Review: BOOKS OF MAGIC #8
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer:Â Kat Howard
Artist:Â Tom Fowler and Brian Churilla
Colors:Â Jordan Boyd and Marissa Louise
Letters:Â Todd Klein
Reviewer:Â Tony Farina
Summary
This month in Books of Magic, Tim and Rose are trapped in Faerie. Well, Rose knows they are trapped, but Tim is busy having a good time. Queen Titania tells Rose that Tim can leave whenever he wishes to leave, but she has taken away his will to choose, so the odds are, he will not be making that choice any time soon. He is laughing, shopping at the goblin market and having an all around good time. That is, until he wanders into the bleeding forest. With a name like that, one can only assume what kind of horrible goes on there.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, some police are looking for Tim. She has been missing for days. His father, caught somewhere between grief and magic is convinced everything is fine. He says so over, and over and over. That nasty librarian Davies has his own book of magic and he is getting messages in it from the cult of cold flame. Nothing good comes from that conversation.
Positives
Tension is generally not considered a good thing, but the creative team on Books of Magic, have made it a great thing. The tension they create on each and every page of this book is palpable. The build up to the final panel is perfectly designed in each panel. Kat Howard knows exactly when to pull us away and let us ruminate. She know just when to throw another tension bomb at us by taking us to the real world and showing us how bad things are there. It is paced spectacularly and once someone starts reading this book, stopping will be impossible.
Howard leaves space for Fowler and Churilla to suck the reader in. Because most of this issue takes place in Faerie, there is a lot for the art team to do. Screaming and bleeding trees, the goblin market, Queen Titania herself and most of all, Tim’s lost memories. In the hands of this team, Books of Magic becomes a book of wonder. Feast your eyes.
Negatives
I can’t find anything wrong with Books of Magic #8. This book is just humming along.
Verdict
Books of Magic continues to be the strongest book in the Sandman Universe. The terrifying, beautiful art work is only getting better each week. The last panel is always a cliffhanger of the highest level. The skill at which Howard crafts this book is indicative of why she has won so many awards in her writing career. If you are not reading Books of Magic, you should pick up the TPB of the first six and then get caught up. There is little doubt that you will be happy with that decision.
