The Books of Magic #9 NM Handmedowns of the Ragged School Vol.2 DC 1995

Beautiful NM Copy!

Part 1 of the 3-part 'The Artificial Heart.' Daniel, last seen in THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE, commits a murder and is banished from Free Country. In despair, he wanders London where he meets the traitorous Reverend Slaggingham, ruler of an underground home for outcasts and a man eager for aid in his plot against Tim Hunter.

In the dimension of the Free Country, Daniel argues with Spud about the girl Daniel loved, Marya. As they argue, Daniel throws him off a waterfall, becoming the first murderer in Free Country.

A spirit of Free Country tells him he must leave, and sends him to London (although he grew up there a hundred years earlier).

Tim shows up at Molly’s with some flowers to apologize. Molly accepts, and they go out for ice cream. As they go, he tells her that his dad has woken up, and is getting surgery for his face.

Reverend Slaggingham and two boys, Jimmy and Bizzie, see them walk by. Slaggingham tries to sell them various magical traps, and wants them to get Tim, but they’re his friends and tell him off. He blasts them with gutta-percha and turns them into statues.

Daniel looks for Marya in London for days but no longer knows his way around. He starts to hate everyone. He misses the grifters he grew up with in Victorian England, and goes down into the sewers.

Tim and Molly stop off at her dance studio so she can pick something up. The now-somewhat-grown Marya is there, dancing. She says she’ll come with Molly, and when she comes out, she and Tim recognize each other from the Children’s Crusade. Marya blurts out that Tim is Molly’s boyfriend, which Tim didn’t know, and also tells Molly that he’s a magician. He runs off, ranting about the craziness of life. They run smiling after him, but he lets his power go off by accident and freezes time all around him. However, Khara and Nikki show up.

Daniel gets lost in the sewers, but Sister Staylace finds him, and brings him to Slaggingham’s sewer base of operations, where he is planning against the surface world. It turns out that Daniel knew Slaggingham when Daniel originally lived in London, and Slaggingham’s has lived there all this time. Daniel joins him.

Creators:

John Ney Rieber - Writer

Charles Vess - Cover

Peter Gross - Inker