Molly O'Reilly

Molly O'Reilly
Portion of a panel from The Books of Magic: Reckonings showing Molly O'Reilly in embrace with Tim Hunter.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics/Vertigo
First appearance	The Books of Magic #5: "The Hidden School" (DC Vertigo, 1997)
Created by	John Ney Rieber Peter Gross
In-story information
Abilities	Initially none, but ultimately gains a magical gem that makes her the protector of Faerie.

Molly O'Reilly is a fictional character created for the Vertigo comic book series The Books of Magic by writer John Ney Rieber and artist Peter Gross.^[1] She proved to be very popular with the readership, who repeatedly asked for her return when she was written out of the main series. This led to her being brought back in a limited series called The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story, which was to have led into her own ongoing series. This subsequent series was never produced, and instead Molly returned as a regular character part way through the short-lived Hunter: The Age of Magic series.

Background

The Books of Magic

To capitalise on the success of the original The Books of Magic miniseries by Neil Gaiman, Vertigo decided to turn the series into a regular ongoing monthly comic continyuing the story of teenaged magician Tim Hunter. Eventually they settled on John Ney Rieber to write the series, which debuted with Arcana: The Books of Magic Annual #1, part of the range-wide crossover event The Children's Crusade.^[2] Rieber expanded the character of Tim, using his own memories of being a teenager to create a realistic picture of a young boy struggling to decide who he is going to be in the world. As a counter-point to Tim's uncertainty, Rieber created the character of Molly O'Reilly - a young girl "who'd already figured out the best thing you could possibly do with your life was live it"^[3] - to allow the series to explore the real-life world of Tim as well as the magical.^[2]

As the series progressed, Molly proved to be popular with the readers . . . and also with the writer, who sometimes found the central character too close to his teenaged self to enjoy writing^[3] and had created Molly partly as wish fulfillment, saying "yes this is the perfect girlfriend, if you could have had a girlfriend like Molly at 13 oh my God".^[2] Rieber's artist on the series, Peter Gross, admitted that this sometimes caused Molly to eclipse Tim as the more interesting character^[4] - particularly during the extended Rites of Passage storyline that became Molly's swansong, with a focus on her enforced stay in Faerie meaning that Tim often didn't appear in entire issues of the comic.^[5][6]

When Rieber decided to leave The Books of Magic, he initially asked that the character of Molly not be used in the comic:^[4] he had long had plans to write a story focussed more on Molly, detailing how she came to lose her virginity before she met Tim and the effect these experiences had on her.^[2] Although this request was later withdrawn, his replacement had already plotted a 25 issue run without her and decided not to include her^[4] bar a one-issue story intended to give her closure with Tim.^[7] Despite this, such was the character's popularity that "almost everyone" writing into the comic asked if and when she would return.^[4]

The Books of Faerie

In 1999, Vertigo announced that Molly would be returning in two projects. The first would be a third volume of The Books of Faerie called Molly's Story written by the character's creator, John Ney Rieber.^[8] 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,^[9] who had written two "well received" (according to Editor Stuart Moore)^[10] The Books of Faerie collections, with Linda Medley inking her own pencils.^[11]

The new series was intended to focus on Molly, Sturm the Troll and the Gyvv (the last two characters having been introduced in previous The Books of Faerie comics) to tell stories of modern day Faerie.^[10] However, Vertigo reconsidered and decided to cut back the release from an ongoing monthly to a five issue mini-series instead. The Books of Faerie: Serpent's Tooth would have showed Molly undertaking "a quest to save the faerie realm from ultimate destruction" and discovering the true nature of her role as protector of Faerie,^[11] with a preview of the series published in The Books of Magic suggesting that the intention was to make Molly a future Queen of Faerie.^[12] The mini-series was initially planned for release in June 2000, before being indefinitely shelved.^[11]

Final appearances

Molly eventually returned in Dylan Horrocks' Hunter: The Age of Magic, initially making brief guest appearances before being made a regular supporting character just as the series was cancelled after twenty-five issues by Vertigo. An alternate version of the character appeared in Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, written by Si Spencer and co-plotted by Neil Gaiman.

Character history

Molly grew up as the only daughter of a large Irish family on a farm in Crossmaglen, constantly having to assert herself against her many brothers. She has detailed practical knowledge about the nature of magic and fairies, learning from her "mad" paternal grandmother with second sight: for example, she knew that her friend Marya would be able to ride a unicorn to escape an attack from Daniel because she was still a virgin (with her decision not to ride it herself implying that she isn't)^[13] and demonstrated a detailed knowledge of the danger of accepting gifts or eating Faerie food when she became trapped in the realm.^[5] This knowledge wasn't the only thing she inherited from her grandmother: Molly takes medication to prevent the auditory and visual hallucinations that run in her family. These are demonstrated to be a version of her grandmother's "sight" when she is trapped in Faerie without her medicine.^[6]

When her father moved the family to London,^[14] they moved in to the Ravensknoll estate next to Tim Hunter and his parents. She developed a crush on the boy, pestering him school and eventually claiming him as her boyfriend after helping him to come to terms with his father's disfigurement in a fire - although she didn't tell Tim, who only found out when their mutual friend Marya announced excitedly that Molly's boyfriend was a magician. Fortunately, Tim wasn't too embarrassed to admit he had feelings for Molly, and the two began a relationship.^[13]

