Books of Magic



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, lasting from January to April, 1991.

The books begin with four famous magicians from DC's history meeting Timothy Hunter, a poor adolescent British boy with messy, dark hair and coke-bottle glasses, who is destined to be the supreme avatar of magic of the age, on par with Merlin in the Dark Ages. They show him everything they know about magic, and at first he refuses the call but then accepts.

Everyone and everything he meets wants to use Tim for their own purposes or kill him (Except, obviously, Death herself), including demons, fairies, and angels. Tim's friends and family are targeted by supernatural forces beyond imagining in attempts to get Tim to agree to a Magically Binding Contract to own his soul and power. And everything gets really, really weird.

After the four-part series, Tim got a continuation of the title, focusing much more upon himself and the forces dealing with him rather than the DC Universe (this was around the same time the Vertigo line was distancing itself from stuff in the DCU). Unlike, say, Harry Potter, Tim does not immediately start taking magic lessons; instead, he wanders around, wondering what to do with his life now that it has irrevocably become more bizarre, and dealing with all sorts of hard situations.

The ongoing series lasted for 75 issues (May, 1994 - August, 2000), and was followed up with a five-part mini-series called Names of Magic (February - June, 2001), in which Tim is admitted to "The White School" to study magic in earnest. This series served as a transition to another ongoing series named Hunter -- The Age of Magic, which dealt with Tim's last days at the White School, and his life post-graduation. This series lasted for 25 issues (September, 2001 - September, 2003).

There have also been a few spin-off mini-series under the collective title The Books of Faerie, which focus on supporting characters like Titania, Auberon and Molly.

Lastly, a fifteen-issue Darker and Edgier Alternate Continuity series called The Books Of Magick: Life During Wartime (July, 2004 - December, 2005) depicted an alternate Tim Hunter -- as well as alternate versions of Molly O'Reiley, John Constantine and Zatanna) -- caught in a war between the Born (the Faeries) and the Bred (the humans).

The Books of Magic provides examples of:

