Get a Free Comic from Dark Horse Comics: Dungeons & Dragons: Magefall

If you rolled low and failed your Perception check on Free Comic Book Day, here's your Advantage on your roll thanks to Dark Horse Comics! 

Download your free copy of Dungeons & Dragons: Magefall here!

In this free Dungeons & Dragons graphic story from Dark Horse Comics, you'll witness an epic arcane duel between the powerful wizard, Mordenkainen, and an aspect of a dragon god! The fate of the Forgotten Realms is at stake in this prologue to a grand tale! Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, illustrated by Alessandro Miracolo, colored by Valentina Taddeo, and lettered by Haley Rose-Lyon.

Keep your sending stones tight in hand for more information about this story coming from this year’s San Diego Comic Con, and dive a little deeper behind-the-scenes with writers Jackson and Collin in this Q&A.

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This story focuses on one of the oldest characters associated with Dungeons & Dragons. Can you tell us a little bit about Mordenkainen and what writing about him was like?

LANZING: Imagine a man who has seen aeons untold, nearly infinite in his command of magic and dedicated to one thing above all else: the preservation of balance between the extremes of good and evil. A character that went from Gary Gygax’s very own player character in the dark fantasy of Greyhawk and survived to become an ever-present NPC across the Forgotten Realms. A wizard that is equal parts Charles Xavier and Magneto— manipulative and confident and cloistered in eternal power—

KELLY: —and then knock him right on his ass, strip him of his magic, and leave him with nothing but a world-shattering mystery to solve.

LANZING: That’s Mordenkainen as readers will find him by the end of our Free Comic Book Day story—a desperate man who must learn to operate in the world he has so long lived above and beyond. As for what comes after that . . . well . . . only the Ioun Stones can tell, and the closest one was just incinerated by Bahamut. Whoops.

Most D&D fans are familiar with the layers of lore and deep backstories that go into writing about Dungeons & Dragons. What was your preparation and research for this story like?

KELLY: Genuinely, we were prepared by decades of rabidly loving the game. I wore the covers off my library’s Forgotten Realms novels; Jack is several years into running a 5e campaign for his parents; we both play D&D about as often as we do anything else in life. Knowing both the world and the rules so well gave writing this story an additional thrill—we not only get to tell the most dramatic moment of a fantasy icon’s life . . . but do it while actually utilizing the spell list of a Level 20 Wizard. The rules themselves create elements of the story, which—as every player knows—is the whole dang point. Of course, for those corners where we might not be quite so encyclopedic, our incredible partners at D&D were willing to crack open their ancient tomes and share Secrets of the Deep Lore . . .

LANZING: Yeah, it’s a little like scrying! We have what we know, what we’ve played, the adventures we’ve done ourselves—from Waterdeep to Barovia to Calimshan— but then we also have access to a lot of the sourcebooks to come. So our work gets to be informed as much by where D&D is going as where it has been—and our research gets to be reading it all before it’s out there in the hands of the wider playerbase. It’s like playtesting . . . but then it gets drawn by some of the best artists in the world.

What does your cowriting process look like?

LANZING: Our partnership is built on a lifelong friendship and enthusiasm for intimate stories on epic scales—so yeah, we see each other every day either in person or over Zoom and build everything from our conversations. Every story begins as a jam session as we dig into what we love about the characters, where we think the story can go, what brilliant visuals we can inspire in the artist, and how we can twist the audience in knots along the way. Just like a D&D table, it’s collaborative storytelling. From there, we outline the story within an inch of its life and then split it right in half.

KELLY: Of course, by the time the story’s done, we’ve both touched every page. So it’s a true collaboration and conversation, right until the moment it goes to print.

Every character in D&D has an alignment, and Mordenkainen is interesting in that he is True Neutral, which allows him to see the world in a much different way from Lawful Good Paladins or Chaotic Evil followers of fiends and demons. What do you consider your alignment to be?

KELLY: Chaotic Good. Not out of choice—despite my best intentions, things just tend to get out of hand.

LANZING: I’m not sure one can ever truly know one’s own alignment, but I like to think I’m Neutral Good. There are lawful and chaotic dragons inside me and they’re constantly entangled—I try to follow whichever one brings me joy or could lead to my team’s success. But I’m the kind of person who can’t stand hurting another person’s feelings, let alone do anything explicitly evil. So maybe my alignment is . . . anxious?

There are lots of villains, anti-heroes, heroes, and even background characters in the world of D&D. Is there anyone you've encountered that you'd love to write a story about?

LANZING: I’ll tell ya: as someone who is running The Wild Beyond the Witchlight for his parents at the moment, I’d be very happy to someday get to write a story about the denizens of the Witchlight Carnival. That place is bonkers in the best way—and hiding such a rich history of intrigue and illusion. What can I say, I’m a sucker for the Fey.

KELLY: There are so many incredible characters across theD&D canon that I would absolutely hex to get my hands on. But honestly? My very favorite character—the character of whom I have read effectively every single book—is already going to be in the—

—*Collin’s mouth suddenly SNAPS CLOSED as Spoiler Mages cast Hold Person from the shadows.*

LANZING: Nothing to see here, move along.

What do you love most about D&D?

KELLY: I’m going to go ahead and make a controversial statement: I think D&D is one of the greatest games ever made. It combines math and reading with imagination and social play; it gives players the rules to explore a world and identities outside themselves; it lets us experience the wonders of fantasy in a world that can be oh-so-painfully real. But I guess, if I really had to drill down on one thing I love most . . .

. . . I mean, the dragons. Obviously.

LANZING: It’s story as jazz, a fictional jam session with the potential to be both darkly serious and absurdly silly, that mines every corner of the public imagination so you and your friends can bring something new to life. How could I not love it?

What’s next for Mordenkainen?

LANZING: That’s the question, isn’t it? Bahamut thought he was putting Mordenkainen down permanently, but he only seems to have made the Mad Mage more determined than ever. Suffice to say, if it were me, I’d probably start recruiting those with more power than me to get to the bottom of the apocalypse that has my name written all over it. And in all honesty, I’d probably start with the master of disaster himself, Mr.—

—*In a flash of light, Collin and Jack are suddenly GONE as the Spoiler Mages hit them with Plane Shift, throwing them to a dimension where they can’t say another dang thing.*