Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Die, Vol. 4: Bleed by Kieron Gillen

1 review

billyjepma's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"A dream is no escape. It was a dream to think it could be."

If you haven't been on board for Die, the finale won't change your opinion. Like much of the series, it struggles to achieve the emotional depth and complexity that Gillen sees himself. In some ways, it feels like Gillen forgets that the nuances he sees in his story and its players aren't automatically present on the page. That's been true for the entire series, and it remains the case here, as the conclusion to this tremendously ambitious story resolves on the same trajectory it started on. It's not a surprising ending, but for me, it's a stellar one.

I have plenty of qualms with Gillen's writing and not infrequently struggle to get invested in his storytelling style. But with Die, I so wanted access to the world he and Hans had concocted that I muscled my way in, re-read arcs as needed, and essentially forced my way into a narrative that sometimes pushed me away. With this final arc, Gillen shows all his cards, which I found to be remarkably satisfying, especially for a writer as fond of mystery as him.

This is a neat conclusion, against all odds. Not an entirely happy one, obviously, but it understands its characters and offers them the closure they deserve, for better and worse. It often moved me, it occasionally frustrated me, and it left me both satiated and discontent. But that's what I want from most stories, honestly. I want them to leave me unsatisfied on some level because that's what life is, and fiction that captures the messy, frustrating parts of life is the fiction that often resonates with me the most. I am very confident in saying this is my favorite project from Gillen, and while I think Wicked + Divine will probably (and rightfully) go down as his magnum opus, there's something richer about what he does with Die that will linger with me.

But you can't talk about Die without talking about its art, as Hans has consistently delivered some of the most revelatory spreads in the market. Some of her expressions aren't as crisp as I might've liked, but her understanding of body language is arguably unparalleled. Whenever Gillen's script can't entirely unlock an emotional moment, Hans' artwork will often make up the difference with its stunning flourishes of color and line and momentum.

Die is a comic you feel as much as read, and that's entirely on account of Hans' artwork. Some of the dramatic moments in this finale are among her best—issue 19 is the best one in the series and one of the best single issues of a comic I've read in a long time—but it's the intimate moments that struck me the most. There's a gentleness to her work here that, while consistent with her style, is more pronounced than earlier, as Hans' draws her characters with an air of added vulnerability that completely aligns (and magnifies) with the work Gillen does with his scripts.

I read this final arc as single issues, and I continue to love the unique experience that Gillen has created by ending each installment with an essay or interview. It acts as an interstitial between story beats that allow the audience to process the events that have just taken place—which is especially relevant and appreciated in these pages—while also offering them a path that leads deeper into the themes and motivations the series reckons with. I can't imagine reading the series without them.

So yeah, this is great. I look forward to owning a fancy compendium of the series that allows me to admire it on my shelf and, as needed, reenter its worlds when I am inevitably led back to them.
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