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The Books of Magic #2
The Books of Magic, Volume 2: Summonings
Timothy Hunter, age 13, may become one of the most powerful magicians of all time. But that's only one of his problems.
In the five tales collected here, Tim must contend with:
A heartless sorcerer and the alluring teen succubus he keeps in a box.
Tea in Hell with a rogue angel and his junkfood-demon nemesis.
The Industrial Revolution and a murderous Victorian cyborg.
A Whirlwind family reunion with an insanely jealous Faerie Queen.
And perhaps the greatest terror of all - a first date.
In the five tales collected here, Tim must contend with:
A heartless sorcerer and the alluring teen succubus he keeps in a box.
Tea in Hell with a rogue angel and his junkfood-demon nemesis.
The Industrial Revolution and a murderous Victorian cyborg.
A Whirlwind family reunion with an insanely jealous Faerie Queen.
And perhaps the greatest terror of all - a first date.
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
5 people are currently reading
542 people want to read
About the author
John Ney Rieber
306 books23 followersJohn Ney Rieber is an American comic book writer. He has written for the comics The Books of Magic, Captain America, G.I. Joe and Tomb Raider.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 7, 2019
This title really picks up in the second arc. Tim can be sullen and petulant. Molly is the shining star that pulls Tim kicking and screaming out of his shell. As the series continues, she more so than Tim is what brought me back to this title each issue. I love her bubbly personality and positivity. The world building expands with each story. Reiber brings in lots of fantastical characters and I love it.
The coloring can be a bit drab, but this is a product of early 90's Vertigo. All of the books looked like this. I like Peter Gross and Peter Snejberg's art. It's simple with spindly characters that works especially well with the recurrence of characters from faerie.
The coloring can be a bit drab, but this is a product of early 90's Vertigo. All of the books looked like this. I like Peter Gross and Peter Snejberg's art. It's simple with spindly characters that works especially well with the recurrence of characters from faerie.
December 11, 2022
This is a fun series and I am all in.
Still LOTS of loose ends and I feel like the creative team was flushing out several narrative ideas and storylines to see what works, still working on the complex world building and this has diminished the enjoyment factor - somewhat - but still good.
Tim Hunter is a teenager in London who has some magical powers but seems to have a HUGE upside to what he may be able to do. He’s like a living kinetic energy embodiment of magic and this is rife with potential foreshadowing if they do it right. So far the writing and art are good, enough to keep my interest and I’m liking it so far.
I found a stack of single issues in a local comic book store and so am reading this like that but reviewing the collection.
Still wild to consider all the similarities to the Harry Potter books, at least four years prior to Philosopher’s Stone coming out.
On to the next few issues and the next collection.
Still LOTS of loose ends and I feel like the creative team was flushing out several narrative ideas and storylines to see what works, still working on the complex world building and this has diminished the enjoyment factor - somewhat - but still good.
Tim Hunter is a teenager in London who has some magical powers but seems to have a HUGE upside to what he may be able to do. He’s like a living kinetic energy embodiment of magic and this is rife with potential foreshadowing if they do it right. So far the writing and art are good, enough to keep my interest and I’m liking it so far.
I found a stack of single issues in a local comic book store and so am reading this like that but reviewing the collection.
Still wild to consider all the similarities to the Harry Potter books, at least four years prior to Philosopher’s Stone coming out.
On to the next few issues and the next collection.
May 17, 2019
3.5 stars! The creativity on display here is quite beautiful.
World: The art is solid for the time era this book was released, of course the colours are flat but the panelling and the art itself is beautiful and creative. The world building is pretty great, it takes the things that Vertigo has done with Faeri and Tim Hunter, plus the stuff that this run and the Children’s Crusade has done and continues to build on it. The world around Hunter is an interesting one and the new character that are introduced here are creative, poetic and beautiful (which a lot of modern supernatural books lack).
Story: There are a couple of stories here and all are quite interesting and deeper than face value. The symbolism is beautiful and the way they are presented and the way things are resolved is also quiet poetic. There is a weight to the book that the art and the writing gives the reader that Magic and the life of Hunter is not all Harry Potter (Hunter came first) and it makes sense. The Future Hunter story is beautiful in it’s foreshadow of things to come and a possible what if, the Father story is also gruesome and really digs into Tim as a character, and the last story well that’s one is also a solid one and I won’t spoil it.
Characters: Tim is a complex character, he’s a bit of a sullen and moody character but the people around him allow for him to open up. This book is not a happy book, it’s a rather melancholy and moody book which was a sign of the times when this book was written and it fits this character and the Vertigo line in general. Molly is a beautiful bright flame in this book and I love her and I want more of her in the future. The new creations this arc are wildly creative and reminds me of the creativity that Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman were doing around the same time, it’s the mundane and the meta smashing together into an ethereal creative ball that makes these characters odd and also relatable.
I liked this second arc, we get a deeper dive into Tim.
Onward to the next book!
World: The art is solid for the time era this book was released, of course the colours are flat but the panelling and the art itself is beautiful and creative. The world building is pretty great, it takes the things that Vertigo has done with Faeri and Tim Hunter, plus the stuff that this run and the Children’s Crusade has done and continues to build on it. The world around Hunter is an interesting one and the new character that are introduced here are creative, poetic and beautiful (which a lot of modern supernatural books lack).
