Die vol. 2: Split the Party

“Don’t Split the Party” was the lesson learned by one RPG-centric comic, but Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans aren’t inclined to follow the rules.  Which is why vol. 2 starts off with Ash, Matt, Angela, and the newly-Fallen Sol stuck in the Eternal Prussian-occupied ruins of Glass Town, while Izzy and Chuck are clear on the other side of the world looking for allies.  The former group wants to leave the world of DIE, while the other wants to stay. Over the course of this volume, the motivations and allegiances of a few of these characters will shift as some of them realize they’ve got either better reasons to stay or are just having too much fun to quit.  The main rule for leaving DIE still stands though: Everyone must agree to leave. Or rather, everyone alive must agree to leave.

Expect tales of gaming crunch, a lucky fool vs. a titan, the seductive vampire all the girls should watch out for, awkward family reunions, and the secret fantasy history of the Bronte family in this second volume.  Don’t worry, Gillen has a plan and it includes working a lot of disparate plot elements together while taking a deep dive into what makes the rest of the cast tick. He does good work on that part, even if the previous volume’s star, Ash, gets the best moment when he lets us know about his unreliable narratorship.  Great job on setting up expectations that this story will likely read quite differently the second time through, Mr. Gillen.

So vol. 2 is an improvement over the first, now that I’ve had my expectations properly adjusted.  Its biggest problem still persists, however, as I still don’t think the elements of drama and horror are working all that well with the writer’s wit.  It works a little better, now that we’re digging in deeper to the characters and their world, but “Die” doesn’t feel like it’s firing on all cylinders yet for me.  Except for Hans’ incredible art, which effortlessly brings this world of terrible fantasy and all its disparate elements to amazing life on the page.