Why Play Magic The Gathering

Why Play Magic The Gathering
By Jacob Franics Malewitz

Magic the Gathering is an old card game for me, a good strategy game, and needless magical art, with blades, steels, elves, wolves, dogs, evil incarnate, and some swords of light. Magic The Gathering influenced much: much like the small series Battletech influenced many board games, magic influenced dozens of dungeons and dragons games.

Why play Magic?

At the Crossroads, by Jacob Malewitz

At the Crossroads
Faded Glory Jacket 100
Abercrombie and Finch, 2000
by Dark Alliances
By Jacob Malewitz
Iron Sword Games, OC

The light was golden and had an array of various colors to real to be a vision, to distinct to be a dream. I thought it was Ra again, or the demon within me that pretended to be Ra. If he was acting, then, he was very good with the details. Everything about him was ancient Egyptian, from the eyes to the lips to the tall hat and the braided beard. His eyes were what I noticed, that red glare in them, shaped differently than a man’s, more oval. Yet none of that mattered after he spoke. “You will die.” He stepped forward, floating on some golden sphere. We were at the clouds, and I could see sparks of lightning—it was Earth—but I didn’t care; I was angry.
“Who are you to say who lives and who dies?”
He didn’t answer. He wasn’t real. I yelled at him more, telling him as many curses and saying I’d been drinking too much the night before—and that was the only reason I had seen him.
I smoked. I drank.
The night before was a mirage of lighting and images of woman and bar stools and full ashtrays. Something had to be wrong in my system. I wanted to end the pain, yet every day I worked on making my pain greater.
It reminded me why I had been put in the ship, I saw everything in two ways—everyone died, everyone tried to escape the inevitable. Maybe gods, or demons, like Ra, lived eternally, yet, life wasn’t a pure joy for me and never had been, a peaceful ending would suit me, and death by unnatural phenomena wouldn’t be much different in the scheme of things.
The last piece of the vision came slowly, as though it were forced onto by something opposing Ra. There was man with a briefcase sitting, all I could see of his face was that it was pale white, and he was sitting in a chair in a cavern, holding off against a girl so beautiful that she aroused me just by a flash of her face. There was something evil in her, tempting, and I could see that the man with the briefcase was fighting himself more than anything. What was in the briefcase? I stepped forward. The vision broke.
What was in the briefcase? My mind jumped from point to point, trying to connect the dots but no understanding came, just more questions. The girl, who was she?

A Comic Writing Journal, The Frequency of 7

A Comic Book Writing Journal, The Frequency of 7

in coffee and heroes – 4/29

by Jacob Malewitz

An Iron Sword Games Presentation, 100

"7 Samurai" by Akira Kurosawa is one of the finest films ever created. I originally watched it in high school, but definitely did not watch it there. Actually, I grabbed it from the library, sat down, and watched a VHS copy of the story of how one village, hounded by evil doers, needed the help of samurai. And not just any samurai, and not just any number of samurai. The actual Japanese title was different, but the number "7" came from the number of samurai hired by the villagers. These men were odd balls to be sure, some funny, some odd, some disciplined, all with character and life, and portrayed with talent. It's been a few years since I watched the DVD version of Akira Kurosawas film masterpiece, but it's an ever present part of my storytelling process. And by storytelling,I am hinting at comic book writing.

I liked the idea of 7. It could be 7 monsters, 7 beasts, 7 angels, 7 detectives, 7 something. 7 of who were brought together in some odd way.

I chose "7 Killers," which is my first truly decent comic book attempt. It lacks an artist, has a wordy story synopsis, but it's a decent comic. It needs an artist, hello artists out there. I need your help.

I took to the idea of 7 because of "7 Samurai," but I completely reworked the story. These killers were far from samurai--actually one of them thinks of himself as a samurai, the aptly named Katana--because they're in essence hired killers.

Now, where did I get "killers" from? Why does it have to be something "cool" always like secret agents or hitmen? Actually, think John Woo. I to this day watch "The Killer" starring Chow Yun-Fat and directed by John Woo with glee. Oh, I know, the story is a bit suspect, it's no 7 Samurai, but John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat were at the top of their games in this film. It made both their careers in many ways. And it's still the best film both Fat and Woo ever did.

So we got "7 Samurai" and we got "The Killer." Why Asian cinema? I love Hong Kong and much of Japanese cinema. I enjoy anime, I love action, and I like orchestrated gun fights. But not a Jacky Chan fan, sorry.

So you'd think the plot is about as good as a Hong Kong action spectacular, but it took time to mold, took a bit of my own madness to finish, and lasted just long enough for me to hit 4 issues and start thinking of film rights.

A graphic novel isn't an easier form, but it's a form I love. I interviewed novelist Evan Kuhlman years back; he wrote "Wolf Boy,"a hybrid novel involving comics I reviewed for a newspaper. And Kuhlman had an interesting take on comic scripting: he said it's harder than novel writing. Maybe it's the mode you're in, the type of writer you are, the way you put words together. If you prefer screenplays and TV scripts to putting together thousands of words for short stories and a hundred thousand for novels, you might try it.