10 Best First Comic Book Issues From This Week (Dec 5, 2018)

6. Die #1

Immortal Hulk
Image Comics

Kieron Gillen has described this work as "Goth Jumanji" and that kinda explains it all.

The plot is that a group of 40-somethings have to face the return of dark horrors that took them for two years when they were teens while playing a role-playing game. It's a basic premise that utilizes Gillen's unique brand of nerdity while doing something fairly surprising for him: the leads aren't teens. It has some whiffs of Stephen King's IT if IT was a sequel to the Dungeons and Dragons TV show. It is a brilliant show of nostalgia and fandoms, while never leaning too heavily on it to be a crutch.

Gillen's words are paired expertly with the brilliant art style of Stephanie Hans. Hans' art has a painted look that bridges the realism of our world but becomes truly exceptional when the story is solely in a fantasy setting. It is a page turner purely on an artistic front, in the same way that collecting Magic the Gathering cards can be fun just because of the card art.

Contributor
Contributor

A.J. Carey is a child of pop culture, learning to read on comic books and raised like any true '90s child on films way above his age range and network television!