Magic: The Gathering - Chandra

Magic: The Gathering - Chandra is a series of comics published by IDW Publishing in 2018–2019, focusing on Chandra Nalaar, a key player in Magic: The Gathering lore.

Publishing background
One of IDW's goals with this series was to offer a clean gateway into the Magic universe for readers who weren't necessarily familiar with the 25 years of existing lore. This series was billed as a "fresh start" for the franchise with "an all-new approach to storytelling". The new series wasn't connected to IDW's previous Magic comic from 2014. Instead, it was to focus a great deal on the fundamental link between Planeswalkers and the magic they wield; how their mental, emotional, and physical states can effect how they manifest their magic.

Blurbs
An adventurous Planeswalker and powerful pyromancer, Chandra Nalaar has seen much in her time — but she had never experienced such tragedy before. In the wake of a devastating loss, Chandra is striking out on her own, determined to prove — to her family and to herself — that next time she'll be prepared. But when faced with threats both old and new, will she be able to overcome her grief in time to survive? And who is that familiar face lurking in the shadows?

In the wake of tragedy, Planeswalker, and pyromancer, Chandra Nalaar strikes out on her own, looking for new challenges and seeking justice. From the towers of Ravnica to the graveyards of Innistrad and beyond, she'll find plenty of the former. The justice she'll have to make for herself.

Story
The comic opens in the near future, in the aftermath of what has happened on Ravnica.

The pyromancer Chandra Nalaar is struggling to come to terms with what she has previously experienced. She asks herself why she insists on rushing into danger and risking her life for little thanks and even fewer awards. She realizes that she could have a plane to rule without ever being challenged. Instead, she finds herself on Dominaria, where she rescues a little child called Iisha and her village from a vicious thallid attack. She thinks that if she doesn't act, no one else will take responsibility. In the middle of the fight against the thallids, she is almost overpowered by their numbers, and she has a flashback to the visage of Nicol Bolas. In a burst of anger, she destroys the pack with an excessive blaze of flame, leaving a large crater behind. Little Iisha is impressed, adores Chandra and wants to come with her to become a hero herself. Instead, Chandra gives her a metal Lotus Petal, made on Kaladesh, and promises it will give her strength and courage. She then disappears in a burst of flame.

It is explained to the readers what a planeswalker is, and in quick succession we see Chandra fighting on Tarkir, Ixalan, Alara and Kaldheim.

Kaladesh. Chandra returns home to visit her mother and finds Ajani Goldmane sitting at their coffee table, who had come to thank her for her recent actions on Alara. The leonin planeswalker notes that Chandra seems to be overreaching herself. Chandra explains that there is so much suffering going on, that she has the power to stop it and that she couldn't live with herself if she did nothing. But Ajani theorizes she might be hiding for something. After Ajani leaves, Chandra has an emotional moment with her mother. Pia recognizes that Chandra is grown up now and can make her own choices, but makes Chandra promise that she will ask for help when she needs it.

Regatha. A town panics because the neighboring sleeping volcano suddenly has exploded. Chandra arrives and clears away the flying debris. The townspeople think they are saved, but suddenly the rain of stone and lava intensifies. Chandra is hit in the head and is unable to understand why she can't stop the stream of rock and fire. While desperately trying again, she has repeated flashbacks to Nicol Bolas and his destruction of Ravnica. Her attempts fail, and the town is totally destroyed. By saving one last innocent child, Chandra adds to the destruction by forcibly clearing away falling rubble. She is devastated and then buried under debris herself.

Nearby, the devilish planeswalker Tibalt gloats when he sees Chandra's desperation. He enjoys the "exquisite" pain and destruction that he has caused.

Blurb
After her latest defeat, Chandra feels broken as events of the past continue to haunt her, and a familiar foe seizes the opportunity to strike! Will Ajani’s heroic intervention be enough to help her overcome the threat and stop her from traveling farther down a self-destructive path?

Story
Kaladesh. Chandra planeswalks into the home of mother, barely having escaped suffocating in the rubble avalanche caused by Tibalt on Regatha. Pia puts her exhausted daughter into bed. The next morning Chandra awakes after having a nightmare about Nicol Bolas. As Pia comes bringing breakfast, Chandra is already gone again.

A harbor in Alara. Several Unbeholden dressed as soldiers have abducted an Aven princess from Valeron and plan to put the blame on Jhess to start a war. Chandra notices the abduction and thinks this is a solvable problem. More so than the other problems that she tries to forget. Well into the fight, Chandra notices her strength is failing, she is still too exhausted. Almost being overwhelmed by the fake soldiers, she finally remembers to free princess Elzen from her wing bonds. Together they are able to defeat the abductors, and they fly back to Elzen's home. While Chandra is thanked by the royal family, she silently wishes that all her problems would clean up so easy.

Innistrad, a plane that always gives her the creeps. Chandra contemplates the fact that she couldn't manage a simple rescue mission without getting help from the rescuee. She wonders if what happened on Ravnica - who they had lost - is stopping her from thinking straight. She asks herself if she should take a step back and assess things? She then decides against it, arguing that there is too much work to do, and attacks some menacing ice ghosts. Again, she is in over her head and experiences hallucinations during the fight. This time, she sees the visage of Gideon Jura, who berates her for failing again. She loses her focus and is almost defeated.

