Hunter: The Age of Magic

The Books of Magic

by Dylan Horrocks, Richard Case (Penciler, inker), Sherilyn van Valkenburgh (Colourist)

A 25 issue series detailing Tim Hunter's graduation and what happened to him afterwards.
September 2001 to September 2003.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Supernatural

600 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Horrocks has been involved in the New Zealand comic scene since the mid 1980s, when he co-founded Razor with Cornelius Stone and had his work published in the University of Auckland student magazine Craccum. Later in the decade he began to get international recognition, having work published by Australia's Fox Comics and the American Fantagraphics Books. He then moved to the United Kingdom where he self-published several mini-comics and co-founded Le Roquet, a comics annual. Upon returning to New Zealand in the mid 1990s, Horrocks had a half-page strip called 'Milo's Week' in the current affairs magazine New Zealand Listener from 1995 to 1997. He also produced Pickle, published by Black Eye Comics, in which the 'Hicksville' story originally appeared. Hicksville was published in book form in 1998, achieving considerable critical success. French, Spanish and Italian editions have since been published. In the last decade Horrocks has written and drawn a wide range of projects including scripts for Vertigo's Hunter: The Age of Magic and the Batgirl series, and Atlas, published by Drawn and Quarterly.
Horrocks' work has been displayed at the Auckland Art Gallery and Wellington's City Gallery. In 2002 Hicksville won an Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition, and the same year Atlas was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story in 2002. In 2006 he was appointed University of Auckland/Creative New Zealand Literary Fellow.[1]
In an interview with Comics Bulletin, Horrocks claimed that his first words were 'Donald Duck'.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrocks does a great job of balancing the otherworldly realms and magical education with real world experiences & issues. HUNTER feels like a more grounded character, but one who is still learning how to live in a world that is both mundane and magical.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lake of Fire (AoM #1-6). A terrific beginning to Tim's newest story, pushed forward a few years to allow Tim to reach adulthood. That new adult Tim is an interesting extrapolation of his story so far, but Horrocks also does a great job of creating a whole new environment in the White School and a new cast of characters and then dovetailing the past and present together at the last moment in a surprising twist. Some of the flashbacks are sloppy, but otherwise this is a great story [5/5].

Going Home (AoM #7). A nice break, and a good reminder of Tim's new power level, but nothing exceptional [4/5].

The Evil Gene (AoM #8-11). This really feels like a classic Books of Magic story, or at least a classic story with the more mature and adult Tim of Age of Magic. But it's got romance, questions about good and evil, and weird mix of fantasy and the urban age. It's a fun story that hits on several of the comic's major themes [4+/5].

Ghost in the Shelf (AoM #12). Unfortunately we now get to a one-off attempt at humor, and those never go as well as you hope. Lots of intriguing character moments, lots of dull humor/fighting [3/5].

War (AoM #13-18). The Golden Lotus goes to war with the entire magic community. Horrocks certains ups the stakes in this arc and also nicely dovetails the plot lines and characters from The Names of Magic. There's a bit where Ash and the Walkers are on the front-lines, and it feels somewhat far-flung for much of the story (in part due to an unfortunate decision to give it different and dull artwork), but even that's brought together by the end. A good story with serious repercussions that continues right on to the next ... [4/5].

Back to School (AoM #19-21). From there, we get a nice link back to the first arc of Horrocks' Age of Magic, really bringing everything together. This is a nice and worthwhile conclusion that really brings the whole volume together in a way that doesn't seem trite. So where do we go from here? [4/5].

The Art of Magic (AoM #22-23). A bit of a quick closure to the Molly storyline. One suspects that Horrocks was suddenly told his run was coming to an end. It's good to hear how ill-treated Molly was after her magic and fairy experiences, and good to see a potential future with Tim, but this story is mostly fluff [3+/5].

Waking Albion (AoM #24). And I thought the previous story was abrupt! This one foreshortens an entire arc about racism wars in Britain into a single issue. Yikes! It's a good continuation of the main arc so far for Age of Magic, but this increasingly feels like the Cliff Notes version [3/5]

All is Full of Magic (AoM #25). So at last we come to the end not just of Horrocks' run, but of the story of the original Tim Hunter. (There would be more!) It's a nice personal piece, positioned as a letter from Tim to Molly, but also closing up many of AoM's other stories. I wish Horrocks hadn't needed to rush his last storylines, but this is a great finale [5/5].

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up two random issues from this series and finally was able to track down the rest so I could read the whole thing. I don't know anything about Tim Hunter outside of these comics, but I liked that it was written in such a way where it all still made sense. I really enjoyed it.

[Evalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so many (positive) feelings about this series. What a great successor to the main series and what a great time seeing Tim as a teen with different skills and lots of new and old faces. Definitely a great read.