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The Books of Magic #5
The Books of Magic, Volume 5: Girl in the Box
The saga of Timothy Hunter, master Mage-in training, continues in this sixth collection of the popular series. Originally created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton, the Eisner-award nominated The Books of Magic continue to unlock new, previously unexplored, realms of fantasy and mysticism. It's the beginning of a new chapter in Tim's life as he bids farewell to rainy England and sets out on an odyssey of discovery in the United States. Prepare yourself for a mermaid in the desert, Molly in the Faerie, ghosts in a ghost town and Zatana in a whole heap of trouble. A story that will appeal to all lovers of magic and mystery.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
400 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 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 1, 2021
Rites of Passage I (BoM #26-32). The first half of Rites of Passage puts Tim and Molly on journeys to mythical places: Molly to Faerie and Tim to California. They're generally delightful tales, with Tim having great interactions with Leah, and Molly just being great. Unfortunately, the last few issues aren't quite up to the standards of the first several, because they drag down into a weird, mythical something in the desert, and it's all about Tim and not about Molly at all. Still, this is a strong arc [4+/5].
July 16, 2012
14-year-old magician in training, Timothy Hunter, is in America. Having left home in hopes of drawing all the craziness that’s surrounded his life the past two years away from his friends and family, Tim Hunter met a man who gave him the opportunity to travel anywhere in the world he wanted. Tim chose America. More specifically he chose to visit Zatanna, one of the DC Universe’s most powerful magicians, and former member of the Justice League.
What he didn’t expect when he got to the States was to meet Leah, the former succubus who used to live next door to Tim in England.
He decides to travel with Leah because, well, she’s got transportation and it beats being 14 and alone in a foreign country. Along the way, they have some small adventures, like being confronted by Cupid in a new, ghetto incarnation, packing automatic weapons that shoot chocolates and threaten to make people fall in love.
They camp out in the desert one night, where they find a dying mermaid, and then Tim and Leah are both sent on spiritual journeys that will determine their fates in life as well as, in Tim’s case, re-write part of the past in order to help him get to his future.
Meanwhile, Tim’s girlfriend Molly is still in Faerie awaiting her contest with the fool Amadan. The fairy folk begin to grow more enchanted with Molly as the days go by, and the Queen, getting jealous of the attention being shown Molly instead of to the Queen, attempts to humble the girl. But those attempts backfire and Molly charges into court, seething to the point that everything she touches bursts into flame.
Of all the collected BOOKS OF MAGIC volumes so far, I think Book 5: “Girl in the Box” is the most surreal. I don’t know if something got lost in the translation from script to art to page, or if there was an editing glitch somewhere along the way, but the last two chapters of this book (issues 31-32 of the series) read more like a hallucinatory drug trip than a comic book series that’s supposed to make sense. I know the status quo for the Vertigo line of books was insanity and trippiness, but in this case, it felt like there was more going on than what writer John Ney Rieber had anticipated and he wasn’t sure how to work in his subplots, so he just kind of made it crazy, and then crapped out on the climax and resolution; we get to a point in Tim’s adventure where, instead of seeing what’s next, we suddenly jump ahead to Tim and one of the subplot characters sitting in the desert and Tim telling her basically, “So me and this magical creature went back in time and changed a couple things and…”
What? I didn’t see that part. What are you talking about? How long did this take? Why wasn’t it included in the story? You’re gonna flash forward past THAT?
I call foul.
Overall, the collection just felt packed with too much going on, but too little payoff in the end. I attribute this to its being a SERIES and not necessarily having been written for easy trade paperback packaging. So instead of a complete story with beginning middle and end, we’re only shown a 7-part piece of a larger whole.
It’s a GOOD 7 parts, no doubt about that--THE BOOKS OF MAGIC is a really good series when you can read it all in one shot--but as far as trade collections go, there’s just a sense of cohesion and completeness this one lacks.
The Peters Gross and Snejbjerg share art duties, with Gross working the first couple issues, then both collaborating for the middle few, then Snejbjerg taking over for the last two. Gross is still definitely the more solid of the two, with Snejbjerg’s final issue looking way too cartoony.
With THE BOOKS OF MAGIC 5: “Girl in the Box”, John Ney Rieber is definitely taking his book in some bold new directions, and upping the weird factor sevenfold. I’m not entirely convinced it works, not just yet, and certainly not when this collection contains only the prologue and first 6 chapters of a much larger story (“Rites of Passage”), leaving the reader with about a dozen questions at the end. But as a series, I’m still enjoying it and looking forward, once again, to what’s next.
What he didn’t expect when he got to the States was to meet Leah, the former succubus who used to live next door to Tim in England.
He decides to travel with Leah because, well, she’s got transportation and it beats being 14 and alone in a foreign country. Along the way, they have some small adventures, like being confronted by Cupid in a new, ghetto incarnation, packing automatic weapons that shoot chocolates and threaten to make people fall in love.
They camp out in the desert one night, where they find a dying mermaid, and then Tim and Leah are both sent on spiritual journeys that will determine their fates in life as well as, in Tim’s case, re-write part of the past in order to help him get to his future.
