Millennials, in particular, have a nostalgic attachment to comic book retailers. The anticipation of a new book’s release or discovering a book in the new release aisle that you have never heard of or are unfamiliar with is a different delight that Robert Kirkman has opted to exploit. With his new comic Die!Die!Die!,
he hoped to capture the same sensation of wonder and excitement that comes with discovering a new book. The book was only announced one day before it was released. For this comic, there were no spoilers or backstory premises explored on the internet.
It is an unusual step in the comics industry; Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martin tried something similar with their self-published Private Eye, but it was a ‘pay-what-you-want’ digital publication, so it was not surprising.
The principle of the comic is straightforward: depict as much blood, gore, and violence as possible.
Headlines: Glory and Gore
The comic starts with the dog races where two men bump into each other. The older man seems to have dropped his ticket. Even though it was not the dog he had bet on, the younger man had handed him the ticket with the winning dog. However, this does not follow with the next few panels where we see the young man, Paul, on his bike with a few rowdy-looking men shooting at him.
Chris Burnham and colorist Nathan Fairbairn are seasoned action sequence designers. That is why they created one of the most inventively horrible battle sequences I’ve seen in a long time. A pistol being rammed through a man’s neck and a close-up of a nose being hacked off are two scenes that will make you wince.
Fairbairn puts everything in vivid hues, so the violence falls short of being as bleak as that statement implies. There’s a lot of blood, but it’s as crimson and gloopy as ketchup in the tradition of Skybound stablemate Invincible. The sequence ends with Paul’s nose being cut clean off of his face.
Again, the sequence of events does not seem to add up until the next panel brings us to Senator Lipshitz. She is cursing at her old self for being so naïve and full of promise towards the future when she is now a drug-addled politician who has a team of assassins controlling the general good of the public. The entire sequence we saw before resulted from her elaborate plan. David Atkinson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs of the UK, is revealed to be a pedophile. At one point, she would have probably used this information to call in multiple favors, but all she wanted right now was for him to be dead. But she couldn’t do that while he was in office.
This led to her elaborate plan based on days of research. Atkinson has a rival, Penny Alcott, who can get elected if his rail proposal goes through, after which she can get Atkinson killed and make it look like a suicide while exposing him. However, there is an obstacle to Alcott’s rail bill, a man called Arthur K. Laddish. She could get him killed and remove all obstacles, but she doesn’t want him dead even though he cheats on his wife because he is a good community leader. So she decides to make him want to move to the countryside instead.
She finds out that his mother has an old friend, Percy Dolan, as her caretaker. Now, Percy actually doesn’t like Laddish’s mother; he is just in a lot of gambling debt. This brings us back to the first scene. Now that Dolan has won the money, he will quit working for Laddish’s mother, and Laddish won’t be able to find a replacement, thus making him move to the countryside, which would mean Alcott wins, and a noose for the pedophile.
Except things haven’t gone that smoothly. Her man, Paul, has been captured, his nose has been cut off, and he is going to get sold at an auction in 72 hours.
Trio of Trouble
The last issue ended with a cliffhanger showing us that Paul is actually one of three. They are triplets. So, the next issue begins with a flashback. When the boys were little, they found out their father was an assassin for hire. When the father got to know what the boys know, he decided to train them instead. Soon enough, they became skilled assassins, a trio made only for trouble. But they grew apart over the years and went their own ways. However, they both seem to want to save him from getting sold off. So, I guess maybe blood is thicker than water.
Meanwhile, Senator Lipshitz is getting flak from Senator Barnaby for risking the man just to kill a pedophile. Turns out, Senator Barnaby could care less about a pedophile in the parliament. The brothers, by then, are at the castle where the auction is happening. John and Nate, the Senator’s right-hand man, are outside the castle waiting to break in when a bomb goes off in the distance. So, they decide to hurry up and find Paul.
The other brother, who remains unnamed till now, is dressed up as a Baroness’s guard. The Baroness of Solkovia places the highest bid and takes Paul away right after the explosion sealing the deal. While a naked Paul is escorted up the roof by two men, one of them being the unnamed brother, the brother shoots the other guard.
When they reach the top, he shoots the Baroness’s date as well, while Paul knocks the Baroness out. Turns out, blood isn’t thicker than water because the two brothers start fighting at this point. It is a rather intense fight, but the unnamed brother deceives Paul, tells him that he gives up, and then shoots him. He then throws his body off the roof, undresses, and cuts off his own nose.
During that time, John and Nate had been fighting in the halls below, finding Paul. They made up to the roof but only after Paul had been disposed of. Surprisingly enough, John did not realize that it wasn’t Paul, nor did Nate. They took him to the helicopter and left. The Baroness woke up once they had left and called someone to tell him about the failure. The man dismissed everything she said and told her he would let her live long enough for her to make it up to her. The man she was talking to; was Senator Barnaby.
