"Avengers: Armageddon," #1 Will Come With Promotional, "Magic the Gathering," Card

Here is some interesting marketing synergy. Marvel has partnered with Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast for assorted, "Magic the Gathering," promotions and is now bringing it in directly to the comics. You see, the first printing of the first issue of, "Avengers: Armageddon," kicks off an event series (written by Chip Zdarsky with art by  Frank Alpizar and Delio Diaz) and will have a special card that you can--I assume--use in your Magic games. I know almost nothing about, "Magic: The Gathering," as friends have tried to get me into it, but I always told them I spend enough hours and funds on my current hobbies not to need a new timesink and money pit. That said, I did play the virtual card game,"Hearthstone," some years ago, and when I was a wee lad, and only 151 Pokémon existed, I played that trading card game. Hence, I have some familiarity with trading card games and know Magic is a big one.

This promotion makes me wonder if the goal is more to get comic fans into Magic (nah) or to encourage Magic fans to try some Marvel comics (likely). I'm leaning more towards the latter as it is clever to have the card accompany the debut of a big new event. I could imagine someone who is really into, "Magic: The Gathering," buying the issue mainly for the card, but reading the comic and wanting to follow along with at least this latest big happening in the Marvel continuity (it helps Zdarsky is among the few writers at Marvel putting out stuff in the, "Main," Universe that I like and don't find drab along with Jed MacKay's work on Moon Knight). I could see the result being short-term success for the debut, but I wonder if there will be interest in the follow-up issues, depending on whether gamers read the actual issue. We shall see!