With so many planeswalkers with nothing to do, it seems to me that it only makes sense to allow them to have more prominence in the comics. Maybe Dack will always be the main character, maybe not, but as the years pass IDW will have a larger stable of characters to pull from that are just gathering dust.
If the comic line actually exists years from now. There's the rub. That can't ever happen if no one buys these comics that are coming out now.
It's a good thing the comics are of a pretty high quality, and that IDW is the perfect publisher for Wizards to have made a deal with. And sales have been good enough that IDW is going forward with a second mini-series, but it could end there. Magic certainly doesn't sell enough to get front page status on their website, so my dream is probably already dead.
But still... I'm doing my part and buying the comics. I haven't been disappointed in them so far, and at this point all I can do is hope the comic line doesn't end with The Spell Thief mini-series.
See, this is my beef with this partnership with IDW, as much as it is a promising vehicle for the continuity I was a bit disappointed that it had to be pretty much like a glorified fanfiction, that the only semblence of it's connection to the game is the planes and some noteworthy cameos. The Planeswalkers that are now in the card game are going to be lacking the continuity backing and could've used this venture.
As much as it is good quality, there's this apparent disconnect factor to it that makes me turn away from actually actively buying it.
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Serra Stan - Angel Enthusiast - Garruk and Tyvar thirsty follower - Flavor and Art Enthusiast
That's exactly why my ideal would be both an ongoing series where IDW has freedom to do what they need, but to also have a 12 issue mini series representing each block where Wizards had more input and gave more direction.
The comics still won't have anything to do with the actual block storyline or even the neowalkers we care about who have a fairly large amount of story behind them (Lili, Jace, Tezz).
I haven't bought a comic in 13 years but went ahead and bought the first two idw comics. I was shocked by how short the comics were. Two $4 comics gave as much storyline as 1 chapter in an $8 book. I won't be buying these.
I have already stated my piece in regards to the publications, StF, and other flavour-related noncard products and have no compulsion to reiterate; however, I am curious about the connection of novels and storylines.
Was there a Homelands novel that escaped my notice? Or are the Ulgrotha lovers just a vocal minority? I know the comic existed and it is quite adequate in telling the story, but it hardly covers all the nuance that current fans demand.
Now, I'm not saying that the book lines are unnecessary (and even if they are, I'd still like to have them produced), but when did it become indicative that we have such detailed and far-reaching accounts of our favourite planeswalkers and planes? As fans, it is our duty to ask for such things. I understand that. But when have we needed them so much to lament in the way that we do?
Ultimately, what I'm asking is what changed that the little story booklet that came with the Tempest starter deck became insufficient?
Was there a Homelands novel that escaped my notice? Or are the Ulgrotha lovers just a vocal minority? I know the comic existed and it is quite adequate in telling the story, but it hardly covers all the nuance that current fans demand.
Ultimately, what I'm asking is what changed that the little story booklet that came with the Tempest starter deck became insufficient?
Homelands had a very detailed graphic novel with additional information and timelines in the back. Also, I think people found the characters compelling. Homelands was also not self-contained--Taysir, Ravidel, and Kristina had appeared in the other Armada comics and so their cameo appearances booster the story being told on Ulgrotha. This, coupled with the length of the comic and the world designed on the cards adds to Homelands appeal, I think. And Sengir. Serra and Sengir. Icons--I would imagine those were initial appeals, but I can't speak from experience from 1995. I think, too, Homelands offered a rather cohesive plot when compared to other prior sets (the other Armada comics were not set-specific).
As for Tempest, it had a two-comic book series (Gerrard's Quest), a novel (Rath and Storm) and the story that played out on the card art and flavor text.
I understand and support WotC's actions (though am saddened), but contexts were different back in Homelands and now.
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Dominian Scholar of the Old Guard, specializing in pre-revisionist (Armada comics) and revisionist (Brothers' War through Apocalypse)history
This is pretty much wotc's fault that they can't sell storybooks. A lot of problems included:
-The book wasn't sold in most LGS where most players hang around
-crappy storyline, cycles go way too fast. The whole weatherlight saga was a cool story, lots of intense moments, multi-year story, a lot of development of characters. Now instead we have planeswalker window shopping, they go to planes that they don't care, along with some legends that nobody cares either and probably don't even know the names. And each story gets abondoned in one year.
I'm not sure effort is the problem. The creative team can only do so much. Don't forget they have to supervise all the flavor elements of the game, meaning they are hiring artists, creating descriptions for every card in a set, etc. They work far in advance of set's actual release, but not so far as publishers usually need for a lead time. The timing on the books must have been hard because they had to give the authors vague story details to work with while they were still finalizing the flavor aspects.
Honestly, the less focus there is on exact story events, the better it is for the game. When I played during the Weatherlight-era, a lot of the story-related stuff really turned me off, because they tied almost half the cards into moments from a story I didn't know about. I didn't dive into the story because it was too complex, with years of books to catch up on. My friends today love that they can understand the basics of the story without having to refer to a book.
