Chances are, if you were into card games in the early 2000’s, you were aware of Yu-Gi-Oh! A card game based on an animated series based on a serialized manga, the cards were a central part of the story of Yugi Muto, gaming enthusiast who unlocked the ancient spirit of a Pharaoh, who could help him play his card games. The show, an import from Japan, quickly became a success in the west. The cards based on those in the show, “Dueling Monsters,” were released not long after. Even those who previously weren’t into trading cards soon started picking them up.
Though some compared Yu-Gi-Oh!’s success with the crossover popularity that Pokemon and its trading card game had starting in 1996, others could not help but make direct comparisons with another game featuring magic and monsters - Magic: The Gathering. Having been launched nearly a decade prior, it became popular in the role-playing and geek culture of the time. Wander into any comic book shop, one would likely see a glass case full of “rare” cards, with prices steep enough to make even the most hardened collector do a double take.
From schoolyards to conventions, arguments over which was the better card game surely erupted. David Gonterman was well versed in these conversations, having been a fan of Magic: The Gathering. His love for the now-classic card game could not be shaken, but he couldn’t help but look at Yu-Gi-Oh!, finding inspiration in it. While Magic had a plethora of lore and numerous books under its belt, there had never been a television series. What if something like the anime that starred Yugi could be the jumping off point for a serialized story steeped in the mythology of M:TG?
Thus, Planeswalker was born.
The parallels are visible almost instantly. Thirteen year old Jamie McIndy, card gaming enthusiast, unlocks the spirit of a Planeswalker after finding a mysterious book. Just like the Pharaoh and Yugi, the Planeswalker and Jamie inhabit the same body, utilizing each other’s strengths as they face evil and play card games. The world of trading card battles are done writ large, in stadiums watched not only by a live audience, but one on television. The comic was presented as also being part of Davey’s larger Book of Foxfire universe, with the cast of Bakabreakers and Night Soldiers making cameo appearances, Adam Packbell being a duelist himself.
The comic would end up being hosted not only on Gonterman’s website, but two dedicated Magic: The Gathering fansites. The first, Grimmoire, would host the site in a dedicated subsection until it closed down. The second, MTGPlanet, would upload strips to their front page as they would come out. Of the post-NiTRO comics that Davey worked on, Planeswalker would prove to be his most prominent yet, even if not every reader understood the references to his other strips.
After 76 installments, the comic went on hiatus, Gonterman instead focusing on the prose version of the Planeswalker story, in hopes of having it canonized in the overall Magic mythology.
