For the record, I am really enjoying these stories, both in the past and in the present.
The episodes are vivid, graphic and visceral and really highlights the tolls of the war from an everyman perspective. It fleshes out the original narrative in a way the original novel and comics couldn't. I also like how the episodes connected the dots between the brother's war, the dark, and ice age while giving us some closure to the arcs of many major characters from the novel.
The chapters provide some of the most concise, thoughtful, in-depth character studies for jodah and the planeswalkers i have seen in a very long time. I think some of this stuff is brilliant, especially how they handled jodah and chandra reminiscing over Jaya which transitioned into a vow to save Ajani. I'll be honest: it almost brought a tear to my eye.
I'm *thisclose* to saying that this is some of the best storytelling i've read in MTG since the original Brothers War novel.
The all-star art for MoM looks pretty cool to me. They can send representatives from every featured plane, even Ikoria and Innistrad.
And from Amonkhet they can send...
Oh, waitaminnut.
Nevermind.
If you've ever seen John Carpenter's "The Thing," this chapter reminds me a lot of that. Especially where the sleeper agents attack.
And yeah i reckon Ajani has been totally infected by killing that thrush. The only question now is whether what is going to happen to him happens on screen or off.
Hey. Dunno if anybody is still following the MTG comics (or this thread), but the latest issues have dropped, and IMO the writing is actually starting to improve.
I'll drop a recap in a few days of both books.
Not gonna lie: reading Elspeth's fight with Mob Nix had me humming "you got the touch" after she got the macguffin sword and started winning the fight...
Latest issue recap:
Team Chandra travels deep into Zendikar to find something that will help them get into Ravnica. I actually like the character moments in this part. Chandra is actually the LEAST impulsive of the trio, and the irony of this is not lost on her. Good stuff. But Surprise surprise, Davriel and Tibalt are there for some unexplained reason. Fisticuffs ensue, and the antagonists leave team chandra fighting ghosts courtesy of one of davriel's stolen spells. His characterization is almost spot-on because he is clearly shown as a guy who wants no part of chandra or her buddies and is only fighting because tibalt convinces him to.
The good guys find a way to wrangle the ghosts and think if they can communicate with them on eldraine they can get the answers they need.
One of the ghosts wears a very familiar looking hood.
I see where this is going.
And I call B.S.
BTW, they announced there will be a brand new PW debuting in one of their comics. So if you're into that, there's that.
So we see chandra, garruk and niko knocking a few back at a pub in urborg where they catch us up to speed on the plot points that had us scratching our heads in the previous issue. The whole issue is exposition explaining why garruk is chasing tibalt, why chandra is scouting the stronghold and why niko is looking for kaya. Personally, i didn't like how this was executed. I understand why they chose to do it this way, but i still think thete must have been a better, more organic way of getting the information across while still having action across the first two issues of this arc.
There were callouts to kaldheim and ikoria in flashbacks. These guys are trying their hardest to make this series tie into canon.
The last few pages of the book focus on tibalt and davriel. Apparently the block of walking to ravnica doesn't apply to them, as They are seen kneeling before their new employer, one Niv Mizzet. Which doesnt make sense to me because Niv has never shown to be the type to associate with people like tibalt.
And i still dont get why davriel would leave his cozy setup on i nistrad to get involved in anything happening on ravnica.
I'm not giving up on this book, though. The writing was good before, therefore it can be good again. and I also support them to keep putting out MTG content good or bad because I'm a fiend for this stuff.
New issue just came out today. I'll give people a few days to read it on their own before posting a recap and my thoughts on it.
Oh, and they're now promoting a new upcoming comic focused on Liliana.
Chandra finds herself unable to walk to ravnica. so she goes to Dominaria to find answers, specifically the stronghold. Why she chose Dominaria I have no idea. but there she crosses paths with tibalt (again) and davriel. they spot her, and Davriel wants to jet, but tibalt wants to fight. and then garruk shows up out of nowhere because he has some unexplained beef with tibalt. tibalt sets a trap on their way out that threatens to bury a village in urborg in a sea of flowstone. Chandra convinces Garuk to help her save the village, and she literally burns out the flowstone. then Niko Aris shows up asking Chandra for help in finding Kaya. but Kaya is on Ravnica. and chandra is blocked from Ravnica.
this comic book is starting to look more and more like a fanfic with each issue.
latest issue of the comic came out last week. Spoilers ahead.
The extended Gatewatch of Karn, Teferi, Saheeli, Arwin, Angarth, Chandra and the two Amonkhet walkers are doing their thing to keep the zombies at bay and protect the Guildmaster PWs, Jace and Lili, who have somehow combined their powers to reprogram all the zombies to worship Lage. Still no explanation of how they got Lili to agree tot his, and still no mention of Strixhaven. grr.