Story: There are a couple of stories here and all are quite interesting and deeper than face value. The symbolism is beautiful and the way they are presented and the way things are resolved is also quiet poetic. There is a weight to the book that the art and the writing gives the reader that Magic and the life of Hunter is not all Harry Potter (Hunter came first) and it makes sense. The Future Hunter story is beautiful in it’s foreshadow of things to come and a possible what if, the Father story is also gruesome and really digs into Tim as a character, and the last story well that’s one is also a solid one and I won’t spoil it.
Characters: Tim is a complex character, he’s a bit of a sullen and moody character but the people around him allow for him to open up. This book is not a happy book, it’s a rather melancholy and moody book which was a sign of the times when this book was written and it fits this character and the Vertigo line in general. Molly is a beautiful bright flame in this book and I love her and I want more of her in the future. The new creations this arc are wildly creative and reminds me of the creativity that Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman were doing around the same time, it’s the mundane and the meta smashing together into an ethereal creative ball that makes these characters odd and also relatable.
I liked this second arc, we get a deeper dive into Tim.
Onward to the next book!
April 22, 2014
Does the world need another Sandman’isk spinoff comic? I guess the jury's still out on that but I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I thought I would although the main guy Timmy Hunter is an extremely whiny douche who repeatedly talks to himself. I’ll give the next volume a shot to see if Timmy gets a few more redeeming qualities or gets horrible disfigured.
January 26, 2021
Sacrifices (BoM #6-8). Rieber nicely combines the threat of the Cold Flame with Tim's home life and some very enjoyable characters. However, he really shows his strength in characterization by demonstrating what Tim will and won't do. The result is wonderful. [5/5]
The Artificial Heart (BoM #9-11). This is the first Books of Magic arc that's a little disappointing. That might be because it's a bit overstuffed: Rieber simultaneously brings back Auberon and characters from The Children's Crusade (which is great continuity!). But the real problem is that (1) Slaggingham isn't very interesting; and (2) he's dealt with in a very inconclusive way. Still, there's great interactions between Tim and Molly and Marya that are extremely memorable, even if the conflict is dull [4/5].
Little Glass Worlds (BoM #12-13). Basically, the end of "The Artificial Heart", finishing off the stories of Auberon and Daniel (and [spoiler] finally getting Molly her ice cream). It's a bit better than its predecessor because it's tight, because it gives us insight into the character of Auberon, and because it ends on a rather startling reveal. Still, not as great as the more Tim-centric arcs that preceded it. [4/5].
The Artificial Heart (BoM #9-11). This is the first Books of Magic arc that's a little disappointing. That might be because it's a bit overstuffed: Rieber simultaneously brings back Auberon and characters from The Children's Crusade (which is great continuity!). But the real problem is that (1) Slaggingham isn't very interesting; and (2) he's dealt with in a very inconclusive way. Still, there's great interactions between Tim and Molly and Marya that are extremely memorable, even if the conflict is dull [4/5].
Little Glass Worlds (BoM #12-13). Basically, the end of "The Artificial Heart", finishing off the stories of Auberon and Daniel (and [spoiler] finally getting Molly her ice cream). It's a bit better than its predecessor because it's tight, because it gives us insight into the character of Auberon, and because it ends on a rather startling reveal. Still, not as great as the more Tim-centric arcs that preceded it. [4/5].
May 10, 2012
Tim Hunter brings his past dreams to life and they help him stay alive as various demons attack him in his search for self.
Not my usual fare, but a fairly quick read as I attempt to empty the boxes of books I acquired at the Friends of the Library book sale.
Not my usual fare, but a fairly quick read as I attempt to empty the boxes of books I acquired at the Friends of the Library book sale.
August 28, 2022
Siguiendo con la historia de Tim Hunter, después de lo ocurrido en Vínculos, llegaba este segundo volumen de la serie de John Ney Rieber, Convocaciones, que reúne los siguientes arcos de la serie... y que hasta donde yo sé es lo más que se ha avanzado en la publicación en España de esta etapa de Los Libros de la Magia, hasta el número 13 creo que es, aunque en EE.UU llegaron hasta el 50 aproximadamente. Y aún así, me da la sensación de que hay cosas que han pasado antes y que no he leído, y que no sé dónde han podido tener lugar, porque hasta donde yo sé de la miniserie de Gaiman se pasó a la serie de John Ney Rieber. Así que igual que en Víncluos no sabía de qué se conocían Tim y Tamlin, en este número me pasa igual con Tim y Marya. Pero en fin, la vida del lector de cómics es lo que tiene.
