Not to be confused with any other glasses-wearing, shaggy-haired British teen magician with a pet owl, Timothy Hunter was introduced as part of the DC Universe since Neil Gaiman and John Bolton's 1990 miniseries Books of Magic. Long before Harry Potter was created, this young wizard met the mystical side of the DC Universe before going off into his own corner of DC's more self-contained Vertigo Universe. However, Hunter eventually returned to the DC Universe when its magical heroes assembled to form the Justice League Dark.
In the Books of Magic, Tim was introduced as a magician who had to make a choice. He could either embrace magic or choose to have a normal and happy life. To inform his choice, Tim is taken on a tour by Doctor Occult through the planes of existence, where Doctthe veteran mystic shows Tim the history of magic. Doctor Occult doesn't pull any punches. Doctor Occult tells Tim if he embraces a life of magic, then his life will be enraptured by chaos. But even faced with a world of potential violence that no sane person would ever volunteer for, Tim chooses magic. A choice that sent Tim on a journey of exploration and supernatural chaos.
Across a few different Vertigo series, Tim grew into becoming a great magician. He even befriends his Vertigo stablemate John Constantine, who shows Tim the world of supernatural terror. John plays a sort of big brother role in Tim's development and helps Tim get himself out of trouble. While Constantine's stories have always bounced between DC's main titles and the Vertigo imprint, Tim Hunter follows John Constantine into the DC Universe after the veteran magician joined Justice League Dark.
When DC's New 52 reboot happened in 2011, the Justice League Dark was created to deal with metaphysical and supernatural threats. With Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin's Justice League Dark #11, Tim officially made his New 52 debut. Although he had aged considerably since his debut in his own stories, this series de-aged Tim and considered on his initial Books of Magic appearance as canon. After his initial exposure to the mystical side of the DCU, this version of Tim gave up his magic for a normal life. When the Books of Magic that he's destined to wield fell into the wrong hands, a semi-reluctant Hunter reclaimed his mystical heritage and briefly served in the Justice League Dark.
In 2018, DC launched The Sandman Universe, a new line that gave a home to several old Vertigo stalwarts, including Tim Hunter. Alongside titles like The Dreaming, House of Whispers, The Sandman Universe Presents Hellblazer, Lucifer, Kat Howard and Tom Fowler launched a revitalized Books of Magic series that took the character back to his fantastical roots. Although he's still technically part of the DC Universe, he and the other Sandman Universe characters are effectively isolated from the goings-on of the greater DC Universe.
However, the door is still very much open for him to rejoin Constantine and return to Justice League Dark if the need arises.