June 5, 2019

113:at least three funny jokes

Hullo.

Just the facts this one. There’s a bunch of free writing linked in this one, so a newsletter is extraneous, right?

Contents!
DIE
ALSO DIE
YET MORE DIE
Not DIE
Byyyyeeee!!!

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Yes, DIE: Fantasy Heartbreaker is out today in comic shops. I believe it’s a week later in book shops, so you can order from there too.

If you’re reading this, you’ll likely know about DIE. If you want more, the site’s here which is a world of Dieformation. That I’m using the word “dieformation” says a lot about my current tired and somewhat frazzled mental state. I better not drink any fizzy pop.

The two-word tongue in cheek pitch is Goth Jumanji. It’s a big, emotional, weird take on the portal-fantasy genre. It’s about comparing teenage dreams with adult realities, and wrestling with what fantasy is for. It’s got the most startling art from Stephanie Hans, Clayton bringing the words to life and Rian Hughes coating it all with a modernist design sheen. I’m deeply proud of this one.

The trade collects the five issues, edited version of the essays, some lovely interstitial art from Stephanie, a covers gallery, design work and probably more. It’s $10, which is a total steal.

Grab it, have a nose, etc.

Some retailers have also done their own editions.

Left is Travelling Man, which doesn’t have an online form, but will do mail order if you contact them directly.

Centre is Forbidden Planet, Big Bang and Jetpack. It comes with a lovely bookprint. You can order from FP here, Jetpack here or the Big Bang here.

Right is Previews World’s SDCC exclusive variant. It’s not in shops, but available from them on the store come SDCC season. Details here.

Coo!

*

Yes, the DIE RPG Beta is out today. You can get the files from here.

The first release is two documents. One is the main manual. The other are the character sheets. There’s a third PDF we mention we’re not releasing yet called the Arcana. It’ll be an expansion down the line. I would also suspect an update shortly for the character sheets. At the moment they’re our (actually kinda nifty) layout, but Rian is working his own magic on them.

It’s a somewhat meta RPG which is designed to let a group of players make their own version of the first arc of DIE.It’s about DIE the situation rather than the specifics of DIE. As in, you generate a group of real world people, who then sit down to play a role-playing game, before getting dragged into a fantasy world. Yes, it’s a little Meta. One of the playtesters described it as a manual of how to make your own Kieron Gillen-esque story, which I quite like. There’s a lot of me trying to explain how stories work, and how DIE works specifically. That means I suspect some of it will be interesting to folks who have no interest in RPGs at all. There are also at least three funny jokes.

What next for this? Depends what folks make of it, really. The prettier character sheets will likely follow shortly. I’m going to turn to the Arcana probably in a month or two’s time, perhaps in the lead up to the release of the second arc of DIE.

But for now, this is a big chunk of content, and hopefully will amuse you. I’m slightly amazed we’ve actually done this.

Yes, we’re also doing a signing today.

Stephanie is working on issue 8 downstairs as I write. Soon we will stop and eat some bread and cheeses, before heading off to GOSH to write our names on pieces on books and pretend to remember how to speak to humans. It will be a delight. Come say Hi. It’s a lovely time to share.

Oh – GOSH are also doing a bookplate edition, whose bookplate looks like this.

Coo! You can order one here.

Then, on Saturday, Chrissy and I are heading off to Big Bang, to do a signing and a panel. Here’s the ad for it, and more details on the facebook page.

Coo! We are full of Coo.

*

Yes, if a 55k manual isn’t enough to keep you amused this week, I also wrote up my writer notes for the final issue of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt.

Go read. This story so much fun I was almost surprised I was getting paid for it.

This week I have mainly be thinking about DIE.

Tomorrow I get to think about something else.

But also DIE.

Kieron Gillen
London
5.5.2019