En Vértigo habíamos asistido a la renovación de los lazos de Faerie con el mundo terrenal, y aquí, en Convocaciones, vamos a tener un par de arcos distintos. En el primero, vamos a tener el regreso del Culto de la Llama Fría, los que serían los enemigos recurrentes de Tim y que Gaiman nos había presentado en la miniserie. Uno de los hechiceros de la Llama Fría, Martyn, va a tratar de atraer a Tim a su bando, y para ello va a utilizar la ayuda de un súcubo juvenil, Leah, y va a atacar al padre de Tim. Y al mismo tiempo, vamos a conocer al Tim del futuro, un auténtico capullo dominado por el demonio Barbatos (es el demonio recurrente en DC, es el mismo que apareció en Batman de Grant Morrison), que ha perdido muchos de sus recuerdos en sus tratos demoníacos. Pero ni Martyn ni el Culto conocen a Molly, la mejor amiga de Tim, y un personaje entrañable de esta historia.
Y por otro lado, Tim va a tener que hacer frente a un ataque movido por los celos, los de un tal Daniel, procedente de una especie de dimensión steampunk conocida como "El Mundo Libre" y en la que Tim ha tenido que estar en algún momento, porque tras estar allí, la "novia" de Daniel, Marya, se marchó a nuestro mundo. Pensando que Marya se ha marchado porque está enamorada de Tim, Daniel va a hacer su propio trato con el diablo para vengarse, sin saber que en las maquinaciones del Mundo Libre se ha quedado atrapado Oberon, el rey de las hadas de Faerie, cuya alma ha quedado atrapada en una de las esferas del Mundo Libre, y se ha convertido en uno de sus trabajadores esclavos.
Así que tenemos una historia original, entretenida y dibujada por los mismos lápices que en el tomo anterior, y que aunque no sean los mejores dibujantes del mundo, creo que consiguen darle un aire muy chulo y reconocible a la serie; muy entretenida y a la que merece la pena echar un vistazo.
En Vértigo habíamos asistido a la renovación de los lazos de Faerie con el mundo terrenal, y aquí, en Convocaciones, vamos a tener un par de arcos distintos. En el primero, vamos a tener el regreso del Culto de la Llama Fría, los que serían los enemigos recurrentes de Tim y que Gaiman nos había presentado en la miniserie. Uno de los hechiceros de la Llama Fría, Martyn, va a tratar de atraer a Tim a su bando, y para ello va a utilizar la ayuda de un súcubo juvenil, Leah, y va a atacar al padre de Tim. Y al mismo tiempo, vamos a conocer al Tim del futuro, un auténtico capullo dominado por el demonio Barbatos (es el demonio recurrente en DC, es el mismo que apareció en Batman de Grant Morrison), que ha perdido muchos de sus recuerdos en sus tratos demoníacos. Pero ni Martyn ni el Culto conocen a Molly, la mejor amiga de Tim, y un personaje entrañable de esta historia.
Y por otro lado, Tim va a tener que hacer frente a un ataque movido por los celos, los de un tal Daniel, procedente de una especie de dimensión steampunk conocida como "El Mundo Libre" y en la que Tim ha tenido que estar en algún momento, porque tras estar allí, la "novia" de Daniel, Marya, se marchó a nuestro mundo. Pensando que Marya se ha marchado porque está enamorada de Tim, Daniel va a hacer su propio trato con el diablo para vengarse, sin saber que en las maquinaciones del Mundo Libre se ha quedado atrapado Oberon, el rey de las hadas de Faerie, cuya alma ha quedado atrapada en una de las esferas del Mundo Libre, y se ha convertido en uno de sus trabajadores esclavos.
Así que tenemos una historia original, entretenida y dibujada por los mismos lápices que en el tomo anterior, y que aunque no sean los mejores dibujantes del mundo, creo que consiguen darle un aire muy chulo y reconocible a la serie; muy entretenida y a la que merece la pena echar un vistazo.
February 10, 2023
So unlike the last volume this contains 3 major arcs.
My favorite is probably the first one. With a new threat coming into Tim's life, he has to figure out what's happening. Involving a family member getting hurt, Tim learning about succubus's, and also getting a bigger look into future Tim.
The next one focuses on the Children Crusade characters returning. When a certain character comes back, the resolution feels half baked tbh. However, the stuff with Tim, Molly, and Marya are extremely well done and fun.
Last arc feels a little quick but it's basically it's Molly and Tim working together to help a "god" of sorts get his soul back. It's solid if a little too quick.
While not as good as the original or the first book, it's still very enjoyable. It feels a bit padded and heavy at times but I can't say I wasn't excited to read more once I finished. On to book 3.
My favorite is probably the first one. With a new threat coming into Tim's life, he has to figure out what's happening. Involving a family member getting hurt, Tim learning about succubus's, and also getting a bigger look into future Tim.
The next one focuses on the Children Crusade characters returning. When a certain character comes back, the resolution feels half baked tbh. However, the stuff with Tim, Molly, and Marya are extremely well done and fun.
Last arc feels a little quick but it's basically it's Molly and Tim working together to help a "god" of sorts get his soul back. It's solid if a little too quick.
While not as good as the original or the first book, it's still very enjoyable. It feels a bit padded and heavy at times but I can't say I wasn't excited to read more once I finished. On to book 3.
