DIE (2018)

"THE WICKED + THE DIVINE writer KIERON GILLEN teams up with artist supernova STEPHANIE HANS (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE 1831, Journey Into Mystery) for her first ongoing comic! DIE is a pitch-black fantasy where a group of forty-something adults have to deal with the returning unearthly horror they barely survived as teenage role-players. If Kieron's in a rush, he describes it as 'Goth Jumanji.' That only captures a sliver of what you'll find in oversized debut issue-where fantasy gets all too real."

"'FANTASY HEARTBREAKER,' Part Two Remember last time, when we said 'Goth Jumanji'? As the bleak, austere fantasy-horror ramps up, we start underlining the word 'Goth' in black marker until we cut a hole through the page."

"'FANTASY HEARTBREAKER,' Part Three: One of the saddest comics in Kieron's career. One of Stephanie's prettiest. Clayton's lettering, of course, remains impeccable."

"END OF STORY ARC 'FANTASY HEARTBREAKER,' Conclusion It was never going to be okay. Wait, wrong book."

"NEW STORY ARC! 'SPLIT THE PARTY,' Part One: Forget escaping Die-half of our heroes can't even escape the remains of shattered Glass Town. Is there any way out? Of course there is. It's just whether or not you can pay the price. Jump aboard the commercial smash series here!"

"'SPLIT THE PARTY,' Part Two The rest of our heroes have to march the survivors of Glass Town across the featureless Expanse, led by contrite Isabelle and never-contrite-in-his-whole-life Chuck. But is there more than meets the eye here? Like a secret door? Or a soul? "

"'SPLIT THE PARTY,' Part Three The endless social whirl of the popular unpopular kids in Angria threatens to ensnare the party. Mistakes have grown in their absence. Have our heroes? "

"'SPLIT THE PARTY,' Part Four-Forget escaping DIE. You can't do that without escaping the prison, with your worst enemy and the first woman who ever gazed upon this plane with human eyes."

"END OF STORY ARC 'SPLIT THE PARTY,' Conclusion Forget escaping DIE. "

"NEW STORY ARC 'THE GREAT GAME,' Part One Half the party is ruling a whole empire. The other half is on the run. Neither has it easy. There is nothing easy in this game, especially when the stakes get shockingly real. The most epic arc of DIE begins as it means to go on: messily."

"'THE GREAT GAME,' Part Two-Designer Sid Meier described games as a series of interesting decisions. 'May you live in interesting times' is a curse. Both things are true, and both are true here."

"'THE GREAT GAME,' Part Three 'War isn't a game' seems obvious. Let one of DIE's most aggressive masters explain: i) why that isn't true ii) that war being a game only makes it worse. Can our heroes save the world? Can they save anything?"

"'THE GREAT GAME,' Part Four 'Hey, Stephanie, shall we do DIE's take on the big battles in Return of the King?' 'Sure thing, Kieron. Can you add some big emotional messy beats to the visual splendor?' 'Sure thing!'"

"'THE GREAT GAME,' Part Five-The Great Game ends. The board is flipped. The pieces go to pieces. Can anyone play on? "

NEW STORY ARC! "BLEED," Part One-To go into the dark, you have to get to the dark. They never put a dungeon anywhere accessible, do they? Past sins haunt our party, and future sins permeate the landscape. DIE's closing arc begins as we began: with regrets and screaming.

"BLEED," Part Two-Hell is other people, said Sartre. Hell disagrees. Hell has things to share.

"BLEED," Part Three-Once upon a time, there was a golden child. He's been gone a long time now. What happened to him? Let's find out.

"BLEED," Part Four-The final encounter approaches. Everything to play for, even if everyone's already lost.

"Bleed," Part Five You can never go home, said Sol, way back in issue two. Let's see if he was right.