1997 and 1998 MTG Calendar Cards

[charlequin]

So in the 1990s WotC did a lot more diverse merchandising (partially because of pre-internet buying habits and partially from just not knowing what would be successful.) One of the things they did for a while was wall calendars, originally just with reprinted art from cards. However, in 1997 and 1998 they did two years of calendars with mostly or all-new art for existing cards and characters from existing Magic artists (a variety of settings in 1997, all Mirage block in 1998). There's a lot of great work in these calendars, a little bit of which (the Rebecca Guay Serra Angel) has been repurposed elsewhere later, but most of which hasn't been seen again. So! I threw together some card mockups using these illustrations.

1997 Calendar:



1998 Calendar:



All 22 cards in 200 and 300 DPI can be found in More Releases > Other.

[charlequin]

There was also a Page-A-Day Calendar published. I've been meaning to scan these in for a while... now I have more motivation to do so! The copy on the pages is pretty great too; seems like someone who was working at Wizards wrote it, or the calendar writer got really into their backstory. It seems like some might be made up... or maybe that was just the current story arc at the time!

Some of this stuff comes from the "Continuity" (aka Creative) team at the time, with details that never made it into cards or novels and thus never quite made canon. It's also apparently the only printed source ever for information about the Elder Dragon War.

I know dragsamou would be interested in this as he doesn't have any images besides the cover for this calendar. (If he's reading this, I have the 1997 calendar, which I can get pictures from for a couple pages that are missing.)

[dragsamou]

There was also a Page-A-Day Calendar published. I've been meaning to scan these in for a while... now I have more motivation to do so! The copy on the pages is pretty great too; seems like someone who was working at Wizards wrote it, or the calendar writer got really into their backstory. It seems like some might be made up... or maybe that was just the current story arc at the time!

Some of this stuff comes from the "Continuity" (aka Creative) team at the time, with details that never made it into cards or novels and thus never quite made canon. It's also apparently the only printed source ever for information about the Elder Dragon War.

I know dragsamou would be interested in this as he doesn't have any images besides the cover for this calendar. (If he's reading this, I have the 1997 calendar, which I can get pictures from for a couple pages that are missing.)

http://www.magiclibrarities.net/1072-ra ... index.html

Yes, there's a subsection about them, but I'm missing a bunch of scans, info, etc. The major problem is that my scanner is not big enough or that I own them sealed, or simply as that I don't own some of them. By clicking on each tabs, you can see what's missing.

[charlequin]

There was also a Page-A-Day Calendar published. I've been meaning to scan these in for a while... now I have more motivation to do so! The copy on the pages is pretty great too; seems like someone who was working at Wizards wrote it, or the calendar writer got really into their backstory. It seems like some might be made up... or maybe that was just the current story arc at the time!

Some of this stuff comes from the "Continuity" (aka Creative) team at the time, with details that never made it into cards or novels and thus never quite made canon. It's also apparently the only printed source ever for information about the Elder Dragon War.

I know dragsamou would be interested in this as he doesn't have any images besides the cover for this calendar. (If he's reading this, I have the 1997 calendar, which I can get pictures from for a couple pages that are missing.)

http://www.magiclibrarities.net/1072-ra ... index.html

Yes, there's a subsection about them, but I'm missing a bunch of scans, info, etc. The major problem is that my scanner is not big enough or that I own them sealed, or simply as that I don't own some of them. By clicking on each tabs, you can see what's missing.

Do you want pictures of the missing/low-res pages from the 1997 Calendar then?

[Teppic]

Neat. Thanks charlequin.

Another source for similar alternate art was this Kickstarter book from a few years ago where they asked prominent magic artists to reimagine early pieces they did for the game. I could probably scan some of this art if you'd like to do mockups with them.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14 ... ts-of-magi

[dragsamou]

Do you want pictures of the missing/low-res pages from the 1997 Calendar then?

Hi Charlequin

Yes, I could used the two missing for the Magic: the Gathering Calendar 1997 till I get HQ ones:
Phyrexian War Beast (March)
Baron Sengir (November)

Thanks

[charlequin]

Another source for similar alternate art was this Kickstarter book from a few years ago where they asked prominent magic artists to reimagine early pieces they did for the game. I could probably scan some of this art if you'd like to do mockups with them.

Yeah, I got a copy of this off the Kickstarter. I've thought about doing the same thing, although possibly waiting out a while so not to do it while it's still an active product.

Yes, I could used the two missing for the Magic: the Gathering Calendar 1997 till I get HQ ones

I'll send some over this week.

[charlequin]

Wow, those look gorgeous. This is an awesome piece of ephemera to preserve like this.

[charlequin]

100, 200, and 300 DPI images of the 1997 Daily Calendar pages now available in More Releases > Other > 1997 Daily Calendar.