July 16, 2012
A mere five issues into the monthly BOOKS OF MAGIC title, writer John Ney Rieber has already raised the stakes for our hero, 13-year-old magician-in-training, Tim Hunter. Book Two of the trade paperback series, “Summonings”, opens with the story “The Hidden School”, in which we see a grown-up Tim Hunter in the future. He’s very powerful, but very lonely, and we learn he has, over time, bargained away his childhood memories a piece at a time until he’s left an empty shell with no childhood. This adult Tim is trying to prevent what’s happened to him by manipulating the events of his past self’s life with the help of a demonic sidekick named Barbatos.
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Tim is still dealing with the knowledge of his true parentage from the previous chapters, and trying to move forward with his life. He finds help in Molly, a classmate and friend.
Unlike the previous book, “Bindings”, “Summonings” doesn’t contain just one story arc, a quick chapter, a single adventure. It says ‘easy marketing ploy be damned’, and instead actually chronicles Tim’s life as it happens. With this, “Summonings” contains several consecutive story arcs covering issues 5-13 of the series, starting with “The Hidden School” which covered one issue, “Sacrifices” (three issues), “The Artificial Heart” (three issues) and “Small Glass Worlds” (two issues). There’s also a 6-page insert story called “The Lot”, which originally appeared in VERTIGO RAVE #1, and details events and introduces characters which are going to factor into this book in huge ways.
In “Sacrifices”, the forces at work against Tim are moving in and getting closer to his home in their efforts to control him and his power. A man named Martyn has moved into the house next door. Martyn’s “daughter” Leah has just started attending Tim’s school and is in his class. The problem is Martyn’s not a regular neighbor, he’s a magician, and Leah is not his daughter, but a succubus he’s imprisoned. Through magic, Martyn sets Tim’s father on fire to get him out of the way and to better manipulate Tim’s emotions so that Leah will have more success in swooping in and convincing Tim to come and stay with them--which is where Martyn wants him to better enable him to control Tim’s powers. Only the future Tim is on top of things and he comes in and destroys Martyn and sets Leah free. It was a bit of an easy resolution to what seemed a much bigger problem, and I felt Rieber took the easy way out, but it was still a decent enough story.
“Sacrifices” then got down to what Rieber had said all along was his driving force for this series, which is the story of Tim Hunter’s adolescence. In this story, all he wants is to take Molly out for some ice cream. It should be a simple enough task, and the couple are on their way before Molly stops at her dance studio to pick up some books and decides to ask Marya, a fellow student, if she wants to join them. Marya recognizes Tim and blurts out that Molly’s boyfriend is a magician. This astounds Tim because, first Molly didn’t know he was a magician and second, Tim didn’t know he was Molly’s boyfriend. He panics and tries to run away, but the girls run after him and Tim uses his magic to freeze them in time.
By the time he gets them unfrozen, they’re met by Daniel, a bitter kid from Free Country, where Marya was originally from, which appears to be a magical land where kids never have to grow up and all they do all day every day is play. Back in Free Country, Daniel killed his best friend for expressing feelings for Marya--who ran away from Free Country a while ago, leaving Daniel jilted and angry--and was expelled and forced to come to Earth, where he was recruited by the evil Reverend Slaggingham whose mission is to manufacture misery. Considering there’s only so much happiness in the world to go around, he figures if he can make others miserable, that’ll be more happiness available to him.
Daniel confronts Tim and Marya, but Tim convinces him they don’t need to fight, and Daniel sees the error of his ways and takes Tim to Slaggingham so Tim can undo the magic that’s been worked on Daniel.
Meanwhile, in Slaggingham’s factory, Auberon, the king of the fairies, has been trapped, his soul sealed away, and put to work. But Tim’s imaginary friend, Awn the Blink, has appeared to help Slaggingham fix his machine--only problem is, Awn doesn’t fix things, he unfixes them, and that includes Slaggingham himself. So when Tim and Daniel arrive, Slaggingham is at death’s door, his last wish that Daniel killed Tim like he’d been charged with. Daniel says yes he did, then, as the underground river is about to flood the place, he tries to make good on his word by leaving Tim lost underground, hoping the river will finish what he couldn’t.
Awn helps Tim escape, of course, and he reunites with Molly who doesn’t seem the least bit perturbed about Tim’s secret life. And Tim, impressed, admits that, yes, he would love to be Molly’s boyfriend.
The final story, “Small Glass Worlds”, is only 2 issues, and deals solely with the fate of Auberon, king of the fairies, left behind in Slaggingham’s sinking underground factory, and Tim’s effort to help the king retrieve his soul from the glass ball in which it’s been sealed. This wasn’t much of an arc, and in the end seemed only to serve as epilogue to the previous story. There was one very important bit of information revealed, though, about Tim’s heritage and the question of who is or isn’t his real mother.
“Summonings” had a lot going on, and it seemed at times a little unfocused, but in the end every detail emerged as vital, and I ended up enjoying this book even more than I did “Bindings”. Rieber’s hitting his stride and finding his comfort zone in Tim’s world, establishing the strength of our hero’s character, but also giving us glimpses of the future Tim’s weaknesses, which I liked. He’s giving Hunter idiosyncrasies which help round out his character and make him someone worth caring about.
