Die (comic)


Die is a horror/fantasy comic book about role-playing games, written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Stephanie Hans. It is published by Image Comics, beginning in December 2018.

Premise

One evening in 1991, a group of teenagers vanish into another dimension while testing a new role-playing game. Two years later, they return to Earth.
Twenty-five years later, the group — now emotionally-shattered adults — again find themselves in the other dimension.

Reception

The first DIE trade paperback is a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.
Io9 has called it "subversive" and "a heady combination of fascinating worldbuilding compellingly broken characters tearing each other apart", lauding Hans' "vivid, striking artwork".
In The Comics Journal, Mark Sable ranked the first issue as among the best comics of 2018, describing it as "the most memorable and accessible debut issue read in a long time".

Origin

Gillen has stated that the series is inspired by the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon — in particular, by the fact that the final episode, in which the characters would have returned to Earth, was never produced.

Adaptation

Gillen prepared a roleplaying game based on DIE, which he has made freely available online.