I, personally, really enoyed the Purifying Fire, and even Alara Unbroken was more readable than most people give it credit for (Quest for Karn, on the other hand...). I'm sad block novels didn't work out, but they weren't of the highest quality anyway (as opposed to Drew Karpyshyn's books based on Bioware games).
I'd honestly be okay with a few more short stories telling what each planeswalker is up to and the general story (Legends should all be name dropped at least once to tell us who they are). The comics are okay so far, but I think being tied to blocks would severly hinder them, and give them event-itis, the worst thing you could do (event-itis is when all stories in a ongoing comic have to revolve around the yearly 'event', throwing off character development).
Honestly, it sucks for us, but they clearly couldn't even manage proper copy editing on their novel releases (although that may have been the fault of the publisher). I say let it play out, and see how 'Return to Ravinca' works out.
I think we are all on the side of, "Let's just let it play out." We obviously can't do much except tell them how we feel, but on a business side they have to do what is best for the business. As I have previously stated I love the storylines; even with the relatively low amount of knowledge we got in this most recent set. For me personally though, I am worried about where this is going. For now I definitely have the wait and see attitude, but a couple of years down the road if the storyline doesn't exist anymore, I won't be playing. That I can guarantee. I like being able to tie the cards to the story and the characters within it. Without that the card game for me falls flat.
For me personally though, I am worried about where this is going. For now I definitely have the wait and see attitude, but a couple of years down the road if the storyline doesn't exist anymore, I won't be playing. That I can guarantee. I like being able to tie the cards to the story and the characters within it. Without that the card game for me falls flat.
I definitely agree. Without the ties to story and characters on the card, we end up with Yu-Gi-Oh and similar card games where you have some pretty pictures, but no real background information.
I definitely agree. Without the ties to story and characters on the card, we end up with Yu-Gi-Oh and similar card games where you have some pretty pictures, but no real background information.
I loathe to see the day that happens. I took interest in Magic because I was so sick and tired of all the shallow, story-less card games out there.
I truly hope Magic's lore is only taking a temporary hiatus.
i could see novels getting out not syncronized with the set (like the Artifact cycle), and it would still be awesome! we just want story, a baseline to know, lore!! - if they are released with the sets, that's fine, but if not.. i understand that.
i think that magic lore is and untapped resource that they aren't using, and with a little work, it could be not only good for selling cards and characters, but also a independent source of money (like as i said the Star Wars books).
Definitely agree with you there. They should honestly take the necessary amount of time and resources to produce a good novel, instead of rushing it to coincide with card releases. While that would be ideal, I'd rather they execute it well, versus making it on time. (Just hopefully not as long as it takes Blizzard to make most of their games though.)
I think you may be right in your sentiment, the only problem is that you are grouping "Flavor Seekers" in with the whole wide range of Vorthoses, while it's actually only a tiny sub-set of the whole Vorthos spectrum. Brady said it himself that with the very best estimates, only 1 in 10,000 players ever bought a book that wasn't in a fat pack. 0.01%. That's it.
(Non-fat pack books being relevant to them because the fat packs were discounted so that the books were given away for free, so only the 0.01% of players were actually contributing to their revenue.)
Ahh but most people I know (not a huge sample size I admit) only bought the fat packs FOR the book. Their was like 0 distrabution outside of fatpacks. When fatpacks stopped having the book so too did sales of fat packs (again at least in my area) stop dead.
And if that dream can't be reached, I could be happy with a regular ongoing Magic comic book. Wizards cannot stop creating new planeswalkers because they need to mix in new ones with the familiar to keep people interested in the cards. And each year there will be more and more planeswalkers that can't be used for longer and longer periods of time. It can't be helped. A block without a single new planeswalker might work once if the overall theme is right, but two years in a row? Three? Players will feel cheated that Wizards is only recycling planeswalkers we've seen before. (Perhaps that will plateau. There is probably a number large enough that it won't matter, but that won't be any time soon.)
With so many planeswalkers with nothing to do, it seems to me that it only makes sense to allow them to have more prominence in the comics. Maybe Dack will always be the main character, maybe not, but as the years pass IDW will have a larger stable of characters to pull from that are just gathering dust.
If the comic line actually exists years from now. There's the rub. That can't ever happen if no one buys these comics that are coming out now.
It's a good thing the comics are of a pretty high quality, and that IDW is the perfect publisher for Wizards to have made a deal with. And sales have been good enough that IDW is going forward with a second mini-series, but it could end there. Magic certainly doesn't sell enough to get front page status on their website, so my dream is probably already dead.
But still... I'm doing my part and buying the comics. I haven't been disappointed in them so far, and at this point all I can do is hope the comic line doesn't end with The Spell Thief mini-series.
The problem is these will always be compaired to the best novels of the game's history (and they have some "good" novels not magic novels just good novels) I find it highly unlikely that I could ever get attached to a neo walker or any of these new characters the way I was to Urza or Yogomoth or Karn Or Gerrard ect. They just had so much backstory and good writting behind them.
