Image Comics has announced Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans will reunite on DIE: Loaded, a sequel to their dark, tabletop RPG-inspired fantasy series, this November. The new volume will pick a year after the original comic (which originally ran from 2018-2021), and find the protagonists once again trying to lead normal lives after returning from the world they created as teenagers. “They’ve finished with the game,” says the synopsis. “But the game isn’t finished with them.” Like many Gillen comics, the series has received a three-page teaser, though be warned, it does spoil the original series:
Gillen says in the press release, “DIE was created by us to talk about fantasy and reality, for as long as we have stories to tell. Suffice to say, we do, and DIE: Loaded exactly how much else we have to share, to delight, move and horrify you.” Hans adds, “As an artist, it is such a unique to come back and expand a universe in which we poured so much love. DIE is an ever extending work of art and I have the privilege to shape it alongside Kieron.”
In a Rascal exclusive, Gillen was asked if the book would be a standalone or require reading the original. He replies, “In some ways, it’s a sequel, picking up a year from the end of the last book… but it’s also designed to be consumed by itself. Which is hard to explain specifically without spoiling it.” He also teases “some strong con culture satire in here,” revealing he attended Gen Con recently for the first time “to research and explore the US gaming cons for this.”
Furthermore, DIE: The Roleplaying Game, the tabletop based on the comic by Rowan, Rook, and Decard, will receive a new “quickstart” (a cheaper edition of the game’s base rules and setting). It’ll feature a standalone adventure called “The Dreams We Had as Children,” which Gillen describes as having “a different angle on those core DIE themes of what you’ve let go of as the years have gone by. Also, action set pieces. The whole ‘goth Jumanji‘ thing.” He adds that the comic will feature new back-up material for the game, like beastiaries or character sheets.
For more of what’s planned for the game, head to Rascal. The game’s new quickstart does not have a street date at the time of writing, while DIE: Loaded #1 will be released on November 12 with a main cover by Hans, and a variant by Peach Momoko. In the meantime, Gillen’s next Image project, a collection of the Image! story Closer (created with Steve Lieber and Tamra Bonvillain) will arrive on September 3, alongside the second trade paperback of The Power Fantasy (with Caspar Wijngaard), which’ll be followed by the 12th issue of that series on October 8.
