The Unwritten (2009) #23

Carey brings the arc into port—sorry, couldn’t resist—and ends on a profound moment. Well, sort of.

Tom learns the source of his power and, since it makes so much sense, it’s not surprising. Carey and Gross don’t go crazy visualizing it, showing admirable restraint.

The real thing comes on the final page though, when it’s a flashback to Wilson explaining how fiction works to a young Tom. That moment, combined with the previous revelation, brings a lot more into question. Some of these questions are ones Moore raised with Promethea. He never could make the answers wholly satisfying, because the questions are asked somewhat passively. Hopefully Carey will be able to find a way around that roadblock.

There’s no Lizzie or Savoy this issue. Instead, it’s just Tom and his literary sidekicks, for better or worse.

They get a little tiring, but the ending makes up for them.

The Unwritten (2009) #22

It’s sort of an action issue. I think it’s got to be the fastest read so far in Unwritten’s issues, maybe because Carey doesn’t do much with any of the subplots.

Tom calls the Monster (the Frankenstein Monster), who’s sort of his guide when he needs one, and figures a way out of the mess he made of Moby-Dick. He moves through a couple more stories before he gets the this issue’s soft cliffhanger, which is an amusing one.

Carey’s still moving through unfamiliar territory, but he’s starting to use more familiar faces. Gross and Locke give the book a different feel for each of the landscapes Tom visits. Not strikingly different, but distinct from one another.

Lizzie and Savoy, on the other hand, have a nonstarter with the doll maker lady. Though I’m wondering if it’s a doll man, not a doll lady. No one’s clear on it.

The Unwritten (2009) #21

Carey more than makes up for the previous issue’s weak cliffhanger with this one’s sublime one. The issue, with Tom trying to deal with being stuck in Moby-Dick while Lizzie breaks some bad news to him and he can’t seem to figure out what his father’s doing there.

Meanwhile, Lizzie and Savoy meet up with the villain doll lady, who’s like a Ennis villain in a Carey book.

If the issue has any problems, it’s with the disconnect between the two periods. The Moby-Dick sequences are sort of transcendent, while the “reality” stuff is so ordinary. It doesn’t matter if Savoy’s a vampire or if the doll lady uses creative means to torture… there’s no wonderment there. It’s hard to get wonderment in a comic book, but Carey and Gross and Locke get it going for Tom’s pages.

It makes Carey coast over the “real” stuff a little.

The Unwritten (2009) #20

I think Carey just had his first misstep. It might not work out as a misstep… but he ends this issue like it’s “Quantum Leap” or something. It’s a terrible, terrible cliffhanger. The rest of the issue is pretty strong too.

It opens with Tom and Lizzie, with Tom blathering on romantically and Lizzie sort of ignoring him. The scene doesn’t establish their new relationship, but it’s got a lot of charm. Gross has started drawing Tom a little differently lately; he’s a lot more mature.

Then Tom ends up in Moby-Dick, while Savoy and Lizzie go looking for him. And Savoy reveals his new status as a vampire, which leads to a very amusing scene with the pragmatic Lizzie. It’s all good and solid.

But then there’s Tom… stuck in Moby-Dick, which leads to the weak cliffhanger. I hope any further adventures in literature aren’t so rocky.

The Unwritten (2009) #19

There’s a thread I thought Carey had resolved… the whole Savoy being a vampire being. Looks like I was wrong. I guess I just assumed Wilson Taylor knew stuff. That assumption is, apparently, quite wrong.

This issue—kicking off the Melville arc—introduces a new villain. Or a possible new villain; she’s a doll maker and she’s been around a while. There’s not much to her yet, but in her company, Pullman almost becomes likable. He’s just gotten to be familiar at this point. It turns hurt the last big villain turned out to be real annoying and Pullman didn’t like him, which makes the character somewhat sympathetic.

There’s not much about the story though—the big story. Instead, Carey’s spending time on the characters; he closes the issue with Lizzie and Tom making out. It’s a great scene and totally unexpected.