“Summonings” boasts four artists this time, Peter Gross and Gary Amaro have returned, with Peter Snejbjerg stepping in to pencil “Small Glass Worlds” and legend Dick Giordano covers “The Lot”. Gross and Amaro, like Rieber, are establishing their own take on the hero and his world, giving their characters a ton of personality--especially Molly--and making their locations detailed and sinister, playing up the shadows and letting the visuals tell the story.
While THE BOOKS OF MAGIC was never my favorite Vertigo title back in the 1990s, these re-readings are giving me a ton of reasons to rethink my position and I’m glad I gave Tim Hunter another, more attentive, chance.
I’m eager to see what Rieber has in store for him next.
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Tim is still dealing with the knowledge of his true parentage from the previous chapters, and trying to move forward with his life. He finds help in Molly, a classmate and friend.
Unlike the previous book, “Bindings”, “Summonings” doesn’t contain just one story arc, a quick chapter, a single adventure. It says ‘easy marketing ploy be damned’, and instead actually chronicles Tim’s life as it happens. With this, “Summonings” contains several consecutive story arcs covering issues 5-13 of the series, starting with “The Hidden School” which covered one issue, “Sacrifices” (three issues), “The Artificial Heart” (three issues) and “Small Glass Worlds” (two issues). There’s also a 6-page insert story called “The Lot”, which originally appeared in VERTIGO RAVE #1, and details events and introduces characters which are going to factor into this book in huge ways.
In “Sacrifices”, the forces at work against Tim are moving in and getting closer to his home in their efforts to control him and his power. A man named Martyn has moved into the house next door. Martyn’s “daughter” Leah has just started attending Tim’s school and is in his class. The problem is Martyn’s not a regular neighbor, he’s a magician, and Leah is not his daughter, but a succubus he’s imprisoned. Through magic, Martyn sets Tim’s father on fire to get him out of the way and to better manipulate Tim’s emotions so that Leah will have more success in swooping in and convincing Tim to come and stay with them--which is where Martyn wants him to better enable him to control Tim’s powers. Only the future Tim is on top of things and he comes in and destroys Martyn and sets Leah free. It was a bit of an easy resolution to what seemed a much bigger problem, and I felt Rieber took the easy way out, but it was still a decent enough story.
“Sacrifices” then got down to what Rieber had said all along was his driving force for this series, which is the story of Tim Hunter’s adolescence. In this story, all he wants is to take Molly out for some ice cream. It should be a simple enough task, and the couple are on their way before Molly stops at her dance studio to pick up some books and decides to ask Marya, a fellow student, if she wants to join them. Marya recognizes Tim and blurts out that Molly’s boyfriend is a magician. This astounds Tim because, first Molly didn’t know he was a magician and second, Tim didn’t know he was Molly’s boyfriend. He panics and tries to run away, but the girls run after him and Tim uses his magic to freeze them in time.
By the time he gets them unfrozen, they’re met by Daniel, a bitter kid from Free Country, where Marya was originally from, which appears to be a magical land where kids never have to grow up and all they do all day every day is play. Back in Free Country, Daniel killed his best friend for expressing feelings for Marya--who ran away from Free Country a while ago, leaving Daniel jilted and angry--and was expelled and forced to come to Earth, where he was recruited by the evil Reverend Slaggingham whose mission is to manufacture misery. Considering there’s only so much happiness in the world to go around, he figures if he can make others miserable, that’ll be more happiness available to him.
Daniel confronts Tim and Marya, but Tim convinces him they don’t need to fight, and Daniel sees the error of his ways and takes Tim to Slaggingham so Tim can undo the magic that’s been worked on Daniel.
Meanwhile, in Slaggingham’s factory, Auberon, the king of the fairies, has been trapped, his soul sealed away, and put to work. But Tim’s imaginary friend, Awn the Blink, has appeared to help Slaggingham fix his machine--only problem is, Awn doesn’t fix things, he unfixes them, and that includes Slaggingham himself. So when Tim and Daniel arrive, Slaggingham is at death’s door, his last wish that Daniel killed Tim like he’d been charged with. Daniel says yes he did, then, as the underground river is about to flood the place, he tries to make good on his word by leaving Tim lost underground, hoping the river will finish what he couldn’t.
Awn helps Tim escape, of course, and he reunites with Molly who doesn’t seem the least bit perturbed about Tim’s secret life. And Tim, impressed, admits that, yes, he would love to be Molly’s boyfriend.
The final story, “Small Glass Worlds”, is only 2 issues, and deals solely with the fate of Auberon, king of the fairies, left behind in Slaggingham’s sinking underground factory, and Tim’s effort to help the king retrieve his soul from the glass ball in which it’s been sealed. This wasn’t much of an arc, and in the end seemed only to serve as epilogue to the previous story. There was one very important bit of information revealed, though, about Tim’s heritage and the question of who is or isn’t his real mother.
“Summonings” had a lot going on, and it seemed at times a little unfocused, but in the end every detail emerged as vital, and I ended up enjoying this book even more than I did “Bindings”. Rieber’s hitting his stride and finding his comfort zone in Tim’s world, establishing the strength of our hero’s character, but also giving us glimpses of the future Tim’s weaknesses, which I liked. He’s giving Hunter idiosyncrasies which help round out his character and make him someone worth caring about.