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See, this is my beef with this partnership with IDW, as much as it is a promising vehicle for the continuity I was a bit disappointed that it had to be pretty much like a glorified fanfiction, that the only semblence of it's connection to the game is the planes and some noteworthy cameos. The Planeswalkers that are now in the card game are going to be lacking the continuity backing and could've used this venture.
As much as it is good quality, there's this apparent disconnect factor to it that makes me turn away from actually actively buying it.
Serra Stan - Angel Enthusiast - Garruk and Tyvar thirsty follower - Flavor and Art Enthusiast
I haven't bought a comic in 13 years but went ahead and bought the first two idw comics. I was shocked by how short the comics were. Two $4 comics gave as much storyline as 1 chapter in an $8 book. I won't be buying these.
B Lover Since '09 ~
Standard:
meh.
Modern:
Urzatron GR
Vintage:
Contol-Slaver UBR
EDH:
Drana B
Jhoira UR
Savra BG
Turned into:
Adun Oakenshield BGR
Sharuum BUW
Turned into:
Memnarch U
KiKi-Jiki R
Turned into:
Godo R
Turned into:
Aurelia RW
The Mimeoplasm UBG
Rasputin Dreamweaver UW
Turned into:
Geist of Saint Traft -French 1v1 UW
Nekusar UBR
Was there a Homelands novel that escaped my notice? Or are the Ulgrotha lovers just a vocal minority? I know the comic existed and it is quite adequate in telling the story, but it hardly covers all the nuance that current fans demand.
Now, I'm not saying that the book lines are unnecessary (and even if they are, I'd still like to have them produced), but when did it become indicative that we have such detailed and far-reaching accounts of our favourite planeswalkers and planes? As fans, it is our duty to ask for such things. I understand that. But when have we needed them so much to lament in the way that we do?
Ultimately, what I'm asking is what changed that the little story booklet that came with the Tempest starter deck became insufficient?
Homelands had a very detailed graphic novel with additional information and timelines in the back. Also, I think people found the characters compelling. Homelands was also not self-contained--Taysir, Ravidel, and Kristina had appeared in the other Armada comics and so their cameo appearances booster the story being told on Ulgrotha. This, coupled with the length of the comic and the world designed on the cards adds to Homelands appeal, I think. And Sengir. Serra and Sengir. Icons--I would imagine those were initial appeals, but I can't speak from experience from 1995. I think, too, Homelands offered a rather cohesive plot when compared to other prior sets (the other Armada comics were not set-specific).
As for Tempest, it had a two-comic book series (Gerrard's Quest), a novel (Rath and Storm) and the story that played out on the card art and flavor text.
I understand and support WotC's actions (though am saddened), but contexts were different back in Homelands and now.
-The book wasn't sold in most LGS where most players hang around
-crappy storyline, cycles go way too fast. The whole weatherlight saga was a cool story, lots of intense moments, multi-year story, a lot of development of characters. Now instead we have planeswalker window shopping, they go to planes that they don't care, along with some legends that nobody cares either and probably don't even know the names. And each story gets abondoned in one year.
Honestly, the less focus there is on exact story events, the better it is for the game. When I played during the Weatherlight-era, a lot of the story-related stuff really turned me off, because they tied almost half the cards into moments from a story I didn't know about. I didn't dive into the story because it was too complex, with years of books to catch up on. My friends today love that they can understand the basics of the story without having to refer to a book.
I, personally, really enoyed the Purifying Fire, and even Alara Unbroken was more readable than most people give it credit for (Quest for Karn, on the other hand...). I'm sad block novels didn't work out, but they weren't of the highest quality anyway (as opposed to Drew Karpyshyn's books based on Bioware games).
I'd honestly be okay with a few more short stories telling what each planeswalker is up to and the general story (Legends should all be name dropped at least once to tell us who they are). The comics are okay so far, but I think being tied to blocks would severly hinder them, and give them event-itis, the worst thing you could do (event-itis is when all stories in a ongoing comic have to revolve around the yearly 'event', throwing off character development).
Honestly, it sucks for us, but they clearly couldn't even manage proper copy editing on their novel releases (although that may have been the fault of the publisher). I say let it play out, and see how 'Return to Ravinca' works out.
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I definitely agree. Without the ties to story and characters on the card, we end up with Yu-Gi-Oh and similar card games where you have some pretty pictures, but no real background information.
I loathe to see the day that happens. I took interest in Magic because I was so sick and tired of all the shallow, story-less card games out there.
I truly hope Magic's lore is only taking a temporary hiatus.
Definitely agree with you there. They should honestly take the necessary amount of time and resources to produce a good novel, instead of rushing it to coincide with card releases. While that would be ideal, I'd rather they execute it well, versus making it on time. (Just hopefully not as long as it takes Blizzard to make most of their games though.)
The problem is these will always be compaired to the best novels of the game's history (and they have some "good" novels not magic novels just good novels) I find it highly unlikely that I could ever get attached to a neo walker or any of these new characters the way I was to Urza or Yogomoth or Karn Or Gerrard ect. They just had so much backstory and good writting behind them.