Comic Staff Pick for August — Magic: the Gathering (2021)

Hi everyone, Lewis here!

Over the course of the pandemic, I’ve been getting more and more into our selection of comics. It’s a wilderness out there, so to speak, so I figured I’d share a few of my favorites here and there.

First in line is a comic that’s near and dear to my heart — Boom! Studios’ Magic: the Gathering comic series. Issue #1 was released back in April, and let me tell you — it was a breath of fresh air. If you follow the official MTG story, even casually, it’s no secret that the quality of the writing has nosedived over the past few years, starting with the disaster that was the War of the Spark story, then falling into the complete lack of a story for Theros Beyond Death. Things picked up a little with Zendikar Rising and Kaldheim, but at the end of the day, the official MTG story is a shuffling zombified corpse of what it once was.

This unfortunate circumstance is what makes Boom! Studios’ Magic comic so good. The story begins on Ravnica, and stars three familiar faces — Planeswalkers Ral, Vraska, and Kaya, along with appearances from other classic Magic characters like Jace and Niv-Mizzet. If this killer cast lineup isn’t good enough, Ig Guara’s lines and Arianna Consonni’s coloring combine to create a visual style that is absolutely incredible. I seriously can’t get enough, and I hope they collaborate in the future.

Issue #5 was released on the 4th of the month, and we still have some copies of both the regular cover and the Hidden Planeswalker variants available. In addition, if you’re looking to catch up on the rest of the story, we do have a few copies of 1, 2, 3, and 4 left too!