Last summer, Dark Horse acquired the license for Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons comics from Wizards of the Coast. Now, the publisher has announced their first new MTG series, written by Dan Watters, with art by Owen Gieni, colors by Hilary Jenkins, and lettering by Clayton Cowles. Titled Magic: The Gathering: Untold Stories—Elspeth, the four-issue series will follow the human-turned-archangel planeswalker Elspeth Tirel during the events of the 2020 card set Theros Beyond Death.
Elspeth is dead. But her story is not yet over. The sun god Heliod, having grown envious of his champion, struck her down to the underworld. There, she is forced to relive the worst moments of her life for all eternity. But Elspeth does not submit to despair — she emerges from each conflict a greater hero than before. And for a great hero like Elspeth, what is death but another challenge to overcome?
Jackie Jones, Vice President of Creative for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast, says, “Elspeth’s journey has always resonated deeply with our fans and bringing her untold story to life in this exciting new format has been a real creative highlight for us,. Working with Dark Horse and this phenomenal team of artists and writers, we’re thrilled to give players and readers a deeper look into one of Magic’s most iconic heroes.”
Gieni adds, “I’m so honoured to illustrate the story of these great characters and lore. And Dan’s scripts are absolutely amazing, legitimately brilliant stuff. The only request I gave him at the start was to give me some of those epic Theros gods and monsters to draw, and he fully delivered with a vengeance! Killer stuff that I think MTG fans are gonna love.”
The book marks Dark Horse’s second MTG comic, after a 1998 miniseries by Mike Grell, Pop Mhan, and Norman Lee, that was collected under the name Gerrard’s Quest. Valiant imprint Acclaim Comics held the license beforehand, publishing the first MTG comics in the 1990s, while IDW Publishing and then BOOM! Studios had it until Dark Horse regained them; IDW also held the D&D rights before last year.
Issue #1 (of 4) will be released on September 10, with the main cover by Gieni, and variants by Vincenzo Riccardi, and Anna Steinbauer:
