Magic: The Gathering: Untold Stories—Liliana #1 is scheduled to go on sale October 14, 2026, launching a four-issue Dark Horse Comics miniseries centered on Liliana Vess. The story places the necromancer on Innistrad, where she is hunting the demon Griselbrand in an effort to reclaim the portion of her soul tied to him.
Torunn Grønbekk writes the series, with art by Nataliia Rerekina, lettering by Clayton Cowles, and a main cover by Rerekina. The first issue is listed at 32 pages, rated T, with a $4.99 U.S. cover price. Variant covers from Sibylline Meynet and Abigail Larson are also listed at the same U.S. price.
A personal quest built around an infernal bargain
The setup begins with the cost of Liliana’s power. Her strength and command over death were purchased through a deal involving her soul and four demons: Kothophed, Razaketh, Belzenlok, and Griselbrand. Now Liliana wants out. The pact is not merely an abstract past decision; it is physically etched into her skin, giving the series a very visible reminder of the character’s obligation and the stakes behind her pursuit.
That premise gives the miniseries a clear engine from its opening issue. Liliana is not simply traveling to Innistrad because the setting is dangerous or mysterious. She has a specific target, Griselbrand, and a specific aim: recover what he took and move toward destroying the pact that still binds her.
For readers unfamiliar with the terminology, a necromancer is a practitioner of magic associated with death and the dead. The series’ description presents Liliana as exceptionally powerful in that discipline, but its central tension is that power came with a price. Rather than making the first issue a story about gaining strength, it makes it a story about the consequences of having gained it.
Why Innistrad matters to the conflict
The search takes Liliana to Innistrad, described here as a plane marked by corruption, chaos, and suffering. In Magic: The Gathering terms, a plane is a distinct world within the setting’s larger multiverse. That makes Innistrad more than a backdrop: it is the world believed to contain Griselbrand, and an environment whose instability matches the moral and supernatural pressure around Liliana’s mission.
The description does not frame the hunt as a clean one-on-one reckoning. Other people seeking vengeance are also moving through Innistrad. That detail introduces the prospect of competing motives and interruptions to Liliana’s objective. A vengeance story can quickly become more complicated when every party arrives convinced that their own grievance deserves to be settled first.
It also suggests that the four-issue format may have room to explore the consequences of Griselbrand’s presence beyond Liliana’s private debt. Liliana’s mission is the stated center of the book, but the wider setting is populated by people whose goals can collide with, redirect, or challenge her own.
An “untold story” rather than a broad crossover
The series is explicitly presented as an all-new untold story from the Magic: The Gathering world. Based on the available description, its focus is notably narrow: one character, one demon, one part of a four-demon pact, and one hostile destination. That can be a useful entry point for comic readers who want a character-led fantasy premise rather than a story built around a large cast of game figures.
The book’s hook is also easy to state without requiring familiarity with every name in the pact. Liliana made a devastating bargain for power. She is now trying to reverse it. Griselbrand is the immediate obstacle. Everything else follows from that conflict.
For established Magic readers, the named demons supply a defined framework for Liliana’s past and make clear that the Griselbrand hunt represents one piece of a larger burden. For readers arriving primarily through comics, the premise still works on its own terms: a powerful woman whose body bears the terms of an unwanted supernatural contract has to confront one of the beings holding her life in escrow.
The creative team and issue details
Grønbekk is credited as writer, while Rerekina handles the interior art and main cover. The solicitation also identifies Rerekina with The Witcher, a useful point of reference for readers considering the kind of fantasy illustration associated with the artist’s work. Grønbekk’s listed credits include Jane Foster: Valkyrie, Red Sonja, and Catwoman.
Cowles is credited as letterer. Lettering is the comics craft that places dialogue, captions, sound effects, and other textual elements on the page in a readable visual rhythm. It is particularly important in a premise driven by spells, a marked pact, tense confrontations, and information about a larger supernatural bargain: the reader needs to follow both the scene and the terms of the danger.
The issue’s solicited specifications are:
- On sale: October 14, 2026
- Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
- Format: 32 pages
- Rating: T
- U.S. price: $4.99
- Series length: Four issues
Readers looking at the single issue have three listed cover options. Rerekina provides the standard cover, with Meynet credited for Cover B and Larson for Cover C. The information provided does not indicate any story differences between those editions, so the variants appear to be alternate cover choices for the same debut issue.
What the first issue is positioned to establish
The debut has several jobs to do. It needs to establish Liliana’s desire to break free, explain why Griselbrand is the immediate priority, and make Innistrad feel like a place where a determined necromancer cannot simply arrive and claim an easy victory. The mention of additional vengeance seekers gives the issue a ready-made source of conflict without revealing how those characters will affect the hunt.
Most importantly, the series is built around agency rather than accident. Liliana is not described as being dragged into the crisis. She has arrived with a purpose and is determined to take back the piece of her soul held by Griselbrand. The uncertainty lies in the resistance she will meet, the consequences of her past bargain, and the competing agendas already active on the plane.
For another recent comics-focused item on the site, see X-Men #39 and John Greycrow’s incoming threat.
Magic: The Gathering: Untold Stories—Liliana #1 arrives as the opening chapter of a compact supernatural revenge story: Liliana Vess, marked by an old agreement, goes to Innistrad to find Griselbrand and begin taking back control of the debt written across her skin.