Masking the trail
Like the previous issue, this one also starts with a bit of flashback. This time, it is the story of Nate. He used to be a decorated military officer. However, there was some falling out with his commanding officer, which led to a death by a punch in the groin for the commanding officer and secret military prison for Nate. The Senator thought of this as a great talent and pulled a lot of favors to get him out of jail and into her team.
Once the flashback ends, we see the two senators going to an event. They are having a conversation where Barnaby is giving Lipshitz flak for her agent because she wanted to expose and get rid of a pedophile. He believes that it wasn’t worth it, and he is okay with 200 molested boys, out of which a handful would later become criminals and rapists. Lipshitz listens to his invalidating take and gives him a piece of her mind.
She tells him that it is their job as public servants to ensure that no one molests their children, no matter what number. She reminds him that due to struggles and work put into public welfare is how they got reduced work hours and equal wages. She tells him that they shouldn’t be stopping at anything short of a utopian society. With that, she exits the car.
Nate takes over the next couple of panels, where he is seen with two new faces. They are helping a robbery take place. When the robbers show up to collect their passports and plane tickets, they start demanding half of what they just stole if it is valuable. Nate and Theodore sit in the van while the girl, Bethany, takes care of the deal. She gets cornered by the men and handles them just as appropriately, leaving only 2 out of the 4 alive. Later we see them hand something to a reporter.
Meanwhile, the unnamed brother gets his nose grafted and picked up by Paul’s girlfriend. He does his best to try and imitate Paul’s life but his girlfriend, Jennifer, catches on. She pins him against the wall and reveals his name. It was rather disappointing to know he is named George for so much suspense around his name.
Rhubarb Pie
In this issue, we pick up where we left off in the last issue when Paul’s girlfriend realized that his identical brother was impersonating him. This results in a pretty good hand-to-hand combat scenario, which Burnham masterfully manages. The combat scene is what changes George’s perception of Jennifer. He thinks her skills make her pretty attractive. So, he has a woman tied up in her own house being force-fed soup.
This issue also includes a fun Brazilian stealth assassination mission. George, still pretending to be Paul, is acting nervous about jumping from the plane, which Nate finds a little suspicious. He also seems to be slowing down Nate. He didn’t know his agent, and he didn’t know the villa’s layout. However, they did manage to kill the drug trafficker and provide us with a fun action sequence where the two fight off massively built bodyguards. Paul’s source, Mary, gets them on the boat when George goes back and blows up the villa.
Meanwhile, George has sold out his other brother John as well, again, to Senator Barnaby. Kirkman ends the issue with a team of military men who drop-down at John’s little hiding spot.
Mayhem ensues
Die!Die!Die #5 continues the slaughter and malicious plotting, with George continuing his bloodshed under the guise of his brother, Paul. The latter is still thought to be deceased. Although, given Kirkman’s penchant for sowing the seeds for some of his most notable twists at the start of his ongoing series, some readers may remain skeptical of his fate. Kirkman did an excellent job fleshing out both Nate and John, using their demeanors and facial reactions to particular confrontations to reveal who they are at their heart. It makes me rather curious to see what comes out of it when they discover that it isn’t Paul but George.
The nuanced delicacy of John’s conversation with the vanquished warriors indicated the men’s mutual respect. It was wonderful to see just how skilled John is as a fighter. He had incapacitated all the soldiers without killing them. However, he does believe that Nate and the Senator were the ones who sent the soldiers to his house.
Meanwhile, George is at another place, causing political mayhem. He attacks Bethany and Theodore on the mission and blows up the mansion. Barnaby, who is playing golf with the President, is very much aware of the failure of the President’s extraction plan. Seems like he is planning to assassinate the President this time.
Ulterior Motives
The sixth issue brings out the history of the triplet, who, it turns out, used to be four. While John is alive, George is blissfully unaware of it. He has forced Anita’s agents Theodore and Bethany into hiding, where they are found by Stan, the same guy that cut off Paul’s nose. With that, George goes into story mode with Jennifer. He tells her about their father and how they got into the murder business.
Their father, it turned out, wasn’t very skilled at his job, but he was good enough. He used to take the four boys for missions on the weekends, and then when they learned how to kill, he would take them individually. The fourth brother, Ringo, was not very skilled at assassination, which created them vs. us situation in their father’s mind. He looked at Ringo as an outsider and asked the boys to volunteer to end Ringo’s misery. George was quick to say yes, and he got the job done. He believes that it made him stronger. Because of that moment, he now wants to kill all his brothers and be the only unique one.
