Another Vertigo title based on a concept from the Neil Gaiman archives?  Why, there must be a vowel in the month.

This time round it's Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, the latest incarnation of Books of Magic.  Informed readers will note that this time round "magic" is spelt with an extra K, which makes it sound cleverer.  To be fair, Neil Gaiman is credited both as consultant and as co-plotter on this arc, which is more than you normally get with one of these Gaiman revivals.  Given that he actually did co-write the thing, you also have to admire Vertigo's restraint in not crediting him on the cover (though they do have a glowing endorsement from him).

Tim Hunter is an odd character, and to be honest I lost track of him a few years back.  In the original Books of Magic series, the remit was really just to do a tour of DC's magical characters.  Tim served the dramatically essential role of "sounding board", as a variety of characters delivered lectures at him.  Since then, he's hung around in a variety of setting with mixed success (and sporadic grumbling about the cosmetic resemblance of Harry Potter).

This story places us somewhere off to the side of Vertigo continuity.  Some kind of war is underway on Earth, and everyone is waiting for Tim to show up as the messiah to save them.  But Tim isn't coming, because John Constantine has hidden him away... somewhere.

It's a world without magic, although in a nice touch, they've followed that through to its logical conclusion.  Not only is it a world where people don't believe in ritual magic, but everything with magical or supernatural connotations is removed.  Thus, it's a world which never had religion, astrology and so forth.  That's an interesting idea, although it has to be said that it doesn't seem to have made much difference to the world.  Whether that makes any sense will presumably become apparent when all is explained, but it stands out as an oddity in the set-up.  (If nothing else, wouldn't the removal of religion from human history result in some fairly significant differences?)

Still, I like the idea that the only character vaguely aware of magic (even as a concept) is the drug addict.  As for events back in the "real" world, Dean Ormston produces a lot of interestingly weird character designs for the magical types, livening up what would otherwise your standard magical war and siege.

The dialogue and characterisation are strong, but it's not the most accessible book in the world.  It's very much something that will appeal to the existing Vertigo audience, working in similar territory to Lucifer.  The set-up has promise, but it's not entirely straightforward to follow.  Completely new readers may struggle.

An interesting start, though.  I'll give it a couple more issues.

Rating: B+

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