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If you enjoy the lore and characters of Magic: The Gathering as much as the game itself, then you'll be pleased to hear the long-running franchise is returning to the comic book arena in 2021. Publisher BOOM! Studios has struck a new deal with Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro to produce a new line of Magic: The Gathering comics, beginning with an ongoing monthly series simply titled Magic.
Magic's creative team includes writer Jed MacKay (Black Cat), artist Ig Guara (Ghost-Spider), colorist Arianna Consonni and letterer Ed Dukeshire. You can get an exclusive first look at the covers to Magic #1 and Guara's character designs in the slideshow gallery below:
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The series opens in the realm of Ravnica, whose planet-sized city is rocked by assassination attempts against three Guildmasters, Ral Zarek, Vraska, and Kaya. The trio will be forced to put aside their differences and travel to the plane of Zendikar to hunt the assassins. Boom is teasing a climactic showdown with a major Magic: The Gathering character.
“Twenty-five years ago when I was digging through the commons and uncommons bin to build my first deck, I would never have thought that one day I would be handed the reins to the Magic: The Gathering comic, but here we are!” said MacKay in the publisher's press release. “I'm extremely psyched to be digging into the world of MAGIC and all that entails, and can't wait for all of you to see what we've been cooking up for you!”
“It is amazing to be able to tell a story in the universe of a game I have been playing for over 20 years! I battled the Affinity deck and watched the Phyrexian take over Mirrodin,” said Guara. “I was actually finishing a new Commander deck when the proposal came so you can imagine just how excited I am to be working on this series, and bringing this world alive for fans everywhere!”
The Magic franchise has made its home at several different comic book publishers over the years. Most recently, IDW Publishing released several Magic: The Gathering limited series between 2011 and 2018.
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Magic #1 will release in April 2021. The issue features cover art by Matteo Scalera (Black Science), with variant covers by Guara, InHyuk Lee (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), and Junggeun Yoon (Seven Secrets). The first issue also features a series of Hidden Planeswalker variant covers by artists Miguel Mercado (Mighty Morphin), Taj Tenfold (Abbott), and Magdalena Pagowska (The Library of Esoterica), each spotlighting a different iconic Magic character. Additionally, Boom will offer a "Magic pack" collector bundle that includes the main cover, an exclusive variant by Mirka Andolfo (Mercy). one of the Hidden Planeswalker covers and a blank sketch cover.
This is just the latest big release in the Magic: The Gathering line. Recently we learned Wizards of the Coast is releasing a series of cards painted by none other than PBS mainstay Bob Ross, and those cards may be added to Magic: The Gathering Arena in the near future. We also learned Dungeons & Dragons will be getting its own Magic the Gathering set in Q3 2021.
Beyond the card game itself, Magic is also headed to Netflix, as Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo are overseeing a new animated series. Several Magic players among the IGN staff weighed in on why this adaptation is such a big deal.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.