If you've followed Liliana Vess's story for any length of time, the setup for Dark Horse's new comic won't come as a surprise. Her journey to Innistrad to hunt the demon Griselbrand and reclaim a piece of her soul isn't a new plot twist invented for the comic — it's already part of her printed history.
So what does a four-issue comic actually add to a story longtime players already know the ending to? Quite a bit, as it turns out, once you look at exactly how thin the original source material for this specific arc actually was.
This isn't another general Liliana lore recap — we've covered her broader origin and her demonic bargains elsewhere. This is specifically about what's genuinely new in Untold Stories—Liliana versus what was already on the record before Dark Horse ever got involved.
Here's where the comic is faithfully adapting known lore, and where it's building something that genuinely didn't exist in any prior Magic material.
Card flavor text and early story material already established that Liliana bargained her soul to four demons — Kothophed, Razaketh, Belzenlok, and Griselbrand — in exchange for necromantic power and extended life. The pact is etched visibly into her skin as a permanent, literal reminder of the debt.
None of that is new territory for the comic; it's foundational lore that's been part of her character for well over a decade.
A short 2011 preview article published on Wizards' own site (and later removed, though archived) already confirmed that Liliana killed Kothophed using an artifact called the Chain Veil before her Innistrad arc even begins. That same brief article confirmed she made a lasting enemy of the planeswalker Garruk Wildspeaker in the process, cursing him during that confrontation.
By the time Untold Stories—Liliana opens, three of her four demons are already dead or targeted, and only Griselbrand's location was described as a rumor rather than a confirmed fact.
Here's the real gap: that entire Kothophed-to-Innistrad arc was told in roughly 1,000 words of preview prose, not a fully illustrated story. There was no dialogue, no paced confrontation, no supporting cast given room to breathe — just a plot summary wrapped around card reveals.
A four-issue, 128-page comic gives artist Nataliia Rerekina and writer Torunn Grønbekk the space to actually dramatize a hunt that previously existed only as a few paragraphs of marketing copy. That's a meaningfully different reading experience, not just a retelling in a new format.
Dark Horse's own solicit text includes a detail that doesn't appear anywhere in the older card-era material: Liliana is not the only seeker of vengeance walking Innistrad in this story. No prior flavor text names a specific rival hunting the same plane at the same time.
Dark Horse hasn't confirmed who this is yet, which means it's either a new character invented for the comic or an existing figure given a role the card game never spelled out. Either way, it's new information, not an adaptation of something already on record.
Every prior piece of Liliana's Innistrad-arc story came from Wizards' internal creative team writing short-form marketing content. This is the first time an outside writer with a specific voice — Torunn Grønbekk, known for character-driven work on Jane Foster: Valkyrie and Red Sonja — has taken a direct pass at dramatizing this exact moment in her life.
That alone is likely to change the tone of the material even where the plot beats line up with what's already known.
Going in knowing the broad outcome — Liliana survives, she's still hunting demons in later card sets — doesn't spoil much, since the actual value here is in the journey, the visual world-building of Innistrad, and whatever new rival the comic introduces. Treat this less like a mystery and more like getting a feature-length treatment of a scene you'd previously only read a plot summary of.
That framing also makes it easier to judge the comic on its own merits rather than purely as a lore-accuracy exercise.
Before you go further, it is worth keeping a couple of essentials on hand: EVORETRO Matte Card Sleeves Standard Size and The Ultimate Card Curator Set both help keep this collection in solid shape long-term.
No, Liliana hunting Griselbrand on Innistrad was already established in older preview material.
Full illustrated scene-by-scene storytelling, a dedicated outside creative team, and an unnamed rival teased only in the comic's own solicit.
Not as of this writing.
In a short 2011 preview article on Wizards' site, since removed but preserved via archive.
Keep the Innistrad-era cards tied to this story safe while you track the comic's new details with sleeves and a binder from EVORETRO's Magic the Gathering Collection.
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