Meanwhile, Tim’s girlfriend Molly is still in Faerie awaiting her contest with the fool Amadan. The fairy folk begin to grow more enchanted with Molly as the days go by, and the Queen, getting jealous of the attention being shown Molly instead of to the Queen, attempts to humble the girl. But those attempts backfire and Molly charges into court, seething to the point that everything she touches bursts into flame.
Of all the collected BOOKS OF MAGIC volumes so far, I think Book 5: “Girl in the Box” is the most surreal. I don’t know if something got lost in the translation from script to art to page, or if there was an editing glitch somewhere along the way, but the last two chapters of this book (issues 31-32 of the series) read more like a hallucinatory drug trip than a comic book series that’s supposed to make sense. I know the status quo for the Vertigo line of books was insanity and trippiness, but in this case, it felt like there was more going on than what writer John Ney Rieber had anticipated and he wasn’t sure how to work in his subplots, so he just kind of made it crazy, and then crapped out on the climax and resolution; we get to a point in Tim’s adventure where, instead of seeing what’s next, we suddenly jump ahead to Tim and one of the subplot characters sitting in the desert and Tim telling her basically, “So me and this magical creature went back in time and changed a couple things and…”
What? I didn’t see that part. What are you talking about? How long did this take? Why wasn’t it included in the story? You’re gonna flash forward past THAT?
I call foul.
Overall, the collection just felt packed with too much going on, but too little payoff in the end. I attribute this to its being a SERIES and not necessarily having been written for easy trade paperback packaging. So instead of a complete story with beginning middle and end, we’re only shown a 7-part piece of a larger whole.
It’s a GOOD 7 parts, no doubt about that--THE BOOKS OF MAGIC is a really good series when you can read it all in one shot--but as far as trade collections go, there’s just a sense of cohesion and completeness this one lacks.
The Peters Gross and Snejbjerg share art duties, with Gross working the first couple issues, then both collaborating for the middle few, then Snejbjerg taking over for the last two. Gross is still definitely the more solid of the two, with Snejbjerg’s final issue looking way too cartoony.
With THE BOOKS OF MAGIC 5: “Girl in the Box”, John Ney Rieber is definitely taking his book in some bold new directions, and upping the weird factor sevenfold. I’m not entirely convinced it works, not just yet, and certainly not when this collection contains only the prologue and first 6 chapters of a much larger story (“Rites of Passage”), leaving the reader with about a dozen questions at the end. But as a series, I’m still enjoying it and looking forward, once again, to what’s next.
February 20, 2023
As so closes the end of Omnibus 1 with this story of a girl in the box.
This has Tim go to America and once there he sees...Leah! You remember the succubus who was being used by that creepy dude way back? Well she's in America and started her modeling career. This leads Tim on a adventure to go visit Zatanna but Leah is with him the whole time. This leads to a hold up, mermaids, and some crazy ass trippy adventure inside the "box". At the same time Molly is basically hostage in this strange new world and she's trying to make peace with that while also missing Tim.
Another great adventure. Some stuff is overly wacky and flows weird but the characters remained grounded and interesting. Tim, Molly, and even Leah are fantastic and their fates all feel sad, even if there's hope for a future. I love them and their growth, and the art, while slightly disjointed by two artist, still holds up very well.
Another 4 out of 5 for The Books of Magic!
This has Tim go to America and once there he sees...Leah! You remember the succubus who was being used by that creepy dude way back? Well she's in America and started her modeling career. This leads Tim on a adventure to go visit Zatanna but Leah is with him the whole time. This leads to a hold up, mermaids, and some crazy ass trippy adventure inside the "box". At the same time Molly is basically hostage in this strange new world and she's trying to make peace with that while also missing Tim.
Another great adventure. Some stuff is overly wacky and flows weird but the characters remained grounded and interesting. Tim, Molly, and even Leah are fantastic and their fates all feel sad, even if there's hope for a future. I love them and their growth, and the art, while slightly disjointed by two artist, still holds up very well.
Another 4 out of 5 for The Books of Magic!
August 28, 2022
Tim's growing up; kicking and screaming, though growing none the less. My frustration of the initial volumes was a set up to provide room for this, apparently, as they reference it directly in the end of this one.
February 6, 2023
John Ney Rieber and Peter Gross put together this smooth series of single issues, comprising issues #26-32 that only makes the Books of Magic series even better.
I’ve likened a comic book to a rock band before. In both media we see a group of talented creators collaborating on a result that features both written and non-verbal art, in a rock band it is the musicians who partner with the vocals and in graphic novels we have a writer and chief illustrator forming a synergistic whole with a team of letterers, colorists and editors.
In this tasty story arc we find the fantastic written word, founded upon and inspired by Neil Gaiman, acting as the lyrics to some cool tunes spun by Gross and the other artists.
Tim and Molly embark on adventures, Molly to Faerie and Tim to California (and that’s kind of fun all by itself). It’s a pseudo coming of age story except everyone is growing up fast.
