name as old memories power Matt’s magic sword. Hans, for the most part, keeps a consistent rhythm in these explanatory pages as each class is highlighted in a large hero shot panel with subsequent panels off to the side showing the fight in the background. Designing the pages this way and not showing the battle was an effective call, the fighting isn’t what mattered. What mattered is the reader understanding the basics of everyone’s kit.

By the end of the second issue “Die” really feels like it is ready to begin. The emotional context and themes have all been developed. The overall track has been laid for the plot engine to run on, get to Sol’s dominion and figure out how to make him come home. The hope of doing all that with as few distractions as possible already seems impossibly naïve for these seasoned adventures. The final image is Ash standing atop a vertex dune, the entire world seems to be at her fingertips and that is freighting.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – Everything is set for the adventure in “Die” to begin. With Stephanie Hans art and Gillen’s writing, that seems like both a promise and a threat.