Die Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker

 Die Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, 184 pages.

In 1991 six teenagers disappear from the home where they were playing a tabletop roleplaying game called Die for Dominic Ash's sixteenth birthday. Two years later five return. They cannot speak of what happened to them. Twenty-five years later Ash receives in the mail the metal twenty-sided die that transported them to a terrible fantasy world on his sixteenth birthday, splashed in blood. It belonged to Sol, the gamemaster, the one who didn't come back. The group hasn't seen each other in years, avoiding reminders of their traumatic two years. But now they are together again considering if they can save the friend they thought was dead, and are instantly pulled right back into the world they never wanted to return to.

This comic series has been described by the author as "Goth Jumanji" and that doesn't seem too far off the mark. This volume had to do a lot of heavy lifting establishing the world, rules, and history, which meant we only got hints of a lot of what I believe it's building to. That being said, I'm already hooked. The characters are very flawed, and also very engaging, so I'm excited to see where we're going with this! The art is also super cool. And, as a ttrpg nerd, I am of course sold on the premise. This won the British Fantasy Award and was a finalist for a Hugo, and I think those accolades are definitely deserved. 

Fun Fact: The author is releasing an actual rpg book for the game represented in this story, and it sounds really interesting!