 * Batman Gambit: Tim pulls off an impressive one with Barbatos in the very last issue.
 * Big Brother Mentor: John Constantine to Tim.
 * Changeling Fantasy: Tim is apparently the illegitimate son of Queen Titania and her human falconer Tamlin, raised by mortal parents.
 * At least at first. Then Auberon says that Tim has no faerie blood and it seems he's the illegitimate son of Tamlin and Mary Hunter, and the changeling son of Titania and Tamlin is his half-brother whose fate is unknown. But it's never completely certain. A third possiblity raised is that Mary Hunter was a faerie nursemaid under a glamour who smuggled Tim out of Faerie at Titania's request to hide the fact that Her Majesty was a human sorceress under a glamour and the baby, having been fathered by Tamlin, was fully human.
 * So the only thing really certain is that Tamlin is Tim's biological father and William Hunter isn't.
 * Cloning Blues: Molly's clones, created by Sir Timothy Hunter, live lives of fairly literal soulless indoctrination to become suitable pretty-pretties for Sir Timothy.
 * Cosmic Egg: This is how worlds are born. Tim restores the dying realm of Faerie by finding a world egg to hatch a new Faerie.
 * Cursed With Awesome: Molly grows a garden (a "real garden," as in, "tomato orchard," not "pleasure garden") while in Faerie, and Titania gets miffed about this for no good reason, so she puts an enchantment on the garden. When Molly eats one of the fruits, she gets cursed and is constantly on fire without burning. Molly is pissed, of course, but she puts the curse to good use by burning everything that stands in her way on her march to the Titania's palace.
 * Does Not Know His Own Strength: Tim is the magical equivalent of this.
 * Don't Fear the Reaper: Tim meets Death from Sandman several times; the first is at the end of all time (when the only thing left is Death), the second is when he's in the Afterlife Antechamber because his body is dying from manticore poison. He bumps into her a few other times throughout the series.
 * Doom Magnet: Pretty much every supporting character that doesn't have their own series or place in the DCU or Vertigo universe eventually ends up dead after meeting Tim.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Half of the entities Tim deals with on a regular basis.
 * The Everyman: Tim.
 * Evil Matriarch, Titania, Queen of Faerie and Tim's real mother.
 * The Fair Folk: Dealing with them is a major chapter of the original four-part story, and a major part of the series proper once it began.
 * Friendly Enemy: Tala the Queen of Evil (from The Phantom Stranger) is portrayed as this to Zatanna.
 * Future Me Scares Me: An evil future-version of Tim, apparently some sort of sorcerous overlord who likes making clones of Molly, pops up when his "servant" Barbatos points out that the past is in flux and there may not actually be a reality that leads to creating him, thus he tries to ensure that Tim will make the decisions that lead to being him. (Apparently one of the deals he made for power was erasing his own memory of the past, so he's literally got a Multiple Choice Past). Changes to the timeline result in "Sir Timothy" becoming a homeless bum in the future, then a dragon in Hell, then Alas, Poor Villain. Tim avoids this path by royally pulling one over on Barbatos.
 * Gender Bender: Doctor Occult turns into Rose while in Faerie (previous versions had her as his assistant, not literally his other half).
 * Tim himself, in the later parts of the ongoing series, spends several issues in the form of a girl, thanks an amulet that once belonged to his mother. Unlike many examples of the trope, he doesn't even find it remotely freaky to suddenly be of the opposite sex, just viewing it as a handy way to disguise his real identity (but then, this is hardly the first time he's changed shape, or had his shape changed for him, and most of the changes were decidedly freakier -- at least this time he is still human, walks on two legs and can wear normal clothes). Since he looks like a younger version of his mother, he adopts the name "Mary." Tim even responds positively to Charles Rowland (of the Dead Boy Detectives) flirting with him as "Mary" in a Winter's Edge story.
 * Girl Next Door: Molly.
 * God Save Us From the Queen: Who do you think?
 * Horny Devils: Leah, though she doesn't really like it.
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: In an odd variation, Tim is easily corrupted by outside forces, but something about his soul is "purely human" in a vaguely defined way.
 * Every character in the setting has a Spirit Animal or inner beast that reveals things about them through Animal Stereotypes. Tim's Spirit Animal is a human. Which is as freaky as it sounds.
 * An homage is made to this in the fanfic Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality, where Harry's Patronus is humanity.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: Tim, multiple times.
 * Magically Binding Contract: The focal point of nearly every other plot point, particularly in Faerie.
 * Merlin and Nimue: Provides the page quote from Tim's brief meeting with Merlin.
 * Missing Mom: Mary Hunter died in a car accident a decade ago or so.
 * Obviously Evil: Mister E is set up for this in his first appearance in the four-parter, what with his suggestion they murder Tim out of pure pragmatism, and his misogynistic comments further cement this (he was literally raised to believe that women are the source of all evil).
 * Parental Neglect: Consequently, William Hunter spends a lot of time watching the TV or sitting zoned out in that very car instead of being aware of his son.
 * There Can Be Only One: Tim vs his alternate selves.
 * "This Is a Work of Fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof."
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Auberon, especially in comparison to the vindictive and impulsive Titania. If The Fair Folk have a reputation for screwing mortals over, he's the one who stands on the opposite side. "Old Glory," the fairy market-master in the four-parter, also stands as this; he keeps a dishonest fairy shopkeeper from framing Tim for theft and renders some immediate justice.
 * Seeker Archetype: Tim
 * The Slow Path: Inverted from the norm, but still really slow. Mister E, who is able to fast-forward himself into the future to take a look at it, has a harder time going backwards. After traveling with Tim all the way to the end of time itself (just so he could murder Tim in private), he's stopped by Death and told he has to walk back to the past, one step at a time. Yeouch.
 * Take That: The third annual featured a number of alternate realities that revolve around some version of Tim. One of them is a superheroic mash-up of the DC Universe with Vertigo. The Tim of this world is a Robin-esque character who served as the sidekick to John Constantine (in this world a Batman figure named "Hellblazer"), before changing his name and joining a Teen Titans analog called the Mystic Youth. The entire segment served as a pointed criticism of the dwindling quality of the New Teen Titans, with Tim himself mentioning that the team was supposed to see years of brilliance becoming mediocrity with a slew of less-interesting members coming aboard. The clincher is that it was illustrated by famed Titans artist Phil Jimenez.
 * Trenchcoat Brigade: The Trope Namer - John Constantine, The Phantom Stranger, Doctor Occult/Rose Psychic and Mister E.
 * Walking the Earth: Much of the series.
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: What happened to human boy Tim was swapped for at birth?
 * Given the history of faeries? The human boy was probably taken back to Faerie to be a plaything until Titania and/or Auberon got bored with him - and god help him, after that.
 * For the longest of times, there was no hint of what had become of Yoyo after the orginal miniseries. However, he returns in Names of Magic, with no real explanation as to where he's been. Tim claims he just shows up from time to time.
 * The Wise Prince: Prince Taik of Faerie
 * Your Cheating Heart: Titania has had dalliances with innumerable humans and faeries and possibly Morpheus. She assumes Auberon is being likewise unfaithful, but this is not true. In fact, some of her lovers (including one of the female ones) were actually Auberon in disguise, in order to be close to her.
 * Also, Tim with Leah the succubus while Molly is his official girlfriend. Molly is especially hurt when she finds out secondhand because she was totally honest with Tim about her flirtation with Price Taik.