So Lage comes down to Amonkhet and all the PWs leave except for Jace. Vraska comes back for him and he reveals that he was lying when he said he had a way to rid himself of Lage's influence. everywhere he goes, Lage will follow, so he has to stay there and be the sacrifice. Vraska decides to stay by Jace's side and die with him in his arms, when Kaya rushes in and scoops Vraska away from the plane just as Lage lands on Jace. n, Seriously, she literally lands on Jace like a boulder would fall on WIle E. Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon (all you young whippersnappers look that up on YouTube if you don't get the reference. Man, I'm old).
All the PWs regroup on Dominaria where Jaya and Ajani are waiting. Vraska is pissed that Kaya didn't let her die with her man, and doesn't want to be friends with her and Ral anymore. So they go back to Rav...only to find that Tezzeret has kinda sorta taken over while they were gone.
and thus ends the first storyarc. I'm kinda disappointed because this story actually got off to a very good start with how they were utilizing the characters and the current continuity. there was a very intriguing mystery with some cool plot twists. But the story completely fell apart once Marit Lage got involved. Even if they had just stopped at Lage being in Jace's head, that is a development they could have mined for some cool new stories and cards. I can imagine a PW card where one of Jace's abilities reflected being under Lage's influence. and storywise, you could follow him across the multiverse as he tries to do good and desperately search for a way to rid himself of the looming threat of Lage. He could have been something similar to the Silver Surfer.
I had high hopes for this comic, and I'm still going to read it and hope the next storyarc is better. But I'm not going to lie: this first arc started off promising and then fizzled. At first I was saying it would be a shame if this weren't canon, but now I'd be kinda glad if it weren't.
Do the new issues appear online anywhere? Lage on Amonkhet seems odd, you'd think she would be lured to an icy plane. Frankly, Lage should outrank New Phyrexia and I highly doubt she'd be compleated. She's a multiverse-level demigod. I'm pleased this nonsense isn't canon.
Try this link on Amazon. I think you can get digital issues via Comixology.
Enjoyed the story quite a bit. My only gripe is that when the kami of the spark bonded with kaito, the words "gotta catch them all" popped in my head for some reason.
Since Niv-Mizzet is a mizzium metal dragon there, no, it is not canon.
Bummer. They went out of their way to reference past events, too.
In any case, two more issues are out. One is dedicated to Tezz and what he has going on. Basically he's going from plane to plane setting up his master plan, because master plan. Nothing we haven't seen from him before, just now he doesn't have Bolas looming ovee his shoulder anymore.
The other story has the guild leaders assemble an all-star lineup of PWs to help them lure Lage to Amonkhet to trap her there with an unlimited supply of zombies commanded to worship her. And when you think zombies, that means Lili, whom Jace kinda just finds out of the blue with no mention of Strixhaven. Big disconnect there.
I do like a discussion Teferi and Karn have with the others about trying to lure Lage to New Phyrexia, and what would happen if she was compleated there.
Kamigawa is one of MTG's most beloved stories for a reason (actually, many reasons). Toshiro is a well-written, likeable antihero, and the war between Konda and O-Kagachi is suitably epic in scope. the books also do a great job of incorporating many of the cards from the set into the story.
Not to mention, much of the flavor text on the cards allude to a history of the war that the books can only scratch the surface of telling. It was a masterpiece, and this synopsis is a great way to bring those that missed the books up to speed.
In the immortal words of Project Pat...
"Don't save her. She don't wanna be saved."
The episodes are vivid, graphic and visceral and really highlights the tolls of the war from an everyman perspective. It fleshes out the original narrative in a way the original novel and comics couldn't. I also like how the episodes connected the dots between the brother's war, the dark, and ice age while giving us some closure to the arcs of many major characters from the novel.
The chapters provide some of the most concise, thoughtful, in-depth character studies for jodah and the planeswalkers i have seen in a very long time. I think some of this stuff is brilliant, especially how they handled jodah and chandra reminiscing over Jaya which transitioned into a vow to save Ajani. I'll be honest: it almost brought a tear to my eye.
I'm *thisclose* to saying that this is some of the best storytelling i've read in MTG since the original Brothers War novel.
And from Amonkhet they can send...
Oh, waitaminnut.
Nevermind.
And yeah i reckon Ajani has been totally infected by killing that thrush. The only question now is whether what is going to happen to him happens on screen or off.
I'll drop a recap in a few days of both books.
