Creation
In the No was created by writer John Ney Rieber and artist Gary Amaro in a small cameo in The Books of Magic 9, in 1996. His first major appearance was in issue 23.
Major Story Arcs
In the No was created by Tim Hunter as a child. When the young Hunter imagined things, they became real. Other beings he created included Awn the Blink and the Wobbly.
In the Know always appears as a giant face, usually in the cracks of a wall, road, or tree. He overhears whatever is going on around him, and spreads this information maliciously. Tim describes him as someone who "would never tell me anything I wanted to know." He often calls Tim "Emptyhead," and Tim will sometimes call him Crackhead (the alternate universe Captain Wobbly calls him a Krackhead). Thomas Currie says he is a Cracianmorph. Only Tim can hear In the No, and he only has to listen to him if he wants to.
Tim first meets In the No as a teen when he finds the magically-shrunken and murdered statue of his friend Jimmy Morehead. In the No tells Tim what happened, then taunts him about his dad's girlfriend's son Cyril, and Tim's nanny-like friend, Gwendolyn.
In the No later taunts Tim about how his father sold their old house without telling him. In the No is mad because he can't leave the neighborhood, because that was young Tim's original conception of him. He tells Tim he'll tell him about Molly if he lets him go, but Tim won't.
In the No finds Thomas Currie also spying on Tim, and fills him in on Tim's various misdeeds (with In the No's own negative twist).
In the No finds Tim's Other at Molly's house soon after, and makes a deal with him, telling him all about Tim and this world in exchange for being let free. However, In the No is unable to find Tim for the Other, and the Other does not set him free. He is stuck not knowing how to break his confines as the Other can do. However, in his anger at the Other, In the No finally breaks his boundaries and spreads out all over the city.
Alternate Versions
A nicer version of In the No lives in Thomas Currie's original, near-perfect reality. Here, he is called the Doorkeeper.
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