“Summonings” boasts four artists this time, Peter Gross and Gary Amaro have returned, with Peter Snejbjerg stepping in to pencil “Small Glass Worlds” and legend Dick Giordano covers “The Lot”. Gross and Amaro, like Rieber, are establishing their own take on the hero and his world, giving their characters a ton of personality--especially Molly--and making their locations detailed and sinister, playing up the shadows and letting the visuals tell the story.
While THE BOOKS OF MAGIC was never my favorite Vertigo title back in the 1990s, these re-readings are giving me a ton of reasons to rethink my position and I’m glad I gave Tim Hunter another, more attentive, chance.
I’m eager to see what Rieber has in store for him next.
June 16, 2020
Someone told me it's "more of an English thing", the reluctant/unwilling hero. He's not Rambo or Schwarzenegger, or the Rock, or Bruce Willis all 100% American. It always seemed so strange to me, seeing as I wanted to be Spider-Man when I grew up, until I was about 10 and realized that wasn't going to happen and then I settled on cop or firefighter, some job where I could save people (but never soldier because I didn't want to actually kill people). So it's kind of funny that the first time I remember encountering and not liking the reluctant hero was in another Gaiman book, Neverwhere. Gaiman didn't write this volume of The Books of Magic, but he started it off with the first volume, so Tim Hunter, reluctant hero, was already pretty well defined and John Rieber carried on the tradition.
So if you're looking for some ass-kicking warlock I would suggest you look elsewhere. Tim's got magic, he's just not sure how to use it or if he wants to use it or what it's for, Tim's basically not sure about anything. But not to worry the story is filled with a bunch of other interesting characters and ideas so it's not just a teen angst story.
So if you're looking for some ass-kicking warlock I would suggest you look elsewhere. Tim's got magic, he's just not sure how to use it or if he wants to use it or what it's for, Tim's basically not sure about anything. But not to worry the story is filled with a bunch of other interesting characters and ideas so it's not just a teen angst story.
June 24, 2017
The art is gorgeous, but in terms of story I'm so much more interested in the side characters than in Tim; Khara and her tormented angel lover, Marya trying to break up with stalkery Daniel, etc.
I know this is trying to capture the drama and contradictions of adolescence, but it's difficult for me to have feelings one way or the other about Tim because he's amazingly important and has multiple powerful threats trying to either manipulate or destroy him, BUT he's a narcissistic jerk who thinks he's the center of the universe and is blind to other people's problems, BUT he's a good kid who's just trying his best and whose diary is supposedly about everyone else, BUT...
It's one thing to have a character who is still growing into themselves. But Tim is so inconsistent that I really don't know who he is or care what happens to him.
I know this is trying to capture the drama and contradictions of adolescence, but it's difficult for me to have feelings one way or the other about Tim because he's amazingly important and has multiple powerful threats trying to either manipulate or destroy him, BUT he's a narcissistic jerk who thinks he's the center of the universe and is blind to other people's problems, BUT he's a good kid who's just trying his best and whose diary is supposedly about everyone else, BUT...
It's one thing to have a character who is still growing into themselves. But Tim is so inconsistent that I really don't know who he is or care what happens to him.
March 6, 2019
Definitely prefer this to the Children’s Crusade. Tim’s life gets more complicated as he learns the scope, significance and price of what it is to wield magic. We are exposed to all sorts of characters some fantastical some nefarious and many a combination of both.
August 11, 2022
This tale proves a little frustrating, with quick solutions that are a bit too easy. A touch of Gaiman remains, though. I did enjoy the future vs present storyline, I was a bit disappointed that faded out. Maybe it will show back up in volume 3.
February 7, 2023
This was a fun volume in this cool series. Tim is getting more of a personality. He is working on figuring out his magic. The characters that show up are crazy and interesting. Looking forward to reading on.
May 25, 2021
A typical Vertigo mess. Dark for the sake of darkness. I'll try one more book and then done!
June 23, 2021
This book are fantastic.
May 10, 2023
The Books of Magic, Volume 2: Summonings by John Ney Rieber – This coming of age story is full of cool characters! Happy Reading!
December 31, 2024
The wild twists and turns this story takes are so fun. I think my favourite character might be Awn the Blink.
August 2, 2025
This was actually a lot better for the series - some plot and intriguing characters really kick in here, and some more unique structure starts to emerge.
April 26, 2009
"The Books of Magic: Summonings, Book 2" follows the story of Tim Hunter, a teenager who is destined to become the world's greatest magician. Tim must contend with a heartless sorcerer, tea in hell, a murderous Victorian cyborg, a whirlwind family reunion with an insanely jealous Faerie Queen and ... a first date.
Young Tim Hunter is reminded of an imaginary friend he had as a child who was killed by someone or something. In an investigation into the imaginary friend's death he enters a world where all his childhood imaginings are now real. Simultaneously we follow grown up and increasingly pitiful Tim Hunter. He visits the past to kidnap the woman of his life (in the so-called formatory) while she still loves him and to raise himself to grow up to be him. Influencing his younger self is a daunting task for him since he has traded away his childhood memories in various battles with demons.
