The Books of Magic

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Summary: Word, image, and picture ...
Review: ... and I don't always know which image is word, and which is picture. Not that it matters.

Whatever they say about "the Golden Age" of comics, I think that the 90s reinvented the medium. Printing process advanced enough to capture watercolor, pastel, and more painterly kinds of work. Remember the two-solid-color-plus-black of Dr. Seuss? That was a technological limit of the cost-effective printing processes available. Comics' "golden age" arose from that same printing technology. Whatever the merits of that time, visual subtlety was not on the list. When good, affordable color reproduction became real, it kindled a wildfire of visual expression.

Gaiman found the artists to match his vision, the artists found the printers to make it work, and Vertigo found the courage to put it into print. (It's still hard to believe that DC was so stodgy and Vertigo was DC.) The media, color scheme, and rendering style all tell parts of the story. I, for one, enjoy the way each artist's style shapes the narration.

The magic is real, by the way. Enjoy the story. Wonder what comes next and what came before, and wonder what it really is that you see.

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Summary: Gaiman research is exsaustive, he's the king of borrowing.
Review: Although Gaiman wrote the Books of Magic before Potter, he does use many ideas from mythology and legend. If you want to see just how much research he puts into his stories check out Hy Bender's A Sandman Reader. Gaiman has created a modern myth, which has an authenticity that stems from his research.

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Summary: Gaiman: Master of the Obscure
Review: As evidenced by his previous works, Neil Gaiman has a penchant for picking up obscure facts, apocrypha, lost myths, forgotten heroes, etc. and weaving it masterfully to his wonderful stories. In Books Of Magic, arguably his closest brush with the mainstream DC Universe, he used all of DCU's magic and supernatural related characters as the catalysts for Tim Hunter's awakening to the world of Magic. Not since the 1985 Blue Devil Annual have I seen the likes of Phantom Stranger, the Demon Etrigan, Zatanna, Black Orchid, etc. in one book. Yes, I'm a sucker for all these get-togethers and what an awesome congregation it is. From the Stranger to Dr. Occult to John Constantine to Mr. E, Gaiman serves up a massive yet coherent tour of the magical realms of DC, all these coupled with unmatched painted art. Also, reading this book in the Harry Potter era (it was published way, way before the Sorceror's Stone), one cannot hide a suspicious thought that J.K. Rowling may have read this book before she wrote young Harry's adventures. There are startling "coincidences" from young Tim's mundane origins to his appearance (glasses!) down to his owl familiar. Heck, it's this Books of Magic is even better than Harry Potter!

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Summary: Good Art, Decent Story
Review: Books of Magic is the story of a boy, Tim Hunter, who is confronted by 4 mysterious strangers. They give him a choice: live in the world of science, as he has so far, or enter the world of magic. Each takes him on a journey to reveal what entering the world of magic may mean. This provides four stories - one for each journey.

For me the streangth of this comic book is the graphics. They were very well done and colorful. My favorites were pages with a semi-abstract montage feel. Normally I'm all about the black and white accompanied by the lower price tag, but in this case the art is worth the price. Very few of these pictures could have been done as effectively in black and white.

The story was pretty good overall. There were many intrusions by established comic book characters. Usually these bother me because I am not that into comic books and have no idea what is going on. Here they mixed in well and didn't detract from the book. The page layouts flowed well, especially for the final story in which Tim is taken into the future by the blind guide, Mister E. Characters reappeared from story to story so the whole book hung together well. It wan't memorable but it wasn't hard to read eigther.

One thing you probably have noticed if you have looked at the cover of Books of Magic, which shows a kid with glasses and disheveled hair and an owl is "Hey isn't this like Hairy Potter." Nope they are pretty different. (Books of Magic was published first and I haven't seen anything about it in the media, so I'm assuming it's all a big coincidence.) Unlike the Hairy Potter books, Books of Magic has sex references and violence (at one point Tim Hunter wades through a river of blood) so read it before you give it to your darling little children.

I recommend Books of Magic if it is easily accessible. The art stands out, but for me the story wasn't memorable.

