creators: Mike Carey & Peter Gross
released: January 2014
publisher: Vertigo
I am terribly sad The Unwritten is coming to an end. Unwritten might not be on the same literary level or pedestal as Sandman, but it comes very, very close–it’s an intertwined, devilishly complicated puzzle about words and stories and how we use them to literally navigate our lives. I can only imagine that this final arc will pull out all the stops and stretch our imaginations to the limit–giving it a finish it truly deserves–but I just hope we’re all ready for it.
That being said, the back letter described this issue as a perfect jumping off point for Unwritten, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It would be like giving someone the last arc from Sandman and saying, hey, you’ll understand everything, right? Nope, read straight through from the beginning and thank me later, otherwise this will just be a jumbled mess to you.
This issue gets really trippy and weird and I don’t completely understand all of it, but that’s Unwritten’s MO. So, pretty used to it by now. Our homebound hero Tommy moves from story to story, trying to find his way home–to his own narrative, which is essentially just another story. (Again, this will only really fit if you’ve been reading since the beginning and know Carey’s style). Tommy hops from “basic” fairy tales to those more famous and familiar (and thankfully our ‘favorite’ bunny rabbit was only mentioned, and not actually guest starred), though usually he gets there by the death of whichever character he is currently embodying. Brilliant, strange, but at the same time a bit slow; while Carey never comes out and says, “this is the story Tommy is now in,” much of the dialogue is Tommy trying to understand his situation, and talking through it with the story’s counterparts–to more or less success, depending on the story. As mentioned before, while it fills in the very basic details of Tommy’s journey, the Leviathan, and so on, it’s a very a slow buildup to the very last page, which is a slight disappointment, since we now have to wait for the actual meat of the story in the second issue (hopefully).
Admittedly, it might be more satisfying to read all at once as an entire trade, instead of broken into five separate issues. I imagine that many subtleties will fall through the cracks while waiting weeks for the next installment. I’m the impatient type, but whether you choose to stall a bit longer is entirely up to you.
I must note that Gross’ art continues to be a visual treat here–like the stories, the art also evolves, and hats off to Gross to visually building the art as Carey does so with words, from rough sketches to fully colored and polished art by the time we get to–oh, but I won’t spoil it for you. Their teamwork has been exceptional from the very beginning and it is in full force in this installment.
Cautiously anticipating the second issue.
Reading Art 