Molly is level-headed and tough, facing up to assailants like Daniel as she faced up to her brothers growing up and even Tim when he needs some of her no-nonsense advice.^[13] She has very deep feelings for Tim - their first kiss managed to transform a corner of Hell into a blossoming field^[15] and many observers mistook her for Tim's Other because of the importance she had to him^[6] - but when she discovered that there was a very real possibility that Tim might grow up unto an abusive partner, she was clear-headed enough to consider her options carefully. Unfortunately, Tim heard her discussing those options with Marya and ran away from home to try and protect his loved ones from further harm. Molly had been shipped back to her grandmother's farm when she heard the news, and resolved that she owed it to Tim to discuss the situation with him honestly. Unfortunately, this meant finding him.^[14]

With the help of her grandmother, Molly managed to attract the attention of the Amadan, hoping to win the fairy gift of her heart's desire: to see Tim. Sadly, the conversation took an unexpected turn, and Molly accidentally challenged the Faerie to a contest to see which was the greatest fool.^[14] With the contest due to take place in Faerie, Molly is transported from the real world and left to fend for herself until it can be arranged. Molly knows that if she eats Faerie food she will never be able to return home: touching the ground would wither her and eating real food would starve her, so she would be forced to stay in Faerie. Instead, she attempts to grow her own real food, her efforts attracting the attention of the Faeries, and her stubbornness attracting the ire of Titania: the Queen tricks Molly into eating Faerie food by making her crops grow overnight. The trick backfires, though, as Molly's anger transforms her into "the burning girl", who cuts a swathe of destruction across Faerie.^[5]

She gains a loyal friend in a horse named Prince, who quickly reveals himself to be Titania and Auberon's son Taik. He is enchanted by Molly and proposes to her, but sadly is also possessed by a demon and so attempts to kill her. The Queen's loyal flitling, Yarrow, helps Molly to defeat Taik and Tim and Molly are reunited. Titania tempers her curse as best she can, so that Molly's feet will no longer touch the ground and she will always have Faerie food to eat, so she can return to the mundane world with Tim. Molly tells Tim all about her adventures in Faerie and Prince Taik, but the boy is more obsessed about learning magic from his new mentor Zatanna. He fails to notice even that her feet don't touch the ground any more, and when she discovers that Tim slept with the succubus Leah whilst Molly was trapped in Faerie, her pragmatic nature comes to the fore: even though it breaks her heart, she breaks up with Tim and returns home to her family.^[6]

For a long time, Molly doesn't see Tim again - although she thinks that she gave him one final chance to talk things through she was actually talking to his Other, who managed to convince her that Tim was a lost cause.^[7] Instead, she remains with her family in London and tries to deal with her new-found celebrity: as her feet don't touch the ground any more, she has been declared a saint. She finds life a constant struggle, unable to even eat her normal comfort food, and slowly gets over Tim as best she can. One day, whilst passing a toyshop, she finds that the flitling Yarrow has been enchanted and sold as a toy and in rescuing her finds herself travelling back to Faerie again. The demon Barbatos is capturing the denizens of Faerie and transforming them into a new range of toys, and in defeating him Molly is claimed by the magical gemstone Twilight as the new Protector of the Summerland - an "ancient obligation, to be worn by a person of honour, wisdom, dignity, wonder and courage". She is returned to the Earth with Titania's curse lifted, and quickly ignored by the world's media now she appears to be just a normal human girl again.^[16]

After her experiences in Faerie, Molly attempted to reclaim her normal life. She left London, and went to Art School in Paris where she gained a new boyfriend. Returning to London after graduation she bumped into Tim again, initially denying that any of the strange things that had happened in her life were true. She eventually is forced to admit the truth when she ends up being sucked through a painting into an alternate world with Tim: the two eventually reconcile their differences, but don't resume their relationship.^[17]

References

1. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "The Books of Magic", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 38–41, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Interview with John Ney Rieber, 1 December 1995, http://www.seriejournalen.dk/tegneserie_indhold.asp?ID=15, retrieved 2008-04-28 
3. ^ ^{a b} Rieber, John Ney (July 1998), Rites of Passage: Afterward, Vertigo 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Gross, Peter (October 1998), The Books of Magic: The New School, DC Comics 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Rieber, John Ney (1999), The Books of Magic: Girl in the Box, DC Comics, ISBN 1-84023-102-5 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Rieber, John Ney (July 1, 2000), The Books of Magic: The Burning Girl, DC Comics, ISBN 1-56389-619-2 
7. ^ ^{a b} Gross, Peter (January 1999), The Books of Magic: The Last Molly Story, DC Comics 
8. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "The Books of Faerie", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 36–37, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015 
9. ^ Gross, Peter (May 1999), The Books of Magic: "In Defence of His Country", DC Comics 
10. ^ ^{a b} Leblanc, David (29 January 1999), THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE, comic book shopper, http://comicbookshopper.com/CBEM_1999/CBEM-199.TXT 
11. ^ ^{a b c} Atchison, Lee (November 1999), "On Books and Waiting: Linda Medley", Sequential Tart, http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/nov99/medley.shtml 
12. ^ Carlton, Bronwyn (July 1999), "The Books of Faerie: Beginnings", The Books of Magic #62: Endings (DC Comics) 
13. ^ ^{a b c} Rieber, John Ney (1995), The Books of Magic: Summonings, DC Comics, ISBN 1-56389-265-0 
14. ^ ^{a b c} Rieber, John Ney (1998), The Books of Magic: Transformations, DC Comics, ISBN 1-56389-417-3 
15. ^ Rieber, John Ney (1997), The Books of Magic: Reckonings, DC Comics, ISBN 1-85286-804-x 
16. ^ Rieber, John Ney (1999), The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story, Vertigo 
17. ^ Horrocks, Dylan (2003), Hunter: The Age of Magic #13-#25, DC Comics 

External links

• Unofficial Molly O'Reilly timeline