The Unwritten 33.5 (March 2012)

853276 This issue’s exceedingly good. These .5 issues really do give Carey the ability to show off his talent; even though they relate to the main series, they don’t rely upon it fully. This issue’s about a soldier stationed at a great estate in the eighteenth century.

The story eventually ties into the regular Unwritten world, but for a while it’s just straight historical fiction. Carey shows the soldiers’ lives, he establishes their personalities, and then he lets his protagonist loose. And the protagonist gets himself into trouble.

The resolution to the issue, which features the big tie-in, is great. Peter Gross is really hesitant when it comes to visualizing the fantastic in this issue. It doesn’t have a place in the story, not how Carey’s telling it; Gross’s visualizations match the mundaneness. There’s never any glamour to it.

Carey, Gross and Vince Locke turn in a particularly great issue.

CREDITS

From The Lives of the Marionettes; writers, Peter Gross and Mike Carey; pencillers, Gross and Vince Locke; inker, Locke; colorist, Lee Loughridge; letterer, Todd Klein; editors, Joe Hughes and Karen Berger; publisher, Vertigo.

The Unwritten (2009) #30

The Unwritten 30

Carey’s resolution is unexpected. It’s sort of celebratory and life affirming (and shows he and Gross could easily spin-off titles from Unwritten) but it also has the series’s first big fight scene in a while.

And it’s a comic book fight scene.

While all the detours into literature (Dickens, Moby-Dick), one doesn’t often think of Unwritten as being cousin to capes and tights comics. Carey apparently felt the need to remind everyone this issue and it’s cool to see a reluctant wizard battle a Golden Age hero.

It’s Marvel-style, of course, so the two heroes team up afterwards. Except it’s not to fight a villain, it’s to have a really touching scene together.

The Creature shows up again this issue as a deus ex machina but he also gets to meet Lizzie and Savoy. There’s even the implication he might hang out a bit.

An excellent issue.

The Unwritten 30 (December 2011)

And it’s a comic book fight scene.

It’s Marvel-style, of course, so the two heroes team up afterwards. Except it’s not to fight a villain, it’s to have a really touching scene together.

The Creature shows up again this issue as a deus ex machina but he also gets to meet Lizzie and Savoy. There’s even the implication he might hang out a bit.

An excellent issue.

The Unwritten 29 (November 2011)

Carey sort of sidesteps the maximum tragedy to keep the narrative more interesting. It requires him to bring in a new character and pretend he’s been there for an issue… it’s an unfortunate oversight in an issue already riddled with problems.

It’s still a good issue, of course. But the scenes are unbelievably repetitive. Tom’s dad and his girlfriend have the same conversation two or three times. Wilson’s big solution to the problem shows he doesn’t plan ahead well enough. Carey also loses all sense of time. The flashbacks might take place over a month or three days.

Carey is able to finish up with a great cliffhanger, but it feels predetermined. He has to contain and direct the story this issue, which cuts down on its energy.

Like I said, still a good issue. Gross and Locke’s flashback material continues to be good and Carey’s gently working the subplots.

The Unwritten 28 (October 2011)

Not a happy issue. Not one bit. Carey is forecasting an inevitable, devastating turn of events in his flashbacks. He’s really turning the screws too, as Tom’s dad meets a woman and, in an extreme Romeo and Juliet fashion, is going to have to kill her.

Besides the bad guys killing all the people Tom knows, which is often done without any personal touches to the scenes, it’s all this romance (set in the Depression). The art, from Gross and Locke, is fantastic. It exudes tragedy, keeping the inevitable event in the forefront of the reading experience.

There’s also some stuff with Savoy getting sick of Tom’s planning (Lizzie plays mediator). It too will come to a head, but it’s almost as though Carey’s distracting from it with the more potent flashback material.

It’s an excellent issue and Carey’s successful enough with the characters I’m dreading reading the next one.

The Unwritten 27 (September 2011)

Carey packs this issue. Maybe not with content–there’s a lot of conversation, then some extraneous stuff in a flashback (Vince Locke nicely inks Gross for those pages)–but with atmosphere. This kind of issue endears a series to the reader and Carey’s able to do it without forcing.

The issue also opens with a muted “Wire” reference, so it’s impossible not to love it.

For the majority of the issue, things are quiet. Carey’s resolution to the previous issue’s cliffhanger is to focus on a different event (smaller to the character, bigger to the world) and its repercussions. The actual cliffhanger gets a quiet resolution a little later.

This issue’s cliffhanger, however, is somewhat distant from Tommy and the gang. It will, undoubtedly, have big repercussions later, but for now it’s incredibly soft.

Carey and Gross’s deliberate pacing makes The Unwritten a special read. It’s always assured and deliberate.

The Unwritten (2009) #23

Uw23

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

Uw22

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

Uw21

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

Uw20

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.