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Magicians in Comics

ghadis

10:05 / 27.01.06

Hi all, bit of a request. I know someone who's writing an article ( i think it's on stage magic )and wants to talk about Dr Strange and magicians in general in comics and asked me if i had any ideas.. So far i can think of Zatanna, Mandrake, Constantine. Any others people can think of? I'll get back with more details of what the articles about when i've next spoken to him.

Zatara.

Tim Hunter.

Baron Winter

Dr Fate

I'd think about taking Constantine off the list; he's not reeeeaaaallly a magician in the sense that Dr. Strange or Zatanna are.

Errr.... Shazam (and Captain Marvel... kinda.. he's powered by magic)

Mario

11:16 / 27.01.06

The original Books of Magic miniseries basically covers DC, save for a few latter-day creations. Mandrake & Ibis the Invincible are the only major Golden Age magicians not covered by BoM.

FinderWolf

13:40 / 27.01.06

DC's Enchantress over in Shadowpact/Day of Vengeance comics.

The Falcon

13:43 / 27.01.06

Yeah, I could probably reel off 20-30 names here. (Perhaps, in individual posts.) It might be an idea if you gave us some parameter to help you.

DavidXBrunt

14:56 / 27.01.06

I'd say from a D.C. point of view the recommended reading would be the first Books of Magic miniseries, and the recent Day of Vengeance book too. As well as Prometheus there's also a J.L.A. collection called Zatannas Quest that might be worth a look along with Marvels Essential Doctor Strange. You might want to look out for Mandrake the Magician stuff as well.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:07 / 27.01.06

*cough* Promethea. All about being a magician.

Actually, if you focus on the issue where Grace Brannagh confronts Jack Faust (who is specifically a magician), you get a very cute precis of magicians in comics then vs. now.

DavidXBrunt

15:41 / 27.01.06

Did I pur Prometheus? I meant of course Promethea.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:49 / 27.01.06

I assumed you were talking about a TPB with Prometheus fighting the JLA.

Tamayyurt

16:16 / 27.01.06

From Marvel: Scarlet Witch & Warlock (kinda)

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:28 / 27.01.06

Ahem: Mandrake the Magician. You know, old school.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:30 / 27.01.06

Never mind, you already mention him. Stupid me.

DavidXBrunt

16:44 / 27.01.06

I can see why you would think that from the context. My mistake.

Here's a link to a rather nice web-site on daily newspaper strips, pointing you to the Mandrake the Magician page.

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/mandrake/about.htm

You can read a few strips and there are also mentions of pretty obscure characters that might be worth a tootle for.

■

22:49 / 27.01.06

If you can find it, the American Gothic Swamp Thing saga set up pretty much everything that has been used for the past 20 years in the DC Universe...

Mr Tricks

22:49 / 27.01.06

The TPB of that saga is call A Murder of Crows I believe.

Mark Parsons

00:40 / 28.01.06

Dr. Occult & Dr. Thirteen (DC). Dr. Druid (marvel).

Mr. E (DC)

This Sunday

04:20 / 28.01.06

How is Constantine not a magician? He's about as down'n'dirty street magick as you get in comics. Combat magician and all.

Dr. Thirteen, however... wasn't he the doubter of all things magicky? The eternal skeptic, who would, presumably, be very much not a magician, then?

Other magicians in comics:
Marvel - Morgana la Fey, Doc Druid, Baron Mordo, Doctor Doom, Amanda Sefton, Margali whatserface who gave birth to Amanda Sefton, Brother Voodoo, Amanda Kale, Papa Hagg, and Agatha Harkness.
DC - Zatara, Bloodwynd if there was a real and not-J'onn one, and, again, John Constantine has to count.
Other comics' magicians would include most of the cast of 'The Invisibles', the lead from 'Tokyo Babylon', and Wendy, the little witch-girl.
Oh, wait, for DC, there'd also be Klarion, yeah?

The Falcon

09:53 / 28.01.06

Margali Szardos, iirc.

Mario

16:36 / 28.01.06

If you want a fairly comprehensive list of EVERY magic-using hero in comics, look here:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dungeon/2864/Super_Magic.html

This Sunday

16:42 / 28.01.06

Sabrina. The teenaged Archie-verse witch. Had a few TV programs et cetera. Should've thought of that faster.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:52 / 28.01.06

I'd definitely include Constantine, especially if the article is to be about stage magic- indeed, in the latest issue (#216), he describes a working as "not really magic. I'm not invoking a bad bastard or messing with the space/time continuum. It's more of a parlour trick. Just helping a bloke out".

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

18:17 / 28.01.06

Dr. Terrence Thirteen was a professional debunker who was literally unable to percieve or believe in magic, no matter how blindly obvious it was. Poor Terrence was the sort of idiot who stumbles and breaks his glasses JUST as the exorcism succeeds and the horrible black cloud of nastiness rises out of the victim and descends towards Deepest Fiery Hell.

As for Marvel, everyone is forgetting...Magick, aka Illyana Rasputin. (remember the special K)

The Doctor, the Garden of Ancestral Memory, and the Surgeon from "The Authority".

90% of Hellboy's enemies

Anton Arcane...dammit, I have my DC Heroes Magic sourcebook around here somewhere!

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

18:25 / 28.01.06

Great resource, Mario. Damn...it even mentions the main character from the short lived near-future Fox kids cartoon show "The Magician". That show was funny...whenever anyone pissed him off, the Harry Houdini-style main character opened up on them with fireballs from his palms and instantaneous teleportation. For some reason the bad guys never saw it coming.

I'm interested by some of the entries, though, since several of them aren't actually magical or magic using. Rhiannon, for instance, was a Nightman villain in "Ultraverse" who I don't recall ever actually using magic. Sure, she had her immortality potion, brewed from the organs of select individuals...but I don't recall her having any powers other than that.

Mario

19:19 / 28.01.06

Said site has lists of all sorts of superhero types. It's a fairly good resource, although (because it's on Geocities) you may end up using cached copies.

ghadis

08:49 / 30.01.06

Thanks for all the help people. Some great suggestions. Can't believe i'd forgotten Books of Magic and Scarlet Witch. Sorry it's just a list thread but i'll try and get hold of the article when it's done and post it.

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