And its the poetic urban fantasy of the two divergent but similar journeys that makes his good. What makes it great are the ubiquitous cultural, mythical, and literary (Lovecraft and Howard!) references that makes this such a rich experience.
AND!
This Rites of Passage storyline was published in 1996. Harry Potter first came out in 1997 and Rowling has admitted that several of these issues inspired her writing the Harry Potter stories.
So there’s that.
Great series and I’m going to read all of these.
I’ve likened a comic book to a rock band before. In both media we see a group of talented creators collaborating on a result that features both written and non-verbal art, in a rock band it is the musicians who partner with the vocals and in graphic novels we have a writer and chief illustrator forming a synergistic whole with a team of letterers, colorists and editors.
In this tasty story arc we find the fantastic written word, founded upon and inspired by Neil Gaiman, acting as the lyrics to some cool tunes spun by Gross and the other artists.
Tim and Molly embark on adventures, Molly to Faerie and Tim to California (and that’s kind of fun all by itself). It’s a pseudo coming of age story except everyone is growing up fast.
And its the poetic urban fantasy of the two divergent but similar journeys that makes his good. What makes it great are the ubiquitous cultural, mythical, and literary (Lovecraft and Howard!) references that makes this such a rich experience.
AND!
This Rites of Passage storyline was published in 1996. Harry Potter first came out in 1997 and Rowling has admitted that several of these issues inspired her writing the Harry Potter stories.
So there’s that.
Great series and I’m going to read all of these.
September 1, 2023
A friendly spirit helps Tim find his way to America where he decides he will let Zatanna train him in the ways of magic. Unfortunately, he runs into his favorite succubus on the way, and the two of them get caught up in their own adventures involving Cupid, trying to rebrand himself as a "gangsta" named Q, and a mermaid in the desert. Meanwhile, the girl he loves may end up spending the rest of her life trapped in faerie.
The weird "gangsta" fixation is such a product of its time. It's not used well here, and while certainly culturally appropriative, it isn't problematic. Q is not depicted as a person of color or a badass, just a clueless guy with a goatee who thinks that being "gangsta" will give him steet cred after 19th century Puritans turned him into a diaper wearing cherub shooting chocolate arrows at people on Valentine's Day.
As when she originally appeared, Leah the succubus is a great play against tropes. While she has the power to hypnotize and seduce, she is mostly just a regular girl trying to help her friend out while also doing small acts that annoy random humans.
I can't say I love this series but I understand why others do. It has one of those YA type vibes where the characters can get maudlin about the melodramatic events going on in their magical lives, but the overall plot doesn't take itself too seriously. If you enjoy silly magic with decidedly adolescent romance angles, this whole John Ney Reiber run might just be the comic you've been looking for.
The weird "gangsta" fixation is such a product of its time. It's not used well here, and while certainly culturally appropriative, it isn't problematic. Q is not depicted as a person of color or a badass, just a clueless guy with a goatee who thinks that being "gangsta" will give him steet cred after 19th century Puritans turned him into a diaper wearing cherub shooting chocolate arrows at people on Valentine's Day.
As when she originally appeared, Leah the succubus is a great play against tropes. While she has the power to hypnotize and seduce, she is mostly just a regular girl trying to help her friend out while also doing small acts that annoy random humans.
I can't say I love this series but I understand why others do. It has one of those YA type vibes where the characters can get maudlin about the melodramatic events going on in their magical lives, but the overall plot doesn't take itself too seriously. If you enjoy silly magic with decidedly adolescent romance angles, this whole John Ney Reiber run might just be the comic you've been looking for.
July 18, 2024
I have to weigh the difficulty of getting a copy into this: there are too many threads getting picked up and dropped in this collection for it to stand alone. Thematically, this is a very good subset of the series. Who really wants to just be put in a box, anyway. Not Molly, not Leah, not Psyche, and well, there are bigger traps to find yourself in. I've never warmed to Tim as a character, but who serves as a handy catalyst for the characters and events happening around him.
February 12, 2023
Another great volume in this fun series. Molly and Tim are separated, but managing on their own in their adventures. Hoping to find each other, they work on the problems before them. This was weird and fascinating. Not sure what the final two volumes will bring, but I am looking forward to see.
June 24, 2017
This is mostly setup for things to come; the only part I enjoyed on its own merits was Molly gardening.
June 26, 2019
Enjoyed the focus on Molly
August 26, 2019
The book was certainly fantastic.
September 11, 2019
This book is totally amanzing.
April 16, 2013
Compared to other volumes in this series, this book is more of a coming-of-age story. In this book he deals with his nervous feelings regarding sex, his own timid nature in general, and to some extent, what it means to be a man.
Want to read
March 27, 2008This is supposed to be really hard to find, out of print! I hope to get a copy and check out the "magic" :)
February 4, 2012
A little heavier than usual on Tim's metaphorical mental dreamscape. And we still haven't resolved the storyline where Molly appears to be trapped in Faerie.
June 15, 2016
This particular version felt like an X-files story which doesn't sound too far off considering they were trying to incorporate American lore into Tim's world
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews