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Humorous Fantasy.
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What distinguishes these novels is not only their higher-than-average 
share of humour but also their diversified origin. Frequently, they are parodies of other 
subgenres, and play with genre forms, conventions and contents. Whereas in pure parodies 
irony - sideswipes to other works – is in the
foreground, Comic Fantasy gives special 
emphasis to relieved laughter.
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The main characteristic of Humorous Fantasy is therefore the 
predominant comic relief, which makes it resemble a fantasy comedy. Besides other forms of 
play, it is mainly jokes, puns and slapstick which structure and characterise the actions. 
Representatives of this category, even though they are not novels, are Rowling’s two short 
books published in aid of comic relief. Firstly, Kennilworthy Whisp’s Quidditch Through the 
Ages
, a fictitious history of the fantastic sport and supposedly one of Harry Potter’s 
schoolbooks. The second is Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 
Apparently belonging to Harry, it is interspersed with handwritten comments scribbled 
between the printed text by both Ron and Harry, like a proper schoolbook might be.
Its close neighbour is Pastiche/ Ironic fantasy. A pastiche can be defined as a work 
of art that mixes elements, materials and styles and/ or that “imitates the style of another artist 
or period”.
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Steward/ Riddell’s Muddle Earth is in a cleft stick between comic fantasy and 
pastiche. In the end, the decisive factor is the title and the rough structure of the novel, which 
is clearly recognisable as a parody of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. This categorisation entirely 
depends on the point of view and the reading experience of the respective reader. If Tolkien’s 
work is known beforehand, then it is a parody; if not, comic fantasy. For the authors, it must 
be a parody, as they mould Muddle Earth on Lord of the Rings.  
Bartimaeus
and Artemis Fowl both have strong satirical and ironical implications side 
by side with comic aspects. Both works feature heroes which are not essentially good. On the 
contrary: Artemis, Bartimaeus and Nathaniel have conflicting personalities with the potential 
of good and evil. Yet, they incline towards the not so good side and prefer to move just 
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As we have already ascertained with other subgenres, modern fantasy novels for children have a tendency to 
form hybrids. Consequently, it becomes increasingly difficult to unequivocally pin them down on a single 
subgenre. Pure representatives decrease in number. Yet, this phenomenon does not necessarily signify a 
disadvantage.
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According to Manlove, Pratchett is one of its main representatives, whose comic fantasy provides enjoyment 
without moralising. Cf. Colin Manlove. The Fantasy Literature of England. Basingstoke; London: Macmillan 
Press Ltd., 1999, p. 137. 
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Collins Dictionary, p. 1136.

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beyond the border of legality or even further. I would not class these as comic fantasies in 
their own right. Rather, they are hybrids of various forms of fantasy. With an increasing 
amount of novels written as hybrids, Bartimaeus and Artemis Fowl mark a change in trend. 
However comical these works may be, it should be noted that magic as such is taboo for 
making fun of. Instead, comic situations arise from magic gone wrong, falsely applied or 
otherwise twisted, but never magic as such is ridiculed – especially not black magic.
Independent from the respective form of fantasy and the gradual blurring of the 
conventions, some fixed rules and taboos still prevail at the moment. A prime example for an 
existing strong taboo is the implicit agreement between author and reader that evil and fun 
ought to be mutually exclusive. Whereas it is easily possible to make fun of scatterbrained 
wizards and kleptomaniac dwarves, there won’t be laughter drawn by ridiculing evil 
sorcerers. Voldemort or Sauron simply do not have any potential for comedy. In a pastiche 
like Stewart’s and Riddell’s Muddle Earth, the villain indeed turns out to be a neglected teddy 
bear, but this only works because the environment is just as harmless as the sorcerer himself, 
and the comic effect results from comparisons with other, truly evil wizards of literary 
history.
Our corpus encompasses pastiches of various forms of fantasy, which live off the 
conscious contrasts and parallels with the respective original. Barry Trotter or Bored of the 
Rings
make no secret of the fact that they commercially exploit the current boom of fantasy 
literature. They have jumped on the bandwagon of a successful market niche, occupied by 
dominant originals such as Rowling’s and Tolkien’s works. There, these pastiches 
deliberately attempt to address those readers who either enjoy the originals but can also laugh 
about them or those who heartily dislike The Lord of the Rings and others. Like this, anti-
novels are created which strongly resemble the originals in main conflict, characters etc. Yet, 
everything is designed to ridicule and reverse actions, deeds and situations. Muddle Earth for 
example roughly traces the battle between good and evil wizards. Eventually the villain is 
overcome with the aid of anti-heroes and singing curtains. Whereas some of its funniness 
derives from numerous allusions to The Lord of the Rings, knowledge of the original is not 
absolutely necessary for the comic relief. Doubtful is the extent to which child readers of