It’s the end of the first arc, and I’ll be completely honest: I’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s going on, but some of the plot points are a little unclear to me. If you want to help me figure out some of the details, hit the jump for the review of Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ Die #5.
(Minor spoilers below, I’m going to avoid the biggest plot points but you might be able to figure those out if you read between the lines.)
After reading this issue I went back and reread the previous four, and that cleared up a few things. The second issue is particularly important: that’s where we first hear about The Fallen. You’ll find out something important about them this issue, and it’ll make a lot more sense if you know that the Fallen are classic NPC monsters; orcs, or “a trap with legs.” Until this issue that’s really all we knew.
The other thing you’ll need to remember is that when the party was in this world the first time, the rule was as long as all of them wish it together, they can all go home. The first time the Gamemaster bent the rules to stop them, but after they defeated him they made the wish. They were almost out when the Gamemaster grabbed Sol, and trapped him in this world while everyone else went back.
Now, Sol’s the Grandmaster, but the rule is the same: they all have to wish it together, including Sol, who’s much too damaged to want to leave.
And you’ll also need to remember the pact they made in the second issue: they’ll treat everything in this world as real. They know if they start treating this like a game, it’ll be too easy to start murdering background characters, and lose their humanity in the process.
That’s part of what makes the Godbinder’s development so interesting. One of the reasons she chose that player type is she’s pretty irreverent when it comes to gods. They’re helpful tools, nothing more. Against her will, she’s picked up a sense of responsibility and obligation, not to the gods, but to the people who look to her as a prophet.
The Fool is, of course, a fool, and his decisions don’t surprise me one bit.
One plot point I really enjoyed was something I learned while playing D&D for the first time in my freshman year of college: if you’re going to have a good, basic, fun story, you have to play along with where the dungeon master wants you to go. One of the best ways to screw up a dungeon master is to ignore the breadcrumbs they dropped in your path, and go in a direction that ignores all of their careful planning. If you refuse to do what they want you to do, you can take control and make the story what you want it to be. It’s a lot more chaotic that way, but it’s never boring.
The only thing you need to worry about is a dungeon master who remembers that they make the rules. You’re in trouble if you’ve got a DM who knows how to improvise. And you’re really screwed if they’re feeling vindictive.
But here’s a plot point I don’t understand: Ash uses a very special power at one crucial point. Did we know beforehand that she had that power? If it was telegraphed ahead of time, cool. But if it wasn’t, then I call shenanigans, because using a special, never-before-seen power to save the day is a deus ex machina, and not the kind of storytelling I’ve come to expect from this comic. Telling someone ten pages earlier “I’m never unarmed” is an attempt at telegraphing it, but it still felt a little out of nowhere.
Also the very final sentence is a little unclear to me. I’m guessing it meant “this isn’t a thing that’s going to happen on its own, you’re going to have to make it happen.” (Sorry for being vague, it’s a pretty big plot point, but if you read the issue and have thoughts about what that last line meant, help me out and leave a comment?)
Lastly, I read Kieron Gillen’s afterwards, and the RPG game that’ll come out of this comic is moving towards the beta phase. I think that’s very exciting, but this is my sticking point: if I think the comic is just meant to be the intro to the game, I’m probably going to pass on future issues. I think it’s awesome that there’s going to be a game, but every once in a while in these issues I felt the way you might when you read a Halo novel without playing the game, like you’re missing something. If the average reader has to play the game in order to really “get” the comic, then that’s less of a story and more of a tie-in.
Nothing wrong with a good tie-in (hell, most of the Transformers comics I loved would be incomprehensible to anyone who didn’t watch the cartoon.) But it means that, until I get the time to join an RPG group and play the game, I won’t really enjoy the comic, so I’ll have to put it aside until I get the time to play. And I don’t want to do that, because I love Stephanie Hans’ art and I think the characters have real potential, so I’m hoping a casual reader will still understand the comic without the game.
All in all it was a good wrap-up for the first arc. It’s definitely a cliffhanger, but it’s a good pause in the story. And we won’t get any more issues till August, according to Gillen’s letter at the end, so we’ve got a lot of time to imagine what happens next.
As for the art, there’s always a few panels in each issue that stand out as my favorite, and in this one it was all the images of Ash acting aloof and imperial when she’s using her Dictator powers to control minds. She knows that Dictators are generally loathed by anyone who’s been manipulated by them, but she’s really, really good at it, and I’d guess Ash is Hans’ favorite character to draw, going by how beautiful her panels are.
I also loved the shots of the Neo when she’s using her cyberpunk powers. Originally I thought a high-tech character would stick out like a sore thumb in a fantasy/magic setting, but Hans makes all her powers look beautiful and badass, and magical in their own way.
