The Books of Magic #1 is an issue of the series The Books of Magic (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1990.
Synopsis for "The Invisible Labyrinth"
The Phantom Stranger, John Constantine, Doctor Occult, and Mister E convene to discuss Timothy Hunter, a British youth with unprecedented potential in magic. While E favors preemptive killing, and Constantine total inaction, they are outvoted by Occult and the Stranger, who insist that Timothy be offered a proper education. The quartet make such an offer to Timothy, who instantly dismisses them - until his yo-yo is transformed into a live owl by Occult. Impressed, Timothy agrees to be shown the mystics' world.
With the Stranger his first instructor, Timothy witnesses the Creation; the War in Heaven; the fall of Atlantis; magic as understood by cavemen, then by ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks. A brief encounter with the legendary Merlin and medieval witch-hunts additionally teach Timothy some of magic's worst drawbacks: it often forces acolytes to know futures they cannot change, and it cannot always coexist with man's suspicious, capricious nature.
Finally, the Stranger introduces Timothy to Doctor Fate, Zatara, and Sargon the Sorcerer - three mystics who had successfully adapted to the modern, science-centered world, but nevertheless met less-than-pleasant ends, as is often the price of magic. Timothy emerges from this first leg of his education disturbed, but still eager to learn more - an eagerness Constantine is more than willing to indulge.
Appearing in "The Invisible Labyrinth"
Featured Characters:
- The Phantom Stranger (Joins The Trenchcoat Brigade)
- Timothy "Tim" Hunter (First appearance) (Also as a spirit)
Supporting Characters:
- Atlantean Homo Magus (Single appearance) (Unnamed)
- Merlin/Myrddin (Also in a vision)
- The Trenchcoat Brigade (First appearance; unnamed)
- Doctor Occult (Joins team)
- John Constantine (Joins team)
- Mister E (Joins team)
- Yo-Yo the Owl (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Brotherhood of the Cold Flame (Behind the scenes)
Other Characters:
- The Archangels (First full appearance)
- King Arthur (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Primordial Demons/"The Old Breed" (Cameo)
- Fallen Angels (Flashback only) (Origin)
- Giovanni Zatara
- God (Behind the scenes)
- Gods of Egypt
- Isis (In picture only) (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Iason (Cameo)
- Inza Cramer-Nelson (In a vision) (Cameo)
- The Lords of the Nine Heavens (First appearance)
- Jiutian Xuannü (First appearance; unnamed) (In picture only) (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Kent Nelson (In a vision)
- Lords of Order (Behind the scenes)
- Nimue (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Nymphs (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Sargon the Sorcerer (John Sargent) (Dies in a vision)
- Satyrs (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Master Blaise (Mentioned only)
- Cherubim (Mentioned only)
- Devils (Mentioned only)
- Belial (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Doctor Fate (Eric Strauss) (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Doctor Fate (Linda Strauss) (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Doctor Fate (Unknown Future) (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Dragons (Mentioned only)
- Fairies (Mentioned only)
- Tooth Fairy (Mentioned only)
- Gods of Egypt
- Anubis (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Gods of Olympus (Mentioned only)
- Hecate/"The Witch Queen" (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- The Great Darkness (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Griffins (Mentioned only)
- Lizard-Kings (Mentioned only)
- Metropolitan Police (Mentioned only)
- Santa Claus (Mentioned only)
- Seraphim (Mentioned only)
- Spirits (Mentioned only)
- "The Vengeance of the Lord" (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Zatanna Zatara (Mentioned only)
- Jonathan Ross (Mentioned only)
- Saints (Mentioned only)
- The Great Pumpkin (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Hypertime (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
- Timestream
- Dawn of Time
- The End (Mentioned only)
