‘Die!Die!Die!’ Volume 1 – Kirkman, Gimple, Burnham, Fairbairn (Image Comics)
Page Count: 176 Pages
Going to sleep late, and waking up early isn’t a great combination but that’s the way my body clock rolls and so I had a little extra time on my hands, yesterday morning. I’d rather have been asleep but here we are, hopefully today will be a quiet one.
Anyway… That ‘little bit of extra time’ went on my reading the first volume of ‘Die!Die!Die!’, a book I’d picked up not so long ago but not managed to read, until it caught my eye yesterday morning ;o)
We don't like to admit it, but this is an evil world where evil people do evil stuff all the time. Thankfully, there is a secret cabal with the United States government that works outside our normal system to influence world matters through targeted assassination. The world around us is manipulated right under our noses, mostly for the better... sometimes for individual gain. So if you're hurting people, somehow making the world worse than it already is, or even just standing in the way of something good happening... someone could right now be giving the order for you to... DIE!DIE!DIE!
Collects DIE!DIE!DIE! #1-8.
I’m going to honest with you, I’m still not a hundred percent sure what happened in this first volume. Three (more or less) identical assassin brothers, and infighting amongst a shadowy government cabal, will do that to anyone. There is a lot going on here as well and I’m not just talking about the main narrative, this book is not afraid to take a throwaway comment and spin it into a real game-changer further down the track. I guess you should bear in mind that there’s another volume, following this one, so expect a fair bit of ‘set up’ at the same time.
What do we get, as a result, then? I found ‘Die!Die!Die!’ to be tricky one to stay on top of, the caveat being that I’m wiped out right now and always find a plot difficult to follow if I can’t keep my eyes open. Your mileage will inevitably vary, no question about it. The plot here is an intriguing one to follow though with plenty of questions being asked and the answers being accompanied by a veritable tidal wave of death and destruction, meted out by a cast representing all the facets, that Kirkman et al want us to see, of the discussion around basically having a small private army that can take care of your business. And it’s not just that, every character comes with their own reason for just wanting to make it through the next five minutes. You may not agree with their motives but you can see what has led a character to this spot. It’s all handled very well.
The artwork errs towards being a little too cartoonish, for my tastes, but at the same time, it really captures the chaotic energy and madness of what is playing out in front of us. Maybe the art isn’t quite to my taste but at the same time, I’d say that it does exactly the job that it was created for. You can’t ask for more than that really.
And there’s ‘Die!Die!Die!’ for you :o) Like I said, it is a book that needs you to focus but it’s also a book that rewards you for your patience. And I’m always here for any book that has a character whose sole purpose is to cut off any noses that need removing, ‘Die!Die!Die!’ has you covered there ;o)

can you drink much caffeine? That always helps me when I wake up early. At least I'm conscious and my brain functions when I drink an energy drink :-)
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