10 Best First Comic Book Issues From This Week (Dec 5, 2018)
6. Die #1
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.