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Summary: Wonderful story telling
Review: Having been a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's for some time now, I discovered the Books Of Magic and purchased it in the hopes of being able to read something fresh and new. At first look, it seems like a Harry Potter rip off, although I later found out that Books Of Magic actually came first. I started reading and was soon swept away by the incredible artwork and brilliant story telling. Using the Trenchcoat Brigade to introduce young Tim Hunter to the world of magic was a stroke of genuis. It is always a joy to see The Phantom Stranger, Dr Occult, John Constantine and Mr E together. The four stories deal with Tim's journeys through the world of magic. The first is taken with the Stranger who shows Tim the past and magic's role from the very beginning. The second and I personally think the best story, is with John Constantine as he takes Tim to meet the various magicians and mages. Appearences by characters such as Madame Xanadu, Etrigan and Jason Blood, Baron Winter, The Spectre and Zatanna just to name a few were cleverly written and at times very amusing. For fans of the Hellblazer himself, John Constantine, this is a must as it has the disreputable mage's character down perfectly from the tacky looking trenchcoat to the ongoing joke of him having his face slapped whenever he tries to chat up a pretty young flight attendant. The interaction between him and young Tim were both warm and amusing at the same time. John Constantine's down to earth character really works well here. Charles Vess's artwork for the next story that takes place in Faerie is breathtaking. We seem to learn a little more about the enigmatic Dr Occult and his female half, Rose in this story arc. The last journey taken with the blind and fanatical Mr E is one of the most interesting although I have to admit I found the artwork very hectic and a little distracting here. And the very last scenes with Tim are wonderful and leaves the way open to the rest of the series. All up I have to say that this is one of Neil Gaiman's best stories. It does help if you have a working knowledge of the DC universe and if you have read The Sandman series as Dream, Destiny and Death all make an appearence. Even Cain and Able get their fifteen minutes as well. This is a book and a series that I would recommend to everyone, as much as I love Harry Potter I have to say that Tim Hunter is the more adult version in storytelling. And besides, in my opinion, any book that includes the Trenchcoat Brigade in always worth a look.

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Summary: An Excellent Read with Fantastic Art (most of it anyway).)
Review: Herein we follow a young man, Tim Hunter, destined to be one of the greatest mages in history, as he introducted to magicks past, magic in present day world, the lands just beyond commonplace reality and magicks future by four DC Comics magicians: the Phantom Stranger (condemned to walk for eternity); Dr. Occult (who switches gender and personae as the occasion demands); John Constantine, Hellblazer (a con man and rogue, few powers but he has taken on the Devil himself and survived); and Mister E (a dangerous fanatic on the side of order). Gaimen's story makes for an excellent read, and three of the four illustrators involved: John Bolton, Scott Hampton and Charles Vess create beautiful illustrations throughout. (Sadly I didnt really like the artist's interpretation in the fourth chapter, it's the only reason I rate this book 4 out 5 stars instead of 5 out of 5.) These books were the basis of the ongoing DC/Vertigo comic book series by the same name (of which graphic novel collections are available). One drawback, common to many graphic novel collections (like Warren Ellis' "Planetary" books or Mark Waid and Alex Ross' "Kingdom Come" (both series also collected): to get the most of the story, it helps to have some familiarity with DC Comic book characters and history.

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Summary: Books of Magic predates Harry Potter
Review: I am a big fan of Gaiman and love his stories. I also love the Harry Potter series. There is debate over the Potter books being derived from Books of Magic, since Books of Magic was published first. I think each stands on its own, both are fine works and I recommend them both. But to the reader who thinks Books of Magic is a Harry Potter rip-off, check the publishing dates.

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Summary: Why are they ripping off Harry Potter?
Review: I enjoyed this book but at the same time it was obvios what it was a cheap attempt to do a Harry Potter book as a comic and I wish they had been more original.

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Summary: razor words, in a porcelain atmosphere
Review: i got three words for harry potter.... BOOKS OF MAGIC.

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Summary: "Let's throw in another eference that no one will get!"
Review: I have but one question after reading this book: WHY? Neil Gaiman is one of the most brilliant authors alive. He can write better than this. Way better than this. This is an attrocity. The only possible reason I can see for owning this book is if you want to own everything Gaiman has ever written.

There are a lot of major flaws with this book. Most notably there's the plot, or rather, lack of. Yes, there is a cutesy little adventure story about a boy learning about a whole new world. Now if that doesn't scream "Cliche" than nothing short of a Star Trek episode will. Past that, there is no plot. The entire book is a long string of references to various texts, both Gaiman's and other people's. We have Dream of the Endless, Destiny, Death, John Constantine, Faerie, Dr. Occult, Merlin, and all sorts of other ones I read and knew had to be references, but had no clue what were because I don't worship the DC universe as my god.

This is not to say there weren't some nice ideas. There were some very cool ideas. The problem is that each of them got two pages of space before the reader finds himself herded on to the next idea, kicking and screaming about how he wished Gaiman would settle down and write about one idea. I mean, what was this? Did Gaimain just pull out all the great story ideas he had that never developed into stories, and string them together in an attempt to show everyone that he's so brilliant he can throw away all these ideas? Come on here.

Then there is the basic nature of the magic in the book. Oh yes, what nature? I can come up with two possible explanations for this. Either Neil Gaiman created what may be the most cliched renditioning of Magic that I have ever seen, or Neil Gaiman didn't have a clue what he wanted magic to be like. What we can see of magic is boring, trite, and mostly things that any reader of fantasy books has seen before. I mean, differant magical paths. Don't have to look further than my D&D shelf for that. Alternatively, it could be that Gaiman strung together a whole bunch of things that sounded cool without having a coherent whole in mind. Either one is far below average for any author, and for one of Gaimain's calliber, it is unforgivable.

So in the end, unless you are stalking Neil Gaiman and determined to own every one of his books, this is not worth your effort. Go buy a Sandman collection. Go buy Neverwhere. Go buy anything, and I mean anything by Gaiman other than this. Trust me. You're not missing anything, and if you buy it, you'll be missing $20.