Then I remembered. The memory hit me so hard I didn’t even scream.
Not then anyway.
The second arc comes to a close: keep reading for some thoughts on Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ Die #10.
Some spoilers below; I’m avoiding the biggest plot points, but if you haven’t read the issue you may want to wait to read this review.
We already know that the Dictator class in the world of Die can control people with a word. We’ve seen what happens when a Dictator makes someone do something, but in the beginning of the issue we see what happens when they make someone say something. (I was going to say that later on we see what happens when they make someone feel something, but I think that’s at the heart of what they do: you feel absolutely devoted to them, you want to do anything for them, and the stronger the Dictator, the farther they can push that.)
After that we go a lot deeper into the rules of the Dictators. As Ash reminds us, they’re living in a giant RPG, so there’s lots of rules. Dictators aren’t just mind controllers, they’re an integrated part of a real world. What would we do if mind controllers existed in the real world? We’d find a way to control them, or kill them. Or both.
Ash has decided how to do away with all that, and it gets very, very ugly.
In between all that we hear more about her relationship with the vampire Zamoma, and why Izzy has some deep-seated contempt for him and Ash, and why Ash doesn’t blame her at all.
Not to get trite, but absolute power corrupts absolutely; as these issues go by Ash is getting further out of line, and getting more disgusted with herself, but I think we’re seeing that disgust start to fade. She’s getting desensitized, and resigned, almost comfortable, and maybe even enjoying herself. The next arc is going to be very interesting.
(Also what the heck is going on with the Fool?)
Stephanie Hans has some beautiful images in this issue (Kieron talked about giving her a lot of space to go big in this final issue of the arc) and it’s hard to pick a favorite. There’s a page with Ash, another Dictator, and a lot of fire, which was really impressive. But I liked a lot of Ash’s expressions in this issue, they were all beautiful, even when they were blood-streaked. I really liked the panel of her and Zamoma stepping out of the mist. And the image of her in the flashback, where she’s looking at him, was lovely in a quietly disturbing way.
There’ll be a slightly longer hiatus this time before issue 11, as Stephanie is recovering from surgery (she’s doing much better now, you can find out more on her twitter feed) and that ate up their usual lead time between arcs, so hopefully they’ll be back in the summer of 2020.