Carey’s successfully navigating the series through uncharted waters.

The Unwritten (2009) #18

No way, Carey answers some questions. Without raising new ones. Well, okay, I guess he sort of hints at some new ones—we get to see the council of evil anti-readers for the first time. They look like Fox News personalities, but they’re meeting in a cave and have secret evil rituals. Okay, I guess I’m not sure it’s unlike Fox News internal business practices.

But the real questions answered have more to do with Tom. Carey positions him to take the active role in the book—which is only fair, since it’s his book and all… though it signals a big change for how the series usually plays out. It’s a welcome turn of events, one Carey introduces as a sort of surprise. More accurately, he sets it up to go anywhere and where he takes it still manages to surprise.

It’s a fantastic, refreshing issue; just great.

The Unwritten (2009) #17

The playful, “Choose Your Own Adventure,” aspect to this issue is stunning. It’s not the point of the comic—in fact, in a stream of consciousness sort of way, reading it straight through makes more sense (otherwise, why would Carey have ended the issue on the final pages)—but it’s a stunning device.

This issue we get Lizzie’s backstory. We do not get, however, any answers to the present questions raised and Carey raises even more questions about Lizzie than he answers.

So the ride is what’s important and it’s a wonderful ride. It makes Wilson a real character and makes Lizzie a subject.

Savoy is the opposite, of course—he’s Tom’s sidekick, regardless of how important his presence is to the triumvirate. It’ll be interesting to see if, since he’s explained Lizzie, Carey will focus on Savoy.

Nice art from Ryan Kelly too; it looks like Unwritten, but special.

The Unwritten (2009) #16

So is Wilson’s editor in with Wilson or in with the bad guys? The issue has a soft cliffhanger for Lizzie—who somehow got to go home, but lost it too (I wonder if Carey’s seen Somewhere in Time because he really pulls a penny out of the pocket in terms of an easy fix)—but nothing regarding Tommy and Savoy and the book itself.

This issue of Unwritten made me realize Carey’s plans are finite. The series is not intended to go on forever, which is probably better—not just in realistic publishing terms, but also so Carey doesn’t get to a point where he’s dragging it out. But it’s a little depressing to realize.

The issue’s difficult to discuss without spoiling… suffice it to say, Carey keeps the surprises coming.

Savoy does get the short end once again.

It’s impossible to anticipate where Carey will go from here.

The Unwritten (2009) #15

Wilson Taylor makes his first appearance in Unwritten’s present action this issue; it’s Carey’s biggest surprise so far. Not because his appearance is so extraordinary, but just the opposite. He shows up like he’s been in the cast the entire time.

While the Pullman subplot develops, the issue brings Tom back to his literary geographer status. He and Savoy spend the issue on a slight quest to meet up with Wilson—I never expected the old boy to actually show up at the end of it, though.

Meanwhile, Carey has Lizzie still back home, though she does bring some of her new life back with her. She’s learned a lot among them English.

Carey’s set up Lizzie as a strong character, who can survive on her own in the book. Savoy, he hasn’t. He needs to be a sidekick.

Just an observation, not a judgment. Lizzie’s more pleasant anyway.

The Unwritten (2009) #14

Here Carey has another bridging issue. He gets in some great moments, but he’s mostly just building to the next big incident. He uses this pacing a lot in Unwritten, at least in the two previous arcs, and it always works out very well.

But this issue also has another facet and it’s where Carey distinguishes the series again.

Lizzie freaks out this issue about the possibility of not being a fictive character. Carey resolves it, or seems to, at the end of the issue, but the beauty is seeing how scared she gets over it, how far she’s willing to go to find out the truth. While Carey’s shown fictive characters who are somewhat shady about understanding their place in the “real world,” the vampire bad guy for example, Lizzie’s panic is a first in Unwritten. It’s lovely stuff.

Otherwise, the issue mostly features some well-written water treading.