Those are the big plots that span the shorter stories. The small plots involve a magician (of The Cold Flame that was vanquished by The Trenchcoat Brigade in the earlier book), who tries to catch Tim with his slave succubus and various characters from Victorian England who have crossed over into modern England via the land of fairy. The sucubus makes for an interesting character: at one point she lets her dinner, a live pigeon, fly free over the city and muses on her own lack of freedom. There are also parallels between her obvious position of slavery and the less obvious traps that other characters are stuck in.
The layouts felt just a tad off for me. Often I read frames out of sequence and they just didn't flow right and I get a bit disoriented. After the first story in "The Books of Magic" series was complete, Neil Gaiman vanished, leaving the series in the hands of writer John Ney Rieber. That is not entirely a bad thing, but it's not a great one, either.
While "The Books of Magic: Summonings, Book 2" is still good reading, the gap in quality between the first collection and this one is noticeable. The stories here are far more unconnected, disjointed, and episodic than those in the first collection, with only Tim to hold them together as a coherent whole.
Book Details:
Title The Books of Magic: Summonings, Book 2
Author John Ney Rieber; Neil Gaiman (Consultant)
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Young Tim Hunter is reminded of an imaginary friend he had as a child who was killed by someone or something. In an investigation into the imaginary friend's death he enters a world where all his childhood imaginings are now real. Simultaneously we follow grown up and increasingly pitiful Tim Hunter. He visits the past to kidnap the woman of his life (in the so-called formatory) while she still loves him and to raise himself to grow up to be him. Influencing his younger self is a daunting task for him since he has traded away his childhood memories in various battles with demons.
Those are the big plots that span the shorter stories. The small plots involve a magician (of The Cold Flame that was vanquished by The Trenchcoat Brigade in the earlier book), who tries to catch Tim with his slave succubus and various characters from Victorian England who have crossed over into modern England via the land of fairy. The sucubus makes for an interesting character: at one point she lets her dinner, a live pigeon, fly free over the city and muses on her own lack of freedom. There are also parallels between her obvious position of slavery and the less obvious traps that other characters are stuck in.
The layouts felt just a tad off for me. Often I read frames out of sequence and they just didn't flow right and I get a bit disoriented. After the first story in "The Books of Magic" series was complete, Neil Gaiman vanished, leaving the series in the hands of writer John Ney Rieber. That is not entirely a bad thing, but it's not a great one, either.
While "The Books of Magic: Summonings, Book 2" is still good reading, the gap in quality between the first collection and this one is noticeable. The stories here are far more unconnected, disjointed, and episodic than those in the first collection, with only Tim to hold them together as a coherent whole.
Book Details:
Title The Books of Magic: Summonings, Book 2
Author John Ney Rieber; Neil Gaiman (Consultant)
Reviewed By Purplycookie
September 11, 2015
Timothy Hunter is a 13-year-old boy with the possibility of becoming the world’s greatest magician–as long as he can survive his first date. Well, that and his alcoholic, guilt-ridden father. Well, not really father, kind of like a foster father, because his real father was Tam Lin (of the legend), and his mother is the Faerie Queen. Not to mention his future self, and a bunch of demons from hell that look suspiciously like Barney the Dinosaur. Confused yet? As the classic TV show Soap used to say, if you aren’t, you will be.
Comics are somewhat similar to soap operas, and that’s not knocking either genre. I loved The Edge of Night when I was 16-17, because it combined a cast of characters that you could look forward to following with very mysterious plots (murder, blackmail, etc.) I would have loved to have been able to see Dark Shadows, which I only encountered as a Gold Key comic in my youth.
“The Books of Magic” and Timothy Hunter were created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton, and they share some affinity with both men’s other work, although Reiber is quickly establishing his own voice. Perhaps it is similar to the Sandman stories written by other writers in the recent HarperPrism anthology co-edited by Gaiman and Ed Gorman?
Part of the reason I like this series is because I recall daydreams around the age of 13 where I was a powerful magician, similar to Timothy, and it is interesting to see my daydreams committed to page in text and pictures. For people without my strong sense of nostalgia, the humor and style of The Books of Magic raises it above much of the other graphic novels published today (although nothing comes close to Jeff Smith’s Bone, which is a 1990s Pogo, and will likely be considered as much a classic in the comic field as Watchmen if Smith can keep up the quality).
Comics are somewhat similar to soap operas, and that’s not knocking either genre. I loved The Edge of Night when I was 16-17, because it combined a cast of characters that you could look forward to following with very mysterious plots (murder, blackmail, etc.) I would have loved to have been able to see Dark Shadows, which I only encountered as a Gold Key comic in my youth.
“The Books of Magic” and Timothy Hunter were created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton, and they share some affinity with both men’s other work, although Reiber is quickly establishing his own voice. Perhaps it is similar to the Sandman stories written by other writers in the recent HarperPrism anthology co-edited by Gaiman and Ed Gorman?
Part of the reason I like this series is because I recall daydreams around the age of 13 where I was a powerful magician, similar to Timothy, and it is interesting to see my daydreams committed to page in text and pictures. For people without my strong sense of nostalgia, the humor and style of The Books of Magic raises it above much of the other graphic novels published today (although nothing comes close to Jeff Smith’s Bone, which is a 1990s Pogo, and will likely be considered as much a classic in the comic field as Watchmen if Smith can keep up the quality).
