A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Our crises and social issues are still with us, and will require long-term work to improve. But it’s important not to burn out in an already stressful year. We’ve said it before, but we hope that little distractions like the Mythic Messenger help you get some downtime and reduce that load as we all try to get through 2020 intact.

First, some “awww”-worthy news

You’ll remember that Mythic Markets has been running a giveaway contest to celebrate our MTG-94BOX offering - one where a lucky winner would receive a FREE commission from art studio Revelen’s Light to create a customized Magic: The Gathering card with unique artwork.

The winner’s name was drawn in a video released last week. Jeff Ortiz is the lucky man, and after a day or two to think and discuss with the artist he has a terrific idea on what to do with his prize. 

Jeff is a dedicated Commander player with many kitted-out decks, but has never had a card altered before. He’s chosen Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - commander for one of his best decks - to be painted by Revelen’s Light. 

“It’s mostly an engagement gift to my fiancee,” Jeff explained to us. “She loves the (Derevi) deck and she played way back in the days of Alpha to Unlimited. She sadly doesn’t have any of her cards anymore, but she remembers how to play and wants to be as good as me. She will play Derevi and I will play my Alesha deck.”

Jeff’s described how he planned an alter to dedicate the deck - and his love - to his fiancee.

“It’s Derevi, but I’m getting it to show her holding a Sol Ring with a diamond on top of it, and my favorite cards floating around Derevi… the text will say ‘April, you are the love of my life and you will be with me no matter the distance.’”

What a beautiful way to use the prize; the MTG-94BOX giveaway is going to help a 1994 Magic player to rediscover her love for the game. We can’t wait to see the final product Revelen’s Light produces!

Victory for Snyder & DC fans: Extended Justice League cut announced!

Never say never in Hollywood! When the DC Cinematic Universe attempted to follow in the footsteps of Marvel’s Avengers flicks with their own tentpole release, Justice League, it was unmercifully savaged by critics and fans alike.

Zack Snyder had already polarized audiences with his first few DC movies, setting a distinctly grim and grey tone through Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They departed from the blueprint of lighthearted success drawn up by Marvel’s team - and some comics readers would argue from the source material itself.

But critically, the Snyder movies had fans. And when family tragedy forced Snyder away from the production of Justice League, the studio’s choice to replace him with Avengers alum Joss Whedon seemed to abandon those fans. 

It’s hard to fully blame either of them for the resulting film. Whedon has been a consistent and proven success, but was working with what he was given under significant time and studio pressures. Snyder’s creative and directorial decisions may have left behind a disaster not even Whedon could salvage, but we still don’t know what he would have delivered if he’d been able to fulfill his vision entirely.

That is, until now.

While the world swiftly moved on from the flop of Justice League and from Snyder’s DCU as a whole, the committed fans did not. Convinced their man had been unfairly treated, they theorized a better version of this tepid movie, one which realized the original ideal the director had been building up to over his previous movies. They demanded the Snyder Cut, on social media and in organized PR stunts which got the director himself in on the movement.

And so now we have the announcement, with Zack Snyder’s Justice League scheduled as a flagship title for HBO’s streaming service in 2021. A streaming release seems like a perfect compromise for this oddball project - it would be difficult to push for a cinematic relaunch just four years after the original cut bombed. This medium also removes any limitation on Snyder’s creativity - convenient, since he has hinted his Cut will run over four hours.

At least we’ll have something to pass the time if we’re all still under isolation by next year.

Rise of Skywalker postmortem shows what might have been for Finn & Rose

The Snyder Cut saga has certainly shown how much more aware and involved audiences are with their favorite franchises in the internet age. In the case of The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars diehards are already unraveling the truth behind some of its most contentious decisions.

Both Rise and its immediate predecessor The Last Jedi ran afoul of public opinion, prompting the now obligatory online debates about how things should have been done better. It doesn’t help that these movies were also helmed by different directors, opposed in their ideas and creative ethos. By flip-flopping between J.J. Abrams and controversial Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, the Disney studios team behind the trilogy ended up with the worst of both worlds. The treatment of central characters Finn and Rose in Rise was a blatant example.

