The biggest news this month is the return of the Goth Jumanji beast that is DIE, in DIE: Loaded. By which I mean, it’s the biggest news for me. I’m the writer. I don’t think I’d be completely alone — DIE was a three-time Hugo-nominated book, and a multiple award-winning RPG (also created by Stephanie Hans and myself). DIE: Loaded shows exactly how deep this dark RPG fantasy dungeon is. Alongside it, we’re publishing a comic-format quickstart of the RPG, too.
This run-up to Christmas is proving ideal for hardback editions of beautiful webcomics made by comic legends. Last month was Spectators. This time it’s Friday by Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martín (Private Eye, Daredevil) where recovering girl detective Friday Fitzhugh returns to her hometown at Christmas to find things going really well and her past definitely doesn’t turn up and become really, really creepy. Frankly, every page Martín does here is why we have the hardcover format. Savour it.
I’ve been excited to see Kaya by Wes Craig (Deadly Class) be an ongoing success at Image — it’s just reached the thirties, with no sign of stopping. Colossal Kaya is a 48-page (count ‘em!) special with way too many star-studded guest artists to list in an 80-word capsule review. It also includes a 6-page introduction to the book, meaning it’s a perfect jumping-on point to one of the best fantasy comics that’s being published today.
Artists doing their own books is pure Image, and Tyler Kirkham (Amazing Spider-Man, Green Lantern) makes his debut in this parish with Final Boss, which mashes Streetfighter with Highlander with several syringes of kinetic ‘90s comics. Tommy Brazen, a cagefighter with a sideline in beating up cheating husbands, explores the magical amulet inherited from his WW2-vet grandpa, primarily by punching people. Gonzoid action on the wrong side of the streets, in the mode of classic 1990s Image.
And talking classic 1990s Image, Rob Liefeld returns to Image with a new Youngblood. The final pouches are being stuffed on this one, so I don’t know what lurks inside the polybag, but I have been enjoying the Image-wide celebration of its launch. A bunch of books are doing an alternate crossover cover. We’ve had fun thinking of our own DIE: Loaded and The Power Fantasy covers, and are excited to see what the rest of our peers get up to.
Kieron Gillen writes The Power Fantasy and DIE: Loaded.