- Alternate Future (An unnamed servant becomes Doctor Fate) (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Timestream
- Multiverse (Behind the scenes)
- Vertigo Universe (Unnamed) (Flashback and main story) (Origin)
- 4.5 Billion years ago
- Solar System (Origin)
- Earth (Origin)
- Solar System (Origin)
- 50 Thousand years ago
- Atlantic Ocean
- Hy-Brasil (Destroyed) (Mentioned only)
- Ancient Atlantis (Destroyed)
- Lyonesse (Destroyed) (Mentioned only)
- Atlantic Ocean
- 45 Thousand years ago
- Earth (Cameo)
- Around 12 Thousand years ago
- Earth
- Greece (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- China (Mentioned only)
- Yellow River (Mentioned only)
- Egypt (Mentioned only)
- Nile River (Mentioned only)
- The Moon (Mentioned only)
- Earth
- 6th Century
- Britain (Also in a vision)
- Camelot (Also in a vision)
- Wintanceaster/Winchester (Mentioned only)
- Britain (Also in a vision)
- "Between the Dark Ages and Middle Ages"
- Britain
- Cornwall (Unnamed)
- Boscastle (Unnamed)
- Merlin's Cave (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Boscastle (Unnamed)
- Somerset
- Salisbury Plain
- Stonehenge (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Salisbury Plain
- Cornwall (Unnamed)
- Moldavia
- Castle Branek (Unnamed)
- Merlin's Tomb (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Castle Branek (Unnamed)
- Britain
- 17th Century
- United States of America
- Massachusetts
- Salem (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Massachusetts
- United States of America
- 1930s
- United States of America
- Salem (Behind the scenes)
- Tower of Fate (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Salem (Behind the scenes)
- Iraq
- Valley of Ur
- Underground Pyramid (Mentioned only)
- Valley of Ur
- United States of America
- 1990
- 4.5 Billion years ago
- The Dream-Time (Mentioned only)
- The Far Lands (Mentioned only)
- Faerie (Mentioned only)
- Avalon (Mentioned only)
- Hades/"The Underworld" (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Mount Olympus (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Faerie (Mentioned only)
- Heaven (Mentioned only)
- Hell (Mentioned only)
- Vertigo Universe (Unnamed) (Flashback and main story) (Origin)
- The Void before Existence (Flashback only)
- The Silver City (First appearance) (Cameo)
Items:
- Excalibur (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Helmet of Fate (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Ruby of Life (In a vision) (Cameo)
- Silk Cut
- Tim Hunter's Yo-Yo (Mutated)
Vehicles:
- Tim Hunter's Skateboard (First appearance)
Events:
- Big Bang (Mentioned only)
- The Death of Kent Nelson (Mentioned only)
- The Seance of the Great Darkness (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Sinking of Atlantis
- War in Heaven (Flashback only)
Concepts:
Notes
- Although the events of this story also occurring in the continuity of New Earth, the events of this issue are set on the Vertigo Universe and take place on the day before Halloween[1] 1990, a couple weeks after the events of Hellblazer #40.[2]
- According to this story, "primordial demons" walked the Earth before Life came to be in the Prehistoric Era. However, it is unclear if these are an Earth-born race of demonic creatures or the true demons from Hell.
- Merlin being sealed under Castle Branek is just one of the many interpretations of his story:
- A version of Merlin was previously shown in the flashbacks of Hellblazer Special #1 where he was murdered by King Kon-Sten-Tyn;
- In future storylines, various incarnations of Merlin will eventually resurface on Earth. This suggests that either various characters named Merlin exist in the Vertigo Universe or Merlin has been somehow split (or split himself) into different incarnations.
Trivia
- Phantom Stranger foreshadows Tim Hunter meeting the Doctor Fates (Eric and Linda Strauss) in issue #2 and traveling to the future to meet a possible future iteration of Doctor Fate in issue #4.
- The real circumstances behind Merlin's imprisonment in his cave and the link between him and Tim Hunter are eventually revealed in The Names of Magic (Volume 1).
- The first meeting between Tim Hunter and Mister E will be homaged during Tim's last meeting with Constantine in Hunter: The Age of Magic #25.
See Also