The Books of Magic: Omnibus Cover Commission by Roby Amor

The Books of Magic:

Omnibus Cover Commission

by Roby Amor

Graphite on illustration board

11 x 17 in.

Not for Sale



Roby Amor lives in a fairly remote part of the Philippines, and this past year was full of upheaval but he still managed to deliver two incredible commissions within a five-months time frame. After seeing the initial sketches for my Sandman poster commission I went back for another - choosing an omnibus style cover for the early issues of John Ney Rieber and Peter Gross' run on The Books of Magic, which follows the adventures of adolescent mage, Tim Hunter and features Death of the Endless prominently throughout.


For the uninitiated, The Books of Magic debuted as a four-issue, prestige-format, mini-series from DC Comics in 1990, and was revived for the Vertigo imprint in 1994. This predates the first Harry Potter novel, (published in 1997) by several years. The covers for the latter series were frequently illustrated by Charles Vess and/or Michael Kaluta, whose fantasy-friendly styles really suit the book. I was very interested in what Roby could come up with and once again he didn't disappoint. The model for Death was once again actress India Eisley, and he opted to include an Angel and Devil in battle as a sort of full-series, encapsulation motif, which works wonderfully in this composition of allegories.