The Books of Faerie

The Books of Faerie
Cover of the first The Books of Faerie collected edition, showing Queen Titania
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics (Vertigo Comics)
Format	Limited series
Publication date	1997–1999
Number of issues	10 full length issues 4 back-up strips
Main character(s)	Titania Auberon
Creative team
Writer(s)	Bronwyn Carlton John Ney Rieber
Artist(s)	Peter Gross Vince Locke Ryan Kelly Hermann Mejia
Colorist(s)	Gloria Vasquez Danny Vozzo Alex Sinclair
Creator(s)	Neil Gaiman Charles Vess

The Books of Faerie was a series of three mini-series spun off from Vertigo Comics' series The Books of Magic written by Bronwyn Carlton (two series) and John Ney Rieber (one series). It featured characters used predominantly in the parent series – Titania, Auberon and Molly O'Reilly – to tell stories set in the realm of Faerie prior to the start of The Books of Magic, and later in the present era.

The Books of Faerie was initially published as a spin-off when the ongoing The Books of Magic series written by John Ney Reiber proved to be popular with readers. Editor Stuart Moore approached writer Bronwyn Carlton to script the first three issue series: Carlton wrote a series which brought back some of the ambiguity around whether Timothy Hunter was Queen Titania's son that Reiber had attempted to dispel in his early issues on the parent title. The success of the series led to Carlton writing the next limited series, The Books of Faerie: Auberon's Tale, and a handful of back-up strips published in the main The Books of Magic monthly. These were well received by the audience.

In 1999, they made an announcement regarding two new Books of Faerie projects, the first being a third miniseries called The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story starring the popular character of Molly O'Reilly and written by her creator, John Ney Rieber. The four issue mini-series was published at the end of 1999, and established a new status quo – and deep connection with Faerie – for the character that Vertigo planned to explore in an ongoing The Books of Faerie monthly series with Molly as the central character. The series would be written by Bronwyn Carlton, with Linda Medley inking her own pencils. Bronwyn Carlton also wrote four The Books of Faerie back-up strips, which were published in the regular The Books of Magic ongoing series in issues 57–59 and 62, to re-introduce the characters and concepts that she intended to use in the planned ongoing series.