The Books of Magic
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The Books of Magic is a four-issue comic book miniseries written by Neil Gaiman and published by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo. Since its original publication, it has also been published in a single-volume collection with an introduction by author Roger Zelazny. In The Books of Magic, a teenager is visited by four mysterious strangers, who tell him that he has the potential to become the world's greatest magician, and offer him a guided tour of the mystical parts of the DC Universe.
Synopsis
In part one, "The Invisible Labyrinth", Timothy Hunter is approached by four of the DC Universe's mystical heroes, and, after agreeing to the tour, is shown the DC Universe's past by the Phantom Stranger. In part two, "The Shadow World", Tim is shown around the DC Universe's present by John Constantine. In part three, "The Land of Summer's Twilight", Doctor Occult shows Tim the Land of Faerie, with brief stopovers in a number of other otherworlds (including the Dreaming). In part four, "The Road to Nowhere", Mister E shows Tim the DC Universe's future (or, at least, one of its possible futures), and Tim faces a decision about whether to try and fulfil his potential, or to live out his life as a normal person.
Each issue was illustrated by a different artist: "The Invisible Labyrinth" by John Bolton, "The Shadow World" by Scott Hampton, "The Land of Summer's Twilight" by Charles Vess, and "The Road to Nowhere" by Paul Johnson.
The miniseries was followed by an ongoing comic book series about the further adventures of Timothy Hunter. This series, also called The Books of Magic, was written by John Ney Reiber. It ran from May 1994 to August 2000 and was followed by a five-issue mini-series called The Names of Magic, in which Tim learnt his true name and was accepted into a school of magic, and a new ongoing called Hunter: The Age of Magic which ran from September 2001 to September 2003, and which told of his graduation and what happened to him afterwards.
Another series, Books of Magick: Life During Wartime began in July 2004. The series may depict an alternate universe in the DC and Vertigo continuity. In this series the war Mister E warned Tim of in the first mini finally occurs, however it seems Tim has no knowledge of the magical world whatsoever. In Life During Wartime fairies have successfully invaded the Earth. There is a human resistance featuring Zatanna and John Constantine. Tim, possibly the same Timothy Hunter from the previous series, is pulled from an idealized world that caters to his fantasies into the war.
There were also several spin-off mini-series set in the Faerie realm, entitled The Books of Faerie. One series documents the misadventures of Molly, Tim's sometimes girlfriend, when she accidentally becomes trapped in Faerie. Another documents Auberon's rise to power while yet another documents Titania's.
Many people have noticed similarities between Timothy Hunter — a bespectacled English teenager with family troubles who has a magical owl as a pet — and the later and more famous Harry Potter. The similarities between the two are, however, largely superficial and most likely reflect the fact that both draw on common archetypes.