Advanced Review: Die Vol. 1- Fantasy Heartbreaker
Quick Summary
Pros: The main storyline is captivating all the way through. The comic’s approach to personal issues is meaningful and sets up more for the future. The comic’s world is interesting all on its own and is a unique staging ground for the narrative. The artwork is beautiful and matches the tone of the book well.
Cons: Parts of the volume’s conclusion feel sudden and aren’t well justified.
Overall: This is a highly positive beginning to a series that already feels addictive. It takes the creativity of the fantasy environment and pushes it to the limit, introducing clever twists on familiar concepts and depicting it all with some seriously striking visuals. It also details a journey that is enchanting to uncover and meaningful to experience. Anyone with even a passing interest in role-playing games or fantasy should consider checking this book out.
Story
The story in Die Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, by Kieron Gillen, follows a group of six teenagers who, one day, were unexpectedly trapped in the world of a fantasy role-playing game. A few years later, five of them return to the real world. Many years after that, they are all pulled back into the game.
The resulting narrative produced by this concept is excellent and works as a captivating start to a new series. The heroes’ journey leads to a number of epic encounters and more than a few compelling twists. However, this journey is also deeply personal and begins to address issues about how someone’s past can affect the person they end up becoming. It is easy to become invested in what is taking place across this comic and even easier to be tremendously entertained by it.
All of this is then backed up by the imaginative universe in which Die is set. This world is built with a series of character archetypes, locations, and rules that instantly invoke classic features of fantasy and RGP-style adventures. However, Gillen imbues all of these features with a twist that allows them to stand out as something unique and, occasionally, lead to a wonderful deconstruction of the genre. In the end, this comic is enchanting all around and is a real joy to read.
Art
The artwork in Fantasy Heartbreaker is flat out gorgeous on just about every page. Stephanie Hans carefully crafts the world of Die in a way that gives everything and everyone a distinct personality. You can instantly see a character’s swagger or leadership without having to read even a single word of dialogue or narration. This extends to the worlds of Die as well, with different color palates and subtle artistic differences giving each landscape a different mood and personality. The visuals here really bring this fantasy world to life in a big way.
Hans’s art also works as a great complement to the storytelling in Fantasy Heartbreaker. The action in this volume typically plays out in a way that places less emphasis on the minutia of an encounter and instead places it on the outcome. Meaning that instead of seeing two characters trade blows over the course of a few pages, the action here is crystalized into a single shot that completely sums up the battle. This makes for a couple of visually striking moments and also suits the book’s RPG roots. In the end, I couldn’t imagine anyone else handling the art for this series.
Continuity
Die Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker is the first volume in a brand new comic series and has no connections to previously existing comics. However, this comic does have a connection to the Die RPG, which is set to launch when this volume is released.
The story here will be continued in Die Vol. 2.