Graphic Novels > John New Rieber Graphic Novels

Advantages: The start of it all, so an ideal intro.
Disadvantages: A bit simple (buts thats also its charm)

This is the first in the Books of Magic series. The series itself is based on The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman, who acts as a consultant on the books. The books star a 13 year old magician called Timothy Hunter who is supposed to possess huge magical talent but has yet to learn how to use it. This book starts a few years after Gaimans original. Faerie is dying and Tamlin (a magician with a talent for turing into a hawk) comes to Engalnd to search ...
...father. From here on the book is as much about Timothy's attempts to find out if Tamlin really is his father as it is about his efforts to save Faerie (this comes about mainly by accident). For fans of Gaimans work there is a cameo appearence by Death and the whole plot twists again towards the end. The story is not hugely complicated. It has some nice little twists and is nicely written but tends to hold your attention through its characters rather ... Read review

Advantages: Well, the covers a lovely purple
Disadvantages: No Molly.

Ok, I like the Books Of Magic and so this isn't going to be as critical as it could be. First things first however, this is one in a series and if you haven't the read the preceding volumes don't start here. I've reviewed some of the others on Ciao, and the first is called Bindings, so I suggest you start at the begining or as close to it as you can get. The brief biog of the characters at the start of the book really isn't enough to give a proper ...
...advice, if you haven't read the others read them first. Right, with any luck, if your still with me, you'll have at least a passing knowledge of this series. Just in case the basic background is that Timothy Hunter (our hero for want of a better word) is a fourteen year old magician whose destined to be the new merlin. However he has no real control over his power and basically lurches from crisis to crisis usually requiring a generous dollop of ... Read review

Advantages: Molly takes centre stage and Jack Hammer is a brillant gargoyle
Disadvantages: The end for Molly and Tim, and the artwork isn't always up to scratch

The burning girl, is probably one of the most enjoyable of the books of magic. It begins where the last book left off, Molly is still trapped in Faerie having been tricked by Titania. She is using her burning power to terrorise the fey. Tim is still lost in America, wandering around with his normal clueless attitude. If this doesn't make much sense then read my review on the Girl in the Box or, better still, read the books. (I'll post the review ...
...character and powers, while at the same time not retelling the story so far. Indeed if you haven't read some of the previous books, you may get a little confused later on, but this first story is a standalone tale. After it the main plot kicks in. Titania is pursuing Molly, who hasn't been defeated by her curse. Molly burns down cities, markets and guards. Titania eventually resorts to drastic measures, and discovers that worse things than Molly ... Read review

Advantages: Unique, really unique.
Disadvantages: There aren't enough of them about

The Books of Magic are a spin-off series. They began life as a comic book by Neil Gaiman about a boy (aged 13) called Timothy Hunter who is introduced to magic by a group of four mysterious men, including John Constantine and the Stranger. Timothy is told he has the potential to be the greatest magician in the world, but he rejects their offer of help. Having done this he finds himself back in a council estate in London. The series picks up around ...
...but it is part of the start of the series, introducing as it does, two principal characters in Leah and Molly. The plot involves Tim, whose just returned from Faerie (see review on Bindings) being stalked by Martyn, an adept of the cold flame. Martyn uses Leah, a succubus, to attract Tim. He then hopes to manipulate Tim into joining him by first injuring and then curing his father. This is where it gets a bit more complicated. Timothy has the potential ... Read review

Advantages: Impressive debut with some fantastic art.
Disadvantages: A bit of a copy-cat, falling for some of the Sandman's pitfalls.

...issue mini-series 'The Sandman Presents Lucifer: The Morningstar Option' from 1999 and the first four issues of the regular comic which began a year later, forming another three-part serial and a final, separate short story. It's clear even from this first collection that the recognisable Sandman style is being followed diligently, allocating a finite number of issues to a particular story before moving on to the next and filling the spaces with ...
...the titular protagonist, Lucifer (or whatever name your culture bestows him) is much more prominent in these plots than Gaiman's Sandman was in the long run, though like Dream his role is pushed to the background in the short stories, presuming this book is going to be reflective of the series as a whole. In a further, clearly intentional homage to Sandman, the series would conclude after seventy-five issues in 2006, but now we're getting ahead of ... Read review