Meanwhile, John is staying at Nate’s place. He meets his daughter and Bonnie, the nanny and undercover agent. They go to Connie’s (Senator Lipshitz) office and meet George again. Connie asks George to get a location on Barnaby. So, he immediately calls Barnaby to ask why his brother is still alive. John believes Paul to be dead, which I certainly hope is not true. Connie goes back to her apartment full of cats and a poorly concealed Barnaby. With that, George gets ready to assassinate a President.
Battle of the Sexes
We are back in the trenches with Barnaby trying his best to sound like an evil mastermind. He believes he is winning right now, and he will get the President assassinated and frame Connie for it. Except, he is exceptionally wrong. Connie goes into fight mode, throwing her cats at Barnaby, who gets all scratched up. The silly little man still believes that Connie won’t be able to defeat him, but he forgets that Connie has lived many lives as a different person, one being the life of a boxer.
So, she decimates the man in the most beautiful way giving us a great action scene and even better dialogues. It is so funny that the man just got beat up and is holding his groin but still believes that Connie doesn’t know that George is impersonating Paul. She lets him know exactly what she thinks of him and how the deep mistrust she had in him led her to be closer to other members of the Cabal who are, most definitely, going to be on her side instead of his. She had gotten Bethany and Theodore rescued, and still maintains far better relations with the President, and he will fail because she caught up pretty quickly.
In a fight sequence, Nate is seen hanging out the window, which alerts the President’s guards, who take him to safety. But Barnaby is, of course, one crazy man. He launches nuclear weapons, to which Connie reacts rather calmly and agitates him further. She simply calls Anita and asks her to take care of it. Meanwhile, John and George get ready to fight till either of them die die dies.
Fight till we Die Die Die
We are halfway through the comic by now, and you’d think it’ll slow down or get boring. Well, it does not. We pick up at the fight to the death between John and George. The nuclear missile is en route to Washington, which Bethany and Theodore disarm using a UFO-like machine. Meanwhile, Jeniffer joins the fun. She beats up Martin and escapes with her sword.
Nate, Jennifer, and John gang up and give us a super intense fight scene with ropes, knives, guns, and so much parkour. But John is too much a good man to murder his own brother. George is obviously not above it, so the moment John lets go, he grabs a rock, ready to risk it all. The next thing he knows, there is a sword in his shoulder. Jennifer threw the sword and incapacitated him. Unfortunately, before they can ensure his death, Martin shows up and takes him away.
Meanwhile, Connie is getting her revenge appropriately. She has roped in Stan onto her side, who has now stolen Barnaby’s nose. A tit for tat, if you will. However, they couldn’t find Paul’s body. They decide to bury an empty casket in the name of a funeral. I think Connie is secretly keeping hope for Paul’s return. Honestly, so am I. but before we dive into that mystery, Kirkman throws another curveball.
Bonnie, Nate’s daughter’s ex-secret agent nanny, shows up at Barnaby’s transport truck and claims she will help him leave the country. George has had surgery by this time and is more than determined to get Jennifer to be ‘his.’ Going back to the mystery of Paul, yeah, of course, he is alive. He just forgot who he was and became a monk. Until he heard the news of the missile and the trouble in the US.
Actions and Consequences
This issue is more of a buildup chapter. We see the consequences of the past actions of all these people. So Bonnie smuggled Barnaby out of the country into Russia. He is now trading secrets for asylum. Bonnie, it turns out, is actually Nate’s wife and Nancy’s mom. She can stay with them because the danger is no longer there. It has been smuggled to Russia.
Meanwhile, Connie is now the head of the Cabal. She is going to stop at nothing short of Utopia. She wants to make everything happen in her country. She has gathered all the members of the Cabal and made them pitch their ideas toward a more utopian society, and now they are going to execute them all. Jennifer passed the test to become a junior agent, and Paul finally returned.
Implementation and Implication
With the new policies that Connie and her team brought out, things have been going rather smoothly. There are male abortions in this world because of the latest female contraceptive that causes babies to grow in the man’s urethra. There is a gun cleaner that causes impotence which would help bring in gun control as well.
Paul is back and reunited with his girlfriend and his brother, and he decides to tell Connie almost immediately. She is obviously delighted to see him, and she’s off drugs now. Things seem to be going way too smoothly at this point. This is when Nate discovers that Bonnie actually helped Barnaby, of all people, to escape and repay her debt. They have a brief reunion, after which John and Nate go to Russia on their mission to find Barnaby.
Connie is about to give Paul some work when he says he quits. Later on, he tells Jennifer that he isn’t actually going to quit; he just wants the time off to find his brother and get his revenge. We end the issue with Bonnie being surrounded by military men for double-crossing.
Russian Roulette
We pick up Nancy and Bonnie teaming up and absolutely destroying the group of armed men. Nancy also picks up weapons and kills people with so much ease and pizzazz, while the men are too scared to shoot or attack her because she is just a child. Kirkman transitions this to the story of how Bonnie and Nate met and have lived their lives so far. Meanwhile, Nate and John have reached Russia.
They are handcuffed in a truck, but John manages to free himself and injure everyone just enough to incapacitate them, not kill them. Nate disagrees with this approach, so he kills them. They find a boy without a nose who claims to have sold it to an American for food, so they know that Barnaby was there and probably somewhere around.
Back in America, Bonnie is recovering at the hospital. Connie tells her she isn’t going to do anything right now, but if Barnaby isn’t brought back, she will send her back to Russia to die. On the other hand, George is using the sword and kills a lot of people. Thankfully, Paul and Jennifer catch up to him and take control of the blade. There is something freaky regarding the sword because both Paul and Jennifer are pretty concerned about it. They managed to buy out Martin, who shifted his loyalties and ran off. They knock out George, but they are now surrounded by cat-like ninja soldiers demanding the sword back.
The legacy continues
Jennifer, it seems, comes from a really intriguing background, and she is now the sole descendant of her people. She is the rightful owner of the sword. In order to prove that, she kills George on the spot. The cat-like people deem her worthy again and vanish just as swiftly. Paul mourns for his brother for a few moments and then asks her to cut off his nose.
Back in Russia, things are getting intense and also a little freaky. All the people Barnaby is in touch with keep dying within a day of the meeting. He is now taken to a mansion-like place by a woman called Vixen, where he meets the Minister of Secrets of Russia. He tells Barnaby that he is going to treat him like an animal, make him live in a cage, and even occasionally make him eat his own excreta. While he tells him all this, Vixen coughs, and he decides to shoot her instead because spreading germs is weak.
Just then, Nate and John barge into the room to take Barnaby with them. Romanov, the minister, starts to attack them and splits their guns into two when Vixen gets back up and starts hitting Romanov. It only gets weirder. Apparently, all the blood turns Romanov on, so they start having sex on the spot. Nate, John, and Barnaby take this moment to run away. While they are leaving, Bonnie tells Nate about the hit squad.
So, he pees on the doorstep of the Kremlin. You expect him to be dead in a second, but he stays alive. He ends up finding the son of the man running the Kremlin. And that’s how he not only leaves the Kremlin and Russia unharmed, but he has now saved the mother of his child from further attacks.
Paul has gotten his nose reattached back in America while there are protests related to the gun cleaner. The chapter ends with the protesters passing through a bridge that collapses.
Bridges burn; we never learn
With the fall of the bridge and the death of almost a thousand protestors, things have really started to turn around for Connie. She never expected it to happen this way. She didn’t want innocent people to die, even if they were potential mass shooters. She explains that her thought process behind the whole plan, which might make sense on some level, did not justify the death of so many people. The President conducts a press conference when an ignorant man tries to fight him. However, he handles it rather well and ends it there with his deep condolences towards the tragedy of the bridge.
On the other hand, Connie ends up in jail right across from Barnaby. He calls her pathetic for having a conscience. He tells her that she should have blamed it on someone else and retained her power. We end this chapter with the lingering threat of both of them dying in the very prison.
Alien-Nation
The final chapter, well, this one truly takes the weirdest turn of all the preceding chapters. There is gore, fighting, Obama, and aliens. It looks like something straight out of a Marvel comic. Apparently, there is an intergalactic competition every four years. The planet that loses starts getting divvied by the others in the galactic community.
During the fight, Obama seems to be losing badly because one of his gloves stop working. Theodore and Bethany find the source of the issue, which turns out to be their insider alien friend MacDonnell. However, they win the fight and save the Earth, but Obama’s lungs have filled up with blood. So, Anita tells her shapeshifter alien friend who had merged with her to keep her alive to merge with Obama instead because saving him was more important. Anita starts dying on the floor when another group of aliens comes and saves her.
once they are done saving Anita, they move on to Obama. They return to Earth, where Obama welcomes Jennifer into the Senate, and Nate drops John back at his house. Kirkman does not like to see his readers rest for even a minute and leaves us with yet another mystery. John enters his house to find three identical women inside, but he seems unfazed by it. Who are they? What is happening? We know nothing.
So far, the story’s strength has to be its unpredictability and how far Kirkman and Gimple can effectively push the narrative’s craziness. No matter how far they go, it will fit seamlessly into the universe of assassins and political intrigue that they have created thus far. With this issue’s craziness, it feels like they slowed things down a bit, as we receive a few jaw-dropping revelations.
Each disclosure is better than the last, and they all contribute to the overall plot by yielding different outcomes. This comic has given me everything. It is so entertaining, the art is brilliant, the gore and the violence are not too on the nose to be classified as disgusting, and we are in an ‘anything goes but in a utopian way’ kind of society. It is a masterpiece.