This time around, a short episode of "Comical Wednesday!" You're welcome.
He was created by an English author. He's only a boy, but he is destined to become an incredibly powerful wizard. His mother is dead. He has dark hair and wears glasses. He has an owl for a pet. He's met and/or been involved with most of the magical characters in the DC Comics Universe.
"Whoa! What was that last sentence? DC Comics Universe? Since when is or was Harry Potter involved in the DC Comics Universe?"
Well... He wasn't. But I'm not talking about Harry Potter. I'm talking about Tim Hunter.
"And who the hell is Tim Hunter?"
Tim Hunter was the star of several different DC Comics series and mini-series. He was created in 1990 by English author and comic book scribe, Neil Gaiman. He first appeared in the mini-series Books of Magic.
Harry Potter was created by author J.K. Rowling. Rowling's first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was finished in 1995 and first appeared in print in 1997.
So, at this point you may very well be thinking, "All those similarities! Did J.K. Rowling rip off Neil Gaiman?"
Well, Neil Gaiman himself doesn't think so, although there have been reports to the contrary. Here's what he had to say on the subject back in 1998:
Back in November [1997] I was tracked down by a Scotsman journalist who had noticed the similarities between my Tim Hunter character and Harry Potter, and wanted a story. And I think I rather disappointed him by explaining that, no, I certainly didn't believe that Rowling had ripped off Books of Magic, that I doubted she'd read it and that it wouldn't matter if she had: I wasn't the first writer to create a young magician with potential, nor was Rowling the first to send one to school. It's not the ideas, it's what you do with them that matters.
And I'm not going to add anything to that. Besides, I promised this would be a relatively short post!
Thanks for your time.
