Before we get into talking about IDW’s new Magic: The Gathering comic book, and its relative merit as a way of spending your hard earned money, I’m going to tell you about my experience with the franchise:
When Magic first launched, I was in the middle of an avid card collecting phase. I spent most of my money on Marvel Cards, and was looking for something new to pick up, since those only came out once a year or so. I was also, at the time, in the middle of a casual Dungeons and Dragons group, which met once every few weeks to play games and hang out. Point being: I was primed and ready for Magic when the game was first released. I grabbed as many cards as I could, forced my brother to play me constantly (he won, mostly to my annoyance), and still have a giant box somewhere packed with nearly a complete collection of original series cards.
What I never got into, though, was the mythology of Magic. It was a game to me, and I got that there was an underlying story, but I never delved into it. It struck me as an amalgam of other fantasy worlds, and that was pretty much it. In addition to that, pretty soon after I had used all my money on Magic cards, I gave up card collecting and discovered girls (well, girl really, though she didn’t quite discover me). Then I was all mature and stuff, and entered the phase where I didn’t read comics, or fantasy books, and took up less nerdy pursuits. Like musical theater.
Anyway, point being, I skipped out on the part where Magic developed from casual card game, to hardcore fantasy franchise. I mention all this because my initial reaction to reading the new comics book - “Wait, why isn’t anyone playing cards in here?” - may be an indicator whether you want to listen to my opinion on the book or not. So grains of salt (or manna - they use manna in this game, right?) and all.
That out of the way, Magic: The Gathering #1 may have little to no people playing card games, but it is full of plenty of propulsive action and a forward, breakneck pace that doesn’t pause for long before jumping to the next set piece. Without spoiling too much, we’re introduced to Dack Fayden, a magical spell-thief able to jump between planes of reality. And in every reality someone wants to kill him. He’s cut off from emotion, only thinking about the next job, and downright nihilistic. But by the end of the book, he’s got a new mission, and is about to be sucked back to where he started, avenging a crime that’s haunted him for years.
The plot itself - as you can probably tell - is straight out of any crime TV show, or movie. And that’s fine... What will distinguish M:TG is its ability to make Dack an engaging lead, and luckily, Matt Forbeck does just that. Yes, he’s like every other “thief with a heart of gold” ever, with a bit of the old swashbuckler thrown in for good measure. But he’s also got magic on his side, and that’s what makes things fun. Rather than having guards chasing him at the top of the book, its horrific looking, flame covered demons. And his escapes are aided by a fun, portal-like effect.
Like the fantasy settings Magic cribbed from for the original card game, we’re not breaking new ground here... But also like the card game, IDW is presenting elements we know in a fun and refreshing way. And once the sheen of the first issue wears off, will we want to keep reading, or will we discover there’s a bigger world out there full of girls and musical theater?
We’ll just have to see what cards we get dealt.
Magic: The Gathering #1 hits comics book shops on February 1, 2012 from IDW.
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