Team Chandra travels deep into Zendikar to find something that will help them get into Ravnica. I actually like the character moments in this part. Chandra is actually the LEAST impulsive of the trio, and the irony of this is not lost on her. Good stuff. But Surprise surprise, Davriel and Tibalt are there for some unexplained reason. Fisticuffs ensue, and the antagonists leave team chandra fighting ghosts courtesy of one of davriel's stolen spells. His characterization is almost spot-on because he is clearly shown as a guy who wants no part of chandra or her buddies and is only fighting because tibalt convinces him to.
The good guys find a way to wrangle the ghosts and think if they can communicate with them on eldraine they can get the answers they need.
One of the ghosts wears a very familiar looking hood.
I see where this is going.
And I call B.S.
BTW, they announced there will be a brand new PW debuting in one of their comics. So if you're into that, there's that.
So we see chandra, garruk and niko knocking a few back at a pub in urborg where they catch us up to speed on the plot points that had us scratching our heads in the previous issue. The whole issue is exposition explaining why garruk is chasing tibalt, why chandra is scouting the stronghold and why niko is looking for kaya. Personally, i didn't like how this was executed. I understand why they chose to do it this way, but i still think thete must have been a better, more organic way of getting the information across while still having action across the first two issues of this arc.
There were callouts to kaldheim and ikoria in flashbacks. These guys are trying their hardest to make this series tie into canon.
The last few pages of the book focus on tibalt and davriel. Apparently the block of walking to ravnica doesn't apply to them, as They are seen kneeling before their new employer, one Niv Mizzet. Which doesnt make sense to me because Niv has never shown to be the type to associate with people like tibalt.
And i still dont get why davriel would leave his cozy setup on i nistrad to get involved in anything happening on ravnica.
New issue just came out today. I'll give people a few days to read it on their own before posting a recap and my thoughts on it.
Oh, and they're now promoting a new upcoming comic focused on Liliana.
this comic book is starting to look more and more like a fanfic with each issue.
The extended Gatewatch of Karn, Teferi, Saheeli, Arwin, Angarth, Chandra and the two Amonkhet walkers are doing their thing to keep the zombies at bay and protect the Guildmaster PWs, Jace and Lili, who have somehow combined their powers to reprogram all the zombies to worship Lage. Still no explanation of how they got Lili to agree tot his, and still no mention of Strixhaven. grr.
So Lage comes down to Amonkhet and all the PWs leave except for Jace. Vraska comes back for him and he reveals that he was lying when he said he had a way to rid himself of Lage's influence. everywhere he goes, Lage will follow, so he has to stay there and be the sacrifice. Vraska decides to stay by Jace's side and die with him in his arms, when Kaya rushes in and scoops Vraska away from the plane just as Lage lands on Jace. n, Seriously, she literally lands on Jace like a boulder would fall on WIle E. Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon (all you young whippersnappers look that up on YouTube if you don't get the reference. Man, I'm old).
All the PWs regroup on Dominaria where Jaya and Ajani are waiting. Vraska is pissed that Kaya didn't let her die with her man, and doesn't want to be friends with her and Ral anymore. So they go back to Rav...only to find that Tezzeret has kinda sorta taken over while they were gone.
and thus ends the first storyarc. I'm kinda disappointed because this story actually got off to a very good start with how they were utilizing the characters and the current continuity. there was a very intriguing mystery with some cool plot twists. But the story completely fell apart once Marit Lage got involved. Even if they had just stopped at Lage being in Jace's head, that is a development they could have mined for some cool new stories and cards. I can imagine a PW card where one of Jace's abilities reflected being under Lage's influence. and storywise, you could follow him across the multiverse as he tries to do good and desperately search for a way to rid himself of the looming threat of Lage. He could have been something similar to the Silver Surfer.
I had high hopes for this comic, and I'm still going to read it and hope the next storyarc is better. But I'm not going to lie: this first arc started off promising and then fizzled. At first I was saying it would be a shame if this weren't canon, but now I'd be kinda glad if it weren't.
Try this link on Amazon. I think you can get digital issues via Comixology.
Bummer. They went out of their way to reference past events, too.
In any case, two more issues are out. One is dedicated to Tezz and what he has going on. Basically he's going from plane to plane setting up his master plan, because master plan. Nothing we haven't seen from him before, just now he doesn't have Bolas looming ovee his shoulder anymore.
The other story has the guild leaders assemble an all-star lineup of PWs to help them lure Lage to Amonkhet to trap her there with an unlimited supply of zombies commanded to worship her. And when you think zombies, that means Lili, whom Jace kinda just finds out of the blue with no mention of Strixhaven. Big disconnect there.
I do like a discussion Teferi and Karn have with the others about trying to lure Lage to New Phyrexia, and what would happen if she was compleated there.