Dark Horse Comics gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a comic or book in the Horsepower column, which appears in each of our printed comics issues for the month. These articles can include the inspiration behind a specific title, what it’s like to work in the comics industry, or some other special feature on the highlighted title of the month. In this month’s Horsepower, Torunn Grønbekk introduces readers to Necromancer Liliana Vess from Magic: The Gathering: Untold Stories–Liliana:
I first became aware of Magic: The Gathering in the early 2000s while attending one of the biggest computer parties in the world. Picture—a LAN party with 5,500 people spending five days (and nights) in a massive sports arena, rarely sleeping, coding demos, making music, and playing games. It was brilliant.
But away from the computers, on the edges of the arena, at the café tables, and in the bleachers, there were always people playing Magic. I soon realized they didn’t necessarily know each other; they simply showed up with their decks, hoping to find someone to play with. In the years since, I’ve come to appreciate just how effectively this game brings people together.
Wherever you are in the world, bring your cards, find the local comic or game shop, and you’ll find people. Probably your people. It’s bloody magic. I love the game, but most of all, I love the stories.
If you’re new to Magic, Innistrad is a wonderful plane to start. With its vampires and werewolves, it echoes the gothic fiction we all know, but rather than lingering in familiar tropes, it imagines what those myths might have become if they had been allowed to evolve. This is a plane where the monsters rule. Humanity has been reduced to livestock,
hunted, toyed with, and preyed upon, with little to no way of defending themselves. The dangers of the plane shape its politics, religion, architecture, economy, and daily life. Villages are built behind protective wards because they must be, and the only true refuge lies in the Church (a Church run by humans and, therefore, appropriately corrupt).
Neither vampires nor werewolves are much of a concern for Liliana Vess. To her, the ever-present war between monster and man mostly matters because it litters Innistrad’s soil and shores with bodies, creating fertile ground for necromancy. Liliana exists comfortably in the
moral gray. She is clever and powerful, and while she prioritizes her own desires, she is not necessarily indifferent to the suffering of those around her. As a character, I find her far more compelling than any hero. Life is rarely as simple as good and evil, and Liliana has
worked hard for both her power and her position. She does not sacrifice any part of herself for the convenience or comfort of others. Beneath her brazen beauty lies a deeply complex heart—one that takes control of her actions when it needs to.
Liliana is on Innistrad to pursue a mission of her own. Driven by a profound desire to be whole again, she is hunting the demon Griselbrand to kill him and free herself from a pact she made long ago. She arrives on Innistrad in the aftermath of Avacyn’s disappearance. The loss of the plane’s supreme archangel has struck its humans hard, and Thraben, the last safe city on the plane, is under siege by undead armies. Meanwhile, the clergy, safely ensconced behind the walls of their Cathedral, fail to see the dangers growing in their midst. War, vampires, demonic cults, battling archangels, and the most powerful necromancer in the multiverse going up against one of the most infamous demons in history. The story of Innistrad has it all.
If you play Magic, you might know the events of Innistrad from the cards, but this is the first time the story has been told in full. It has been an honor and a joy to write, and I hope you’ll join us for this iconic adventure!
—Torunn Grønbekk
Magic: The Gathering: Untold Stories—Liliana #1, written by Torunn Grønbekk, illustrated by Natalia Rerekina, colored by Lauren Affe, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, is now available wherever comics are sold!
