The Books of Magic

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In Book III: The Land of Summer's Twilight (artwork by Charles Vess) he visits Faerie, Gemworld, Skartaris, King Arthur's Camelot, Hell, and the other mystical realms with Doctor Occult. The first voyage leads through the past with the Stranger and we get to see Atlantis, Ancient Egypt, mythological creatures from ancient Greece and more. In the last issue of the ongoing (second) The Books of Magic series, writer/artist Peter Gross played on the similarity to Potter, showing Tim's step brother Cyril putting on a glamor stone that made him look like Timothy. Cyril then walked through the wall between platforms 9 and 10 at a train station.

The original mini-series concentrated on Timothy Hunter's introduction to the world of magic by the Trenchcoat Brigade (the Phantom Stranger, Doctor Occult, Mister E, and John Constantine), who are aware that the boy has the potential to be the world's greatest magician but that his allegiance to good or evil is undecided. Equally, he could turn from the world of magic completely and be lost to either side. The Trenchcoat Brigade see it as their duty to resolve the uncertainty around Tim's fate one way or another. Las fuerzas de la oscuridad siempre están entre nosotros, niño. Y la luz siempre pide a gritos la venganza." Yes. And the first issue came out in late 1990, so I don't want to hear anything from the Hogwarts groupies about this being a rip-off of Harry Potter.Timothy Hunter is a normal boy, or so it appears. Four men approach him one day - John Constantine, Doctor Occult, Mr. E and Stranger. The Books of Magic is a comic book series set in the DC Universe's Vertigo imprint, created by Neil Gaiman. It was originally conceived as a "tour" of DC's magical universe, showing off important supervillain and superhero figures, the magical realms, laying down the basic rules of magic, and showing the history of the universe and magic in it from start to finish. The concept was introduced in a 4 issue mini-series written by Gaiman, lasting from January to April, 1991.

The entire point of these trips were to show Tim the price of magic and to, hopefully, have him choose the side of Light instead of Darkness. A magical romp through magical realms this story shines when the realms of magic are explained by the four famous characters. The artwork is superb throughout and truly helps to craft the image. This book is so well done that even the lettering is subtly different depending on the scene. The story? Utterly magnificent! Perhaps my favorite parts were the Constantine trip and the Dr. Occult trip. I shall not spoil any more of this truly amazing work. The fact that Tim can choose to believe in magic, or not, and that it always has a steep price is the central message. The viewpoints of the characters is also a pleasure, though my favorite is John Constantine. There is a scene in a mage bar called "Bewitched" that is classic JC..and yes JC is a badass. Victory Through Intimidation: Demonstrated by John Constantine on a room full of magical supervillains in the original miniseries. It's a bluff, but he is John Constantine. With the creator of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, being publicly transphobic, many fans of the beloved franchise are looking for other media that can fill the gap left by Harry Potter. Tim Hunter and the Books of Magic series are a wonderful way to continue enjoying the story of a young boy on a quest to learn magic, and his place in the world, without the painful connections to such a harmful and polarizing creator. This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. ( March 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Bad Future: Mister E takes Timothy to see one in which he has become a nigh-invincible evil archmage slaughtering most of the world's greatest practitioners of magic in an epic battle that will cause magic to be largely forgotten for centuries. The third voyage is with Doctor Occult, who takes the boy to the worlds parallel to ours (Fairyland chiefly amongst them) and we get to encounter a baba yaga as well as the queen herself, Titania.

Sir Timothy and Barbatos return to Tim's time from 2012 because Tim is the last boy in the multiverse who could possibly grow up to be Sir Timothy, and they intend to ensure that he does. Their plans are thwarted without Tim even being aware of them, as he has a guardian angel called Araquel who is chained between Heaven and Hell for having had a daughter called Nikki with Khara. Khara defeats Sir Timothy on Tim's behalf. The intervention doesn't mean that Tim is safe, however, as he has come to the attention of the last member of the Cult of the Cold Flame, a magician called Martyn. [16] Tim and his burnt father threatened by Martyn and Leah, from the cover to issue #7. Peter Gross explained in his 25 issue run on the book as being the story of Tim's "boy time", commenting that previously the book had often presented benevolent female characters but had been less successful at their benevolent male counterparts. His story was partly designed, then, to show Tim accepting his male side and learning how to be a boy - one of Gross' reasons for not using the character of Molly during his run. He did comment that if he had stayed on the book, Gross' next story would have shown Tim similarly exploring his feminine side and would therefore have reintroduced some of the established female characters such as Molly or Gwen. [9] Friendly Enemy: Tala, the Queen of Evil (from The Phantom Stranger) is portrayed as this to Zatanna.The Books of Magic" isn't a comic book as you know it -- it's a journey across worlds and time, where an ordinary preteen boy discovers that he has the potential to be the greatest magician in the world. And though it was apparently meant to highlight various magical characters, Gaiman's story is more Joseph Campbell than comic book hero. An exclusive Books of Magic story, titled "The Lot" and written by Ney Rieber, appeared in Vertigo Rave #1, published in the fall of 1994. Gaiman used the four issues to formally split the structure of the story and allow for a different artist to draw each issue:

the artwork in The Books of Magic is splendid, a real treat. John Bolton, Scott Hampton, and Paul Johnson create shadowy, smearily impressionistic, layered, slowly shifting, ambiguously dream-like imagery that throws everything into question, including the narrative itself. classic fairy tale illustrator Charles Vess brings his own unique and enchanting style to his piece; the results are quite different (reminscent of the stylized, now-retro illustrations in old children's books like The Wizard of Oz), but are also suberb - Vess is a perfect artist for the third book's journey into Faerie. Adaptational Villainy: When he first appeared in Secrets of Haunted House, Mister E was a very nice monster-slayer who always treated his employees kindly. His ability to "see" good and evil was a basis for writing him as a mad, fundamentalist Knight Templar in the first Books of Magic miniseries.a b c d e "Interview with John Ney Rieber". Serie Journalen. December 1, 1995. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008 . Retrieved April 28, 2008. Beyond the story, the artwork is beautiful in each volume, but different from artist to artist. Not in a jarring way, just noticeably different. Continuity Porn: The original miniseries. If a character hails from The DCU (circa 1991) and does any amount of magic, they will at the very least get a cameo.