July 15, 2022
There are a lot of interesting pieces to this collection. My favorite being the succubus storyline where you're set up to believe that this is going to be a typical story where a male has to overcome a seductive succubus to master his own fate. Instead what you get is a very empathetic female character, who happens to be a succubus, navigating her feelings around a boy who uninentionally treats women poorly. It's a much more interesting story premise. Tim Hunter From The Future and Tim Hunter From The Current Timeline are both almost villains in this collection. Their decision making is mostly poor and they're incredibly selfish. Several female characters attempt to help Tim in various ways, and he struggles against them improving his humanity. From that perspective I liked this book.
The other parts of this book, however, didn't interest me. The constantly shifting questions about Tim's parentage don't emotionally engage me. I don't like Tim. Why do I care who his real parents are? The arc about a chimney sweep child who is thrown out of paradise to work in a factory of magic robots who are ... doing something, I guess ... was extremely dull. And adding in the Faerie Folk into the mix, just so their king could tell Tim that everything he knew about his family is wrong. Again. made my eyes roll.
I'm not sure I'm ever going to like Tim Hunter and The Books Of Magic, at this rate, but I'm at least curious to see how the story progresses, and whether it crosses back over with Hellblazer or Sandman anytime soon.
The other parts of this book, however, didn't interest me. The constantly shifting questions about Tim's parentage don't emotionally engage me. I don't like Tim. Why do I care who his real parents are? The arc about a chimney sweep child who is thrown out of paradise to work in a factory of magic robots who are ... doing something, I guess ... was extremely dull. And adding in the Faerie Folk into the mix, just so their king could tell Tim that everything he knew about his family is wrong. Again. made my eyes roll.
I'm not sure I'm ever going to like Tim Hunter and The Books Of Magic, at this rate, but I'm at least curious to see how the story progresses, and whether it crosses back over with Hellblazer or Sandman anytime soon.
September 14, 2011
Despite its tendency to go in all directions to the risk of mayhem, The Books of Magic vol. 2: Summonings is a good and joyous mayhem, mixing imaginary friends from Tim's childhood now brought to life, characters from the Industrial Revolution seemingly out of a Dickens novel, other characters from the Free Country reminiscent of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan, and, of course, the fey folk. All these disparate elements are glued together by the central figure of Tim Hunter whose magical potential leads him to more troubles than benefits, which makes for great stories.
My greatest reproach against this book is that parts of the storyline is derived from other series that I never had the chance to read. It hinders my immersion in this story, but the depth of the characters, the artful storytelling managed to draw me in nonetheless.
My greatest reproach against this book is that parts of the storyline is derived from other series that I never had the chance to read. It hinders my immersion in this story, but the depth of the characters, the artful storytelling managed to draw me in nonetheless.
November 29, 2013
This continues to be very confusing, as the TPB collects stories that are apparently out of order from the comic run?
I dunno, I'm starting to feel like I need to find some sort of reading guide to figure out what order to read all this stuff in.
Elements keep appearing as if from nowhere, then getting dropped. Which is disappointing, I'd read one of the much later TPBs from the library and really loved it a lot, so I was very excited to read it from the beginning. But so far? Bit of a disappointment sadly.
I dunno, I'm starting to feel like I need to find some sort of reading guide to figure out what order to read all this stuff in.
Elements keep appearing as if from nowhere, then getting dropped. Which is disappointing, I'd read one of the much later TPBs from the library and really loved it a lot, so I was very excited to read it from the beginning. But so far? Bit of a disappointment sadly.
July 14, 2013
I'm so lost. The first volume felt incomplete and this one just added more questions instead of answering any of them.
ETA: Just did some research and I now see that Volume 1 is not the first volume in this series. The first volume is simply titled "The Books of Magic" and explains everything having to do with Tim. Until I get and read the proper first volume, this review and the one for "The Books of Magic: Bindings" are null and void =)
7/14/13 Much better the second time around.
ETA: Just did some research and I now see that Volume 1 is not the first volume in this series. The first volume is simply titled "The Books of Magic" and explains everything having to do with Tim. Until I get and read the proper first volume, this review and the one for "The Books of Magic: Bindings" are null and void =)
7/14/13 Much better the second time around.
Want to read
November 13, 2010Lo tengo en la edición de cuatro tomos de Norma: Los Libros de la Magia: Convocaciones 1 al 4 (Colección Vertigo #38, 41, 46 y 50). Por ahora no creo que la suba para no partir el libro en cuatro, pero marco la edición española a tomo completo por aproximación. Seguro me los lea de uno después de releer el tomo de Gaiman.
February 6, 2008
This is a nice fat story arc that finds Tim increasingly embroiled in magical doings. Curiously, the Tim of the future is also involved in the present, but this Tim has been lead astray by a demon.
August 27, 2009
This is just a good fun read in an interesting series.
March 11, 2013
Vast improvement over the first volume, Rieber is getting in depth and up to par with Sandman, not quite, but just as enjoyable.
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