Books of Magic Vol. 3: Dwelling in Possibility
Kat Howard, David Barnett, writers; Tom Fowler, Craig Taillefer, artists; Jordan Boyd, Marissa Louise, colorists
DC Vertigo, 2021
The third collection opens with the same issue that appeared in the first John Constantine, Hellblazer collection. It makes sense for it to be in both volumes, since it involves both characters equally. But having passed the test Tim is back in school, with all of its complications. His former allies among his classmates don't trust him; his mentor Rose is concerned that he is becoming too free with his magic, attracting the attention of both the Cold Flame and a The Other Side, a police group that investigates unusual events; and things become even more muddled when an older doppelganger of Tim appears.
He's out to convince Tim that all of his advisers are wrong: he should learn how to use his magic, and have some fun with it. The double inserts himself into Tim's dreams, trapping him in a desolate winter landscape. He is desperate to possess a powerful book of magic (a book of needs), but for him to take possession Tim must give it to him freely.
After finding his way out of that problem, the final story arc "Dwelling In Possibility" finds Tim travelling to The Dreaming (which appears to be back to the status quo, with no indication of all the prior chaos with the A.I. and Daniel's absence other than an oblique reference). He returns home to be arrested for murder by the Dead Boy Detectives--in the meantime his school friends meet Destiny of the Endless in his Garden of the Forking Ways. These two events wind up entwined, with a surprising result: Tim Hunter is not inexorably bound to an evil path. This is probably the most consequential event in all of the Sandman Universe stories. While it does not negate a possible apocalyptic future, it does definitively declare that a better future is possible. Hunter still has choices.
Finally, a look back at the third group of Sandman Universe collections:
All of these stories were created at a time of upheaval at DC Comics, including the end of the Vertigo imprint and the beginning of the DC Black Label mature readers imprint. There must have been some confusion about where things were going, as can be seen by one of these titles coming out under the Black Label imprint. Yet both Books of Magic here and the recent Lucifer Vol. 4 (which will be in the next installment) have the DC Vertigo emblem on the cover, despite being published later. Many of this group of collections had an unusually high page count, as well. The Dreaming collected eight monthly issues; House of Whispers had ten; Hellblazer included eight issues (including a one-shot and a Books of Magic issue); and Books of Magic was also ten issues long. Hard to believe that they were originally planned to be so long (5 - 6 issues is average for collections like these). Nice to see unrushed conclusions, though, and to see the Sandman Universe line continue despite the uncertainty.
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