Pop Culture Phenomenon Magic: The Gathering Comes to BOOM! Studios in April 2021
Discover the Planeswalkers Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before in All New
‘Magic’ Comic Book Series
BOOM! Studios announced a new partnership, under license by Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), with Wizards of the Coast LLC that adds Magic: The Gathering to their exciting slate of fan-favorite properties. This historic beginning for the pop culture phenomenon launches with MAGIC, a new original comic book series from acclaimed writer Jed MacKay (Marvel’s Black Cat), artist Ig Guara (Marvel’s Ghost-Spider), colorist Arianna Consonni, and letterer Ed Dukeshire, perfect for new readers and long time fans, available in April 2021.
Across the vast Multiverse, those gifted with a “spark” can tap into the raw power of Magic and travel across realms — they are Planeswalkers. When coordinated assassination attempts on Guildmasters Ral Zarek, Vraska, and Kaya rock the city of Ravnica and leave Jace Beleren’s life hanging in the balance, a fuse is lit that threatens not just these three Guilds, but the entire plane of Ravnica. Now these three must covertly infiltrate the wild plane of Zendikar and form a tenuous alliance to uncover why the targets of the assassins have all been Planeswalkers. . . which will lead them straight to one of the most enigmatic characters in Magic history!
Jed MacKay is a comic book writer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is best known for his work on Marvel Entertainment’s Black Cat, Taskmaster, and Avengers: Mech Strike, as well as various other titles. He can be found on Twitter at @jedmackay.
“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. “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!”
Ig Guara is a Brazillian comic book artist, who has worked with publishers including Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, and Image Comics, on series such as Ghost Spider, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Rose. You can find him on Instagram @igguara.
“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!”
MAGIC #1 features main cover art by acclaimed artist Matteo Scalera (Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn) as well as variant cover art by Guara, InHyuk Lee (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), and Junggeun Yoon (Seven Secrets), and a set of Hidden Planeswalker variant covers by artists Miguel Mercado (Mighty Morphin), Taj Tenfold (Abbott), and Magdalena Pagowska (The Library of Esoterica) featuring fan favorite characters Liliana Vess, Kaya the Ghost Assassin, and Sorin Markov.
Fans can also pre-order the MAGIC PACK, a limited edition Collector’s Set of MAGIC #1 covers, featuring an exclusive MAGIC PACK variant by artist Mirka Andolfo (Mercy), along with the MAGIC #1 main cover by Scalera, a randomly inserted Hidden Planeswalker variant cover, and the Black blank sketch cover, available in April 2021.
“Magic: The Gathering is more than a game—it’s a rich, expansive multiverse and mythology you can really live in and spend an infinite amount of time traversing. This all-new and unique story we’re launching into is full of beloved characters and shocking reveals from the world of MAGIC that are going to entertain readers new to the brand and surprise lifelong fans in the best possible ways,” said Bryce Carlson, Vice President, Editorial & Creative Strategy, BOOM! Studios. “Jed, Ig, Arianna, Ed, all of our incredible cover artists, and the entire team at BOOM! Studios are firing on all cylinders so I can confidently say that this is far and away the best Magic: The Gathering has ever been executed in the comics medium. Period.”
MAGIC is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; We Only Find Them When They’re Dead by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo; Seven Secrets by Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; Once & Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora; Faithless by Brian Azzarello and Maria Llovet; and Abbott from Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivelä. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties including Dune: House Atreides by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Dev Pramanik; Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Jordie Bellaire and David López, Firefly from Greg Pak, Lalit Kumar Sharma & Daniel Bayliss, and Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers series from Ryan Parrott, Marco Renna, and Francesco Mortarino.
Print copies of MAGIC #1 will be available for sale in April 2021 exclusively at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one) or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.
For continuing news on MAGIC and more comic book series from BOOM!, stay tuned to www.boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.
