Customer Reviews

Books of Magic, The: Death After Death - Book 7

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was disappointed in this book because I expected Reiber's end, as the writer, to come in a way that concluded all the work up to this point. But nothing ever seems to really end, or ever really be concluded, in this series. Big plotlines come and go and are MOSTLY finished, but seem to end abruptly, and not for good reasons. I'd say "Death After Death" needed one more draft to reach its potential.

However, there are a LOT of very good things in these issues. Tim Hunter finally comes to a decision about his powers. Many hanging plot elements are settled, if not always satisfactorily. There are many great individual scenes, and it makes for fascinating reading. If you're a fan of this series, then I have to recommend this book, but...

The main problem is this: you can't keep explaining old plot twists just by introducing new plot twists. Think of a story as a road. At some point, it's supposed to take the reader to a real destination. I suspect Reiber may actually disagree with that philosophy of writing--to him, it's all about the journey, and who cares what it all adds up to? Well, his work on the Books of Magic makes a pretty good argument...there's a LOT to like here...but in the end, I'm a bit disappointed in a story that's all trees and no forest.

I have really enjoyed the "Books of Magic" series. I have loved the way they have blended the real and the fantastical, I have loved the creative spins on fantasy motifs, I have felt for Timothy Haunter's painful journey, and I have loved the sometimes very beautiful artwork in these books.

This volume collects issues 42 to 50 of the comics series. There are 75 issues in the "Books of Magic" - the last third of the story has not been anthologised by VERTIGO. (This collection first appeared in 2001.) What the other reviewers may have felt is the sense of being in the middle part of a story - some parts resolved, low-key, but not yet entering the final stage of the tale's revelations.

There is a latter collection "The Names of Magic" which I picked up. Its prelude tells briefly of what happens in the 25 issues I have been unable to read. It is painful - I want this final third of the original story in all its multipanel technicolor glory, but it has not been collected and published by VERTIGO.

Perhaps we should petition them.

John Ney Rieber, The Books of Magic: Death After Death (Vertigo, 2001)

Rieber's conclusion to the Books of Magic series seems to be widely considered the weakest work therein; odd, because it turned out to be my favorite of its seven collections. It started out with much the same problem that constantly plagued the other six-- utter confusion-- but once Rieber started wrapping things up, the book got, if not great, at least good.

One of the main differences between the Sandman (of which the Books of Magic is a spinoff) and the Books of Magic is that Rieber doesn't seem to be able to get as much across in as succinct a manner as Neil Gaiman. Needless to say, this could also be a problem with Peter Gross' artwork, but it always seemed more centered on the writing, to me. And the book starts out with problems along those lines, as Rieber takes on another rather complex storyline (this one involving both Tim and an alternate version of him) and manages to plunge the reader into confusion for a number of pages. This gets resolved towards the end of the story arc, however, and the book gets down to the brass tacks of tying up some of the series' loose ends. This is the kind of place where you expect the pace to grind to a halt, or the characters to shift into "this is what they did after the story ends" mode, or whatever. Not that this kind of thing can't be done effectively (see Sandman: The Wake for a perfect example), but more often than not it isn't. And while there is an undeniable streak of "Danny went off to college, got a degree in landscape architecture, and is now Hugh Hefner's personal groomer," it's done with a sense of style and, more importantly, pace. There is a story to be told, and Rieber does, in fact, tell it, and tell it well.

I have to admit that, aside from the first book, the Books of Magic series never did all that much for me. It's nice to see, however, that the last book almost approaches the first in quality, giving the series a bookended kind of feel that appeals. If you abandoned the series at some time in the past, at least skip forward and check this one out; it's worth your time. *** ?

While this is a decent little collection, I never ended any one "chapter" or issue with a sense that it was completed or could stand by itself. While I was intrigued by the usage of magic in relation to the massive DC universe and the occasional thoroughly enjoyed cameo, overall this collection felt a little flat.

I loved the the Ideas in this series, and feel that the Execution of said ideas was Never fully birthed, especially in this Volume. The Story of Tim Hunter is full of great characters but in this volume their voices never gain the gravity of a full personality.Tim's suedo father never seems to grow outside the bland dad who almost eats nuns and occasionaly turns into chocalate,contrivences that point out his blandness by seeking to over-compinsate.The story threads of the previous books still dangle in our faces, while we are helplessly waiting for for some sense of milestone, lost on tims journey, doubting its undertaking if it leads us nowhere.I believe this comic is a victim of the monthly publishing wars and never grew out of the ruff sketches of Neil Gaiman.And yet, i still read, captivated by the profound ideas in this book. I just hope that the movie of this series inspires some Alan moorian hooka-Induced plot scripting to reinvigarate a series all of us readers desire.If you like the series, you know your going to buy this book.

I don't know what happened to John Ney Rieber... after his promising start on The Books of Magic, his stories slowly started to lose that magic. These stories fall at the end of Rieber's run at the title, and they're mighty thin gruel compared to what came before.

It may be the fact that any elements of light or real humor have been vacuumed from the book. Molly, a fantastic creation, isn't very much in evidence here and Tim Hunter's incessant whining simply becomes too much. Artist Gross took over the book after this series and made some improvements, but it was too late and the book ended. Rieber did a Books of Faerie with Molly that showed the man had lost his way: It shared much with this volume in the incomprehensible storytelling and not-very-interesting characterizations.

So, for completists only, and only for those completists willing to have their fond memories of the series in its heyday sullied by this volume.