Finn (John Boyega), a stormtrooper compelled by moral instinct to desert the First Order, was very much positioned as a leading man in the first sequel film, The Force Awakens. His position alongside Jedi heir Rey and ace pilot Poe was meant to evoke comparisons to Luke, Leia and Han. But he slipped out of the limelight as the crux of the trilogy shifted to focus on the rivalry between Rey and her foil Kylo Ren. 

Resistance fighter Rose Tico had a very significant role in The Last Jedi, to the point that actress Kelly Marie Tran was targeted by a vicious hate campaign for supposedly “hogging the spotlight”. But both of these well-supported character arcs were simply abandoned for the final movie, a disappointing effort which only looks worse when you consider Finn and Rose were the trilogy’s two most visible racial minorities. Fans were quick to voice their disdain to Disney, and the cast and crew were astonishingly quick to join in the criticism; clearly this production was never a happy one.

One such instance came this week when early concept art was leaked from the original storyboards of Rise - and looking much closer to what fans expected than what we actually got. In this vision, Finn is the figurehead and flagbearer of the Resistance, a fitting conclusion for a man whose first real act of self-determination was risking it all to join their side. Rose is right there next to him, in a battle pose alongside Poe and Chewbacca. Naturally, fans from around the world were immediately asking, “Where was this cut?!?”

Funnily enough, this art actually dates back to when Rise was slated for a third director, Colin Trevorrow. The studio replaced him with Abrams early in development after seeing how awkwardly Rian Johnson’s vision for The Last Jedi clashed with its supposed lead-in The Force Awakens. But it was already known that Trevorrow had plans for an entirely different movie than the Rise Abrams eventually delivered. And after the success of the Snyder Cut campaign and the outburst of fan interest around this concept, perhaps we’ll get to see that movie too, someday.

Fast fandom

As always, there is a ton going on in the interconnected world of pop culture and fan media. Here are a few of the stories that caught our eye:

M21 previews reveal valuable reprints

After months of rough PR for Magic: The Gathering creator Wizards of the Coast, the games company has gotten back on the front foot with an explosive launch of their Core Set 2021 preview season this week. While previews for new sets are always major events on the Magic calendar, Wizards has blown fans away with reveals of incredibly valuable cards old and new.

Not only are some of these reprinted cards being made available for the first time since the 1990’s, but many are also included as ultra-rare, full-art promos! As a result, pundits are speculating that the return on opening and flipping boosters of Core Set 2021 could yield some of the highest value in recent years - and preorder demand is already running hot.

#DCSUCKS! - Is the comics giant killing its own industry?

Wailing and gnashing of teeth was heard from comics retailers across America last week, as news spread that DC Comics had fully severed ties with Diamond Comic Book Distributors - a massive shift for the industry.

Diamond has had a monopoly on U.S. distribution for decades - in part because the simplicity of this single-contact model helped keep small comics retailers afloat. That arrangement looks to be dead in the water, as DC continues to prepare a new distribution system involving multiple smaller companies.

Even respected leaders like Chuck Rozanski of the legendary Mile High Comics store are now accusing DC of abandoning them; Mile High immediately announced a 50% off “DCSUCKS!” sale on their back issues in retaliation. How does this help the situation? It’s not clear - but what is clear is the real anguish the management at DC are putting their retailers through during an already difficult period.

BONUS TRIVIA

Zack Snyder’s fans have some good reasons for believing so strongly in the director’s vision for the DCU. He has a track record of consistently leaving little details in his films which foreshadow events he would later lobby to include in future movies. One such example appears within the first 10 minutes of Man of Steel, setting up the events of Batman v Superman. Do you know about it?

As Snyder recently confirmed during the same watch party he used to announce his Justice League cut, the moon of Krypton is shown heavily damaged during Kal-El’s origin sequence, showing that the monster Doomsday has already escaped from his imprisonment there. Doomsday, of course, would show up years later to menace Superman in a different movie.