Guest Author Shakeal Kitchings shares his point of view on graphic novel “Die” Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker.

This week, I read issue 1 of Die, Issue 1 ($7.99), published by Image Comics, written by Kieron Gillen with art done by Stephanie Hans and lettering done by Clayton Cowles.

As the two-fold title suggests, this series borrows heavily from Dungeons and Dragons in a dark exploration of the world of fantasy and a homage to traditional role playing games. As one of the characters mentions, it’s “fantasy for grown-ups”. You can consider it a tale of Dungeons and Dragons meets Jumanji. If you’re a fan of either, this would be a great series for you to check out.

We follow Ash, also known as Dominic, who disappears for two years with a group of friends during his teens, after starting a mysterious game of Dungeons and Dragons led by one of those friends, Sol. Once they return, they spend 25 years trying to live fulfilling lives, only to remain haunted by the time spent in the world they were transported to. After receiving a mysterious gift on his birthday, Dominic brings the others together only for them to be thrown back into that world with a new quest to complete before they can return home. It seems as though the story will be a dark adventure through this fantasy world, mixed with elements of mystery over what happened to them in this world 25 years ago and their current journey to escape the world for good. Well, if it is, sign me up!

The graphic novel does a good job of providing the exposition we need before jumping ahead to where the story truly begins. The main pull is the fantasy world we’ll get to experience alongside the characters throughout the rest of this series.

Consequently, I appreciated the pacing, which served to quickly familiarize the reader with the central elements of the narrative before proceeding with its core events. With this being a plot-driven tale, I’m expecting to see some compelling events in this fantasy world moving forward, but only time will tell. While not many events happened in this first issue, we were able to meet the characters and see the relationship dynamics between them.

Speaking of characters, there were some refreshing choices taken to introduce them, including one that incorporated D&D character classes and the D&D dice system. At the moment, the characters lack some depth, although they have enough to support the narrative. I’d argue that the dynamics between them is more appealing than the characters themselves.

Where I think “Die” excels is in the art and visual style. The art is drawn in a way that resembles a water-color painting, with shading choices and framing that are an absolute treat to the eyes. The way in which each of the components are arranged in the frame gives many of the panels such a dynamic appearance. The panel placement remains visually stimulating throughout the issue and moves everything along smoothly. The captions and word balloons are also arranged well to lead your eyes in the right direction as you’re reading.

My final impression is that this is an interesting graphic novel with well-balanced visuals that smoothly move you through the events of the narrative. With it being the first issue, there is little character depth, but with this being a plot-driven story, the narrative will likely balance that out. Although, I still look forward to seeing further development for each of the characters, especially in the relationships between them. I also enjoyed re-reading the issue, which added meaning to certain moments or captions that could only be garnered from a second reading. It was a fun read, but honestly the art is my favorite thing about this series so far.

About Shakeal Kitchings: From video games to films and beyond, Shakeal has spent years traversing the many realms of the nerd-verse. Never too weary from his travels, he perseveres in his perpetual pursuit of all things pop culture. These days he spends, what some may deem to be, too much time indulging in graphic novels, manga and anime. As a blog writer and aspiring video editor, he's been known to re-watch a given show or film countless times between engaging in rants on said show or film.