The Books of Faerie provides examples of:
""Can this truly be your bedchamber? Never have I seen so small a space so remarkably disarrayed!""
 * Baleful Polymorph: Almost a staple of the series.
 * Changeling Tale:
 * The Chessmaster: The Amadan.
 * Compelling Voice: A variant with Bongsquall the troll; nobody can say "no" to him, no matter what he asks of them -- but the flipside is that he can't say "no" to anyone else either. He gets around this through Loophole Abuse and Exact Words.
 * Cowardly Lion: Yarrow, even moreso than in her appearances in The Books of Magic.
 * Evil Chancellor: is one in Auberon's Tale, casting new light on his appearances and many of his actions in Books of Magic.
 * The Fair Folk: Most of the protagonists, as one might well expect. Molly is the main exception, as she's human, but under a very powerful Faerie curse.
 * Glamour: A lot of Faeries use it.
 * Incredible Shrinking Man: Happens to Molly, as a result of falling into a magic pool.
 * Master of Illusion: It's Faerie. You can count the number of characters who aren't this on one hand.
 * Prequel in The Lost Age: Both the first Books of Faerie mini-series and Auberon's Tale qualify as this, telling of the younger days of Titania and Auberon.
 * Succession Crisis: Happens in Auberon's Tale, which takes place long in the past. When the old king dies, the child Auberon is named his successor, but he's not the only one with a claim to the throne.
 * Trash of the Titans: Molly's room, according to Yarrow.

'Names Of Magic and Hunter -- The Age of Magic provides examples of:

 * Action Girl: Iolanthe, the half-Faerie, is very much one of these.
 * Batman Gambit: Has become one of Tim's trademarks in this series. Usually they work, too.
 * Book Ends: One of the last scenes in the last issue of Hunter -- The Age of Magic is a callback to the very first issue of the Books of Magic mini-series, with Tim riding a skateboard and being interrupted by someone asking him if he believes in magic.
 * The Bus Came Back: Yoyo the owl, who has not been seen since the first Books of Magic mini-series, returns as Tim's spirit guide in Names of Magic. In Hunter -- The Age of Magic he's become a prominent supporting character; now infused with the spirit of Merlin, so that Merlin, through the owl, can oversee Tim's magical development.
 * Also, other people from Tim's past make returns, most notably Molly.
 * Chivalrous Pervert: Tim certainly has this reputation around the White School; he's described as having a soft spot for Distressed Damsels.
 * The Comically Serious. Yoyo.
 * Compelling Voice: Mr. Lily, though Tim eventually learns to resist it.
 * Fish Out of Water: Happens to several people when they cross over into other worlds, but it's clearest with Iolanthe, who doesn't know much on how mortals operate when she decides to stay on Earth.
 * I Know Your True Name: To be accepted into the White School, you have to present your true name.
 * Language of Magic: Played with and becomes much more important here than in The Books of Magic. According to Tim, magic is a language in and of itself.
 * New Age Retro Hippie: Nick "Bearclaw" is introduced as one of these in Names of Magic. Learning that magic is real doesn't really change him much.
 * Omniglot: Tim has developed the ability to understand, speak and even read any language. He describes himself as "a walking Babel fish."
 * Spirit Advisor: Yoyo/Merlin to Tim.
 * Straight Gay: Nick.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dr. Lily, whose ultimate goal is "the restoration of Paradise," to go back to the perfect world the way it was before evil existed, and he is willing to stoop to any level to see this goal through.
 * On a related note, Francis Fabien believes he has found the DNA that makes people evil, and so he sets out to spread a DNA-altering virus created with the help of an angel's feather, in order to turn humanity completely good. Needless to say, it doesn't work out like that.
 * On a related note, Francis Fabien believes he has found the DNA that makes people evil, and so he sets out to spread a DNA-altering virus created with the help of an angel's feather, in order to turn humanity completely good. Needless to say, it doesn't work out like that.

The Books of Magick -- Life During Wartime provides examples of:
"[[spoiler:Tim: Think of this as paradise, and you're Adam and Eve. Multiply and be fruitful.
 * Action Girl: Molly proves to be one, though an even straighter example can be found in Jaqueline "Jackie" Constantine, a teenage Distaff Counterpart to John Constantine.
 * Adam and Eve Plot:

Cat: Did he say something?

Tim: Oh, one last thing... Don't touch the apples on these trees.

Cat: Why not?

Dog: Is it some kind of sin?

Tim: 'Course not.... they just taste of fish for some reason. Don't ask me why.]]"

"Ed: Don't think I won't kill you just because you're girls.
 * Adaptation Dye Job: Or Alternate Universe Dye Job, anyway; in this series Tim has black hair instead of the dark brown he ended up with in the regular continuity, Molly is a redhead and Zatanna is blonde. Constantine is the only one who looks more or less exactly like his regular-continuity counterpart.
 * Alternate Universe: The concepts of alternate universes and alternate versions of people is brought up several times. Of course, this entire thing takes place in an alternate universe -- several of them, in fact.
 * Anti-Magic: In order to hide from the Faerie Queene, Tim created a world completely without magic -- any kind of magic. Which means, among other things, that there's no such things as dreams and nobody knows what religion is.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Cat and Dog have feelings for one another, and their relationship has a definite sexual tone, though they resist taking the step to make it physical.
 * The Captain: John Constantine.
 * Crapsack World: Both the main worlds depicted in this series. One is a war-torn hellhole where Anyone Can Die, the other is a place where dreams don't exist, and people go crazy when introduced to the concept of gods or magic.
 * Darker and Edgier: While the original series is by no means light and fluffy, this is definitely darker and more violent.
 * Distaff Counterpart: Jackie Constantine is the Hunter's World's teenage girl answer to John Constantine. She has much the same attitude, but not the power or experience.
 * Infant Immortality: Averted so hard. Any child or infant that shows up in this series will die a gruesome death.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: Tim has imposed this on himself in his created world. It doesn't last.
 * Magick: The alternate spelling of the word "magic" was brought about by the fact that the original Books of Magic series was being adapted as a series of Young Adult novels, and DC wanted to distance this book, with much more adult content, from that series.
 * The Mole: John Constantine suspects there is one.
 * Stop Worshipping Me: After the people of Tim's created world realizes he's their creator, they begin worshipping him like a god and doing terrible things in his name. He's not amused.
 * Straight Gay: Jackie Constantine. Which makes some amount of sense, as she's the Distaff Counterpart of John Constantine, whom we know is Bi the Way. Jackie never shows any attraction to men, though, and identifies as gay.
 * Would Hit a Girl: Lampshaded by Edmund ("Ed") of Hebron and Molly.

Molly: Great -- we get the only non-sexist demon in this shithole."