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Books of Magic: Difference between revisions
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''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.
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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 (novel)|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, [[Hellblazer|John Constantine]] and [[Zatanna]]) -- caught in a war between the Born (the Faeries) and the Bred (the humans).
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** 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.
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* [[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]].
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* [[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.
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=== ''The Books of Faerie'' provides examples of: ===
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Almost a staple of the series.
* [[Changeling Tale]]: {{spoiler|Titania's story is a variant; she was a human girl who was lured away to Faerie and later became the Queen as a result of several [[Batman Gambit|Batman Gambits]]. Not even Auberon knows that she's not a born faerie.}}
* [[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]].
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* [[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.
{{quote|"Can this truly be your bedchamber? Never have I seen so small a space so remarkably disarrayed!"}}
=== '''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.
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* [[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. {{spoiler|Tim's true name turns out to be "Merlin."}}
* [[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 [[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy|"a walking Babel fish."]]
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: Yoyo/Merlin to Tim.
* [[
* [[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.
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* [[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]]: {{spoiler|With Cat and Dog in the final issue, when Tim takes them back to the pre-historic world, to give the world he just destroyed a new chance to start over.}}
{{quote|[[spoiler:'''Tim:''' Think of this as paradise, and you're Adam and Eve. Multiply and be fruitful.
'''Cat:''' Did he say something?
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* [[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. {{spoiler|He should know, because the mole is [[Mole in Charge|Constantine himself,]] allying himself with the Faerie Queene against the humans. Except it ''then'' turns out he was playing the Fairie Queene all along and the entire thing was a [[Batman Gambit]] orchestrated by him and Tim Hunter. }}
* [[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.
* [[
* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Lampshaded by Edmund ("Ed") of Hebron and Molly.
{{quote|'''Ed:''' Don't think I won't kill you just because you're girls.
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