It is revealed that her angst is reinforced by an emphatic attack by Tibalt, who delights in her despair. He shows himself and explains that he is drawn to Chandra's pain, and hadn't expected her to put herself in danger so soon again. He notices that Chandra is caught between fighting the ice ghosts, himself and something else. Maybe something on her conscience? Chandra realizes that Tibalt is speaking the truth, that her guilt and pain have made her reckless. Tibalt taunts her about her inability to rescue the innocent with her fire. In fact, as they speak, a woman is attacked by ice ghosts. Again, Chandra uses a giant burst of fire against the ghosts. But in her mind, she hears taunts from Nicol Bolas that she brings nothing but destruction and leaves nothing but horror and ashes in her wake, and from Ajani that had should have been her who should have died. As everything around her goes up in flames, she is utterly exhausted.

As she is most vulnerable, Tibalt begins to feed on her emotional agony and fear, promising to make the process last as long as possible. In a last-ditch effort, Chandra manages to planeswalk away.

Zendikar. Chandra surfaces in a landscape destroyed by the Eldrazi. She slumps down and begs to be freed from Tibalt and her other problems.

Blurb
Tibalt’s attacks on Chandra get more personal—and closer to home—as he thrives on her anguish. Meanwhile, Ajani tries to help her make peace with the events of her past, but will Chandra's outrage be enough to overcome the devilish Planeswalker's empathic onslaught?

Story
Zendikar. Chandra sits in the dust of the Eldrazi ravaged land and wails about her helplessness and uncontrolled anger. For one moment she considers to return to Ravnica, the plane where she has lost herself, but she changes her mind because she isn't ready yet. She then decides to travel to the place where her nightmare started.

Amonkhet. This is where the the Gatewatch lost the first time. Chandra wanders through the ruins of the plane and ends up at the Great Necropolis, the seat of Bolas's power where he had been worshiped as a god. There, she is attacked by a horde of Eternals who had been left behind during the War of the Spark. A zombie wizard uses fear-inducing magic on her, similar the dementia magic. The fear rises, but now she suddenly manages to focus her anger as well. Righteous anger at the Eternals, at Bolas, at herself. She realizes that the people that had died deserved better than her giving up. And maybe she herself as well. She snaps when a naga eternal tries to strangle her. She realizes that Bolas is really defeated and finds the power to destroy his eternal minions completely. As she wanders further she finds a life-size statue of Bolas. Talking to it, she comes to another realization: she is done blaming herself for Bolas's evil. With a liberating purge of fire, she destroys the statue.

Kaladesh. Pia Nalaar encounters an intruder in her home.

Alara. Chandra unburdens herself while talking to Ajani Goldmane. She finds that by holding on to the pain, she had been losing her friends. And that was the opposite of what she had wanted. Better to remember the fallen, and honor them by helping other people. Ajani comforts her with his healing powers. Chandra is ready to let go and decides to visit her mother to apologize for her behavior.

Kaladesh. Arriving home with Ajani, Chandra finds that Tibalt has intruded the house and has tortured her mother.

Blurb
Fiendish Planeswalker Tibalt unleashes his empathic attack against Chandra and her allies! Will they be able to fend off his onslaught before Chandra succumbs to her own inner demons?

Story
Kaladesh. As Tibalt is distracted by the entrance of Chandra and Ajani, Pia escapes from his clutches. Tibalt attacks Chandra, but immediately notices that she is different from the last time they had fought: she has found a renewed self-confidence. Tibalt realizes that he can't compete with both Chandra and Ajani when they fight on familiar ground and flees. Chandra and Ajani follow in pursuit.

Innistrad. On his homeplane, Tibalt is aided by a horde of devils and overwhelms his opponents. Gloating, he reveals that on Ravnica he had felt Chandra's pain screaming through the aether and that he had followed her to Regatha to find out if he could hurt her even more. He admits he thrives on physical torment, psychic misery, and emotional anguish. Chandra realizes that Tibalt's aim is for her to lose herself, and he might be more evil than Bolas for that. Her self confidence asserts itself, and she now knows that her guilt and sadness won't go away but that it doesn't mean she has to be weakened by it. She is done feeding Tibalt, who she calls a parasite. She knocks him out and delivers him to the local authorities to deal with. Tibalt is locked up by the local militia in a new rune-enforced prison that they claim can contain supernatural beings.

Kaladesh. Mother and daughter find peace and understanding with each other. They are happy now.

Ravnica. Chandra and Ajani return to Ravnica to do some cleanup work.

Paperback
A graphic novel, a collection of the four volumes, was published in December, 2019.

Blurb
The rich world of Magic: The Gathering comes to life, revealing new adventures, in this thrilling graphic novel featuring Planeswalker and pyromancer Chandra Nalaar.

In the wake of tragedy, Chandra strikes out on her own, determined to protect the Multiverse, no matter the cost to herself. Along the way, she'll not only have to fight new threats, but also her own sense of guilt. Fellow Planeswalker and friend Ajani Goldmane tries to intervene, but it's ultimately on Chandra to save herself, especially when a sinister foe emerges from the shadows.

Magic: The Gathering: Chandra ties directly into recent events on the cityscape plane of Ravnica - as seen in October 2018's Guilds of Ravnica and subsequent card sets - bringing the comics closer to the game's story than ever before.

Collects the complete four-issue series.