By: Mike Carey (writer), Peter Gross (artist), Chris Chuckry (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Yuko Shimizu (cover), Joe Hughes (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)
The Story: Events in Australian finally loop back to the classic Unwritten characters.
A few things (with SPOILERS): 1). Connections! – The Unwritten had suffered for the last several issues because our favorite trio of characters (Tom, Richie & Lizzie) were no longer the center-pieces of the story. It was just kinda jