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A review by fairymodmother
Die, Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen
3.0
Pretty, relatable, well-worn paths with a bit more angst.
CONTENT WARNINGS (just a list of topics):
Things to love:
-The art. Really, just beautiful.
-The archetypes. A really cool mash up of genres and a nice homage to the idiosyncracies of homebrew games.
-The mix of realism and fantasy. LitRPG often lingers on one aspect or the other. This was a nice blend.
-The gothiness. 90s grunge goth is my jam! Children dressing in 90s couture, this is the part you should emulate, not the unfortunately high cuts and over saturated colors.
-The layout. Okay, love might be a strong word, but I sometimes find that it's hard to follow graphic novels, but the layout makes complete intuitive sense for left-right, top-bottom readers.
Things that I didn't love:
-Rushed. The pacing is pretty well off track here for me. There was no room for realities to breathe and become all-encompassing. The world didn't come alive, the trauma didn't resound, and the character depth felt suface-level even though I could tell that below the water their little legs were churning.
-Been there, done that. The notes at the back say that the creators tried to come at this "sideways" but uh...it feels more like they just gave the old vehicle a new flashy paint job.
I liked it, but it didn't grab me like others of its ilk have. It really needed to pump the brakes on the arc to build some depth.
CONTENT WARNINGS (just a list of topics):
Spoiler
loss of a parent, sick child, body horror (including eyes), coercion of will, divorce, PTSD, homophobia.Things to love:
-The art. Really, just beautiful.
-The archetypes. A really cool mash up of genres and a nice homage to the idiosyncracies of homebrew games.
-The mix of realism and fantasy. LitRPG often lingers on one aspect or the other. This was a nice blend.
-The gothiness. 90s grunge goth is my jam! Children dressing in 90s couture, this is the part you should emulate, not the unfortunately high cuts and over saturated colors.
-The layout. Okay, love might be a strong word, but I sometimes find that it's hard to follow graphic novels, but the layout makes complete intuitive sense for left-right, top-bottom readers.
Things that I didn't love:
-Rushed. The pacing is pretty well off track here for me. There was no room for realities to breathe and become all-encompassing. The world didn't come alive, the trauma didn't resound, and the character depth felt suface-level even though I could tell that below the water their little legs were churning.
-Been there, done that. The notes at the back say that the creators tried to come at this "sideways" but uh...it feels more like they just gave the old vehicle a new flashy paint job.
I liked it, but it didn't grab me like others of its ilk have. It really needed to pump the brakes on the arc to build some depth.