The Books of Magic

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Cats Are Snarkers: When Tim takes the shape of a cat, his created body has a mind of its own and provides an inner dialogue, basically making spiteful comments and insisting to forget everything and just go chase pigeons. 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. Also Mr. Lily, though Tim eventually learns to resist it.

Waiting for him is Leah, who trapped him in the box in the hope of teaching him an important lesson about his magic. But the lesson hasn't been learned in the way that she hoped, because of Tim's focus on the small scale: it wasn't the destruction of the forest that prompted him to reconnect with his magic, but the threat to the single tree. Exasperatingly, Leah cannot even decide if Tim is wholly wrong in thinking that way. Instead, she leaves Tim with the important reminder that he might try to throw away his magic, but he will never wholly succeed: it is a part of him, and always will be. [24] Peter Gross [ edit ] Deadpan Snarker: One of Tim's most enduring traits. There is no situation so dire, or weird, that he can't make a few choice sarcasms about it. Another version of Tim showed up in the main DCU during the New 52 in a Justice League Dark storyline. 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. In addition to the mini-series and the ongoing series, Vertigo also produced four The Books of Magic annuals. The first, Arcana: The Books of Magic Annual, reintroduced Tim Hunter and launched the ongoing series. The second, actually titled The Books of Magic Annual #1 due to the change in name from "Arcana", told the story of Tim's encounter with a minor god's daughter who was one of Tamlin's cast-off conquests. Both these annuals were later included in the collected editions of The Books of Faerie and The Books of Faerie: Auberon's Tale respectively.

Happily Adopted: Tim, after he finds out that he's not William Hunter's biological son, and may not even have been the son of Mary Hunter, mopes a bit about it, but in the end decides that William and Mary raised him and took care of him, and never once called him a "changeling." William, upon confronted with Tim's parentage, admits that Mary was already pregnant when he married her, and he never knew whether Tim was biologically his or not — but he never thought it mattered one way or the other. So Timothy Hunter gets a Christmas Carol(ish) experience when DC's top mystics pay him a visit and seemingly give him a choice as to whether or not he wants to be a part of their world.

In Book 2: The Shadow World, Tim accompanies John Constantine in the present day and meets a variety of characters that will be familiar to anyone who reads Vertigo or DC. From Dr. Fate to the Spectre, Constantine introduces Tim to the myriad cast of characters who make up the DC magical ensemble. He visits all kinds of different realms, traveling in the past, present, and finally the future, all the while being chased by a group called Cult of the Cold Flame who are out to kill him...for reasons. Tim is 13 years old. He has the potential to be one of the greatest mages of his age. Set in the DC/Vertigo universe, Tim is accosted by four major magical characters. John Constantine, Mr. E, Dr. Occult and Phantom Stranger. Each one takes Tim through a journey to see if magic is something he wishes to pursue. They also teach him that magic has a price and a steep price at that. Due to his potential, he is being sought after by some evil mages who wish to either convert or kill him. The four aforementioned mages seek to keep him alive. Despite being relatively short, this series has probably the largest timespan among the Sandman stories, showing both the dawn of the Universe and its destruction. In the midst of all this, the fair folk have lost their own will, belief and reason for being in the Fairie. Without such belief, the realm and all who are in it start becoming undone by something known as "the Leveler". Battle is temporarily averted when the Lords of Hell learn of the Leveller's presence and seek to escape. The flitling Yarrow saves Fairie: her belief and loyalty cause it to be recreated in reality as exactly what it seemed to be - happy, natural and carefree - and with no tithe now owed to Hell. There is much celebration and as Tim and Molly are reunited, Titania tempers her curse as best she can: Molly's feet will no longer touch the ground and she will always have Faerie food to eat, so she can return to the mundane world with Tim. [23]

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. In Book 1: The Invisible Labyrinth, Tim takes a trip into the magical past with the Phantom Stranger and learns the history of magic(at least how it relates to the Vertigo universe) . Poke in the Third Eye: Volume I of the original series has a non-violent but effective version of this idea. When the Phantom Stranger takes Tim Hunter on a walk through history, they aren't, technically, time traveling — just looking at the past. Nonetheless, Tim gets a chance to talk to some of the powerful magicians they see. As one Atlantean sorcerer says, sarcastically, "No. Of course I can't see you. Or hear you either, for that matter. But you ought to be here at this time, or so my spells have said." In 2012, Timothy Hunter and the Books of Magic make a return in The New 52 series Justice League Dark where a reluctant Tim, having given up his magic, is reunited with John Constantine and Madame Xanadu to stop an old nemesis of Constantine's from getting his hands on the books.

In Book IV: The Road to Nowhere (artwork by Paul Johnson) he travels to a possible future of the universe with Mister E. The faerie market in Gaiman's novel Stardust has many similarities to the one presented in the original miniseries. This may not be surprising as it's simply a case of Gaiman borrowing a portion of one work to use in the other. The faerie market also makes references to amongst other things My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Rupert Bear, and a possible future Sir Timothy Hunter, which can be seen directly to the right of Tim Hunter when he first arrives at the market.

The Everyman: Tim is sort of introduced as this in the original miniseries, being mainly a normal young boy who is taken on a grand tour of the magical parts of the DC universe. The ongoing series slowly has him grow out of this trope as he becomes both more powerful, more savvy and more strongly characterized. By the time of Names of Magic he's abandoned the trope entirely. After that, Dr. Occult takes Tim into the world of Faerie, where he comes across a great sleeping king, gets caught by Baba Yaga, and shown Gemworld, Skartaris, Pytharia, a tiny glimpse of Hell, and a brief trip into the Dreamworld. He also counters Queen Titania, who seems to have a connection to him. And finally, Mr. E takes Tim into the future and shows him great wars, the return of magic, and the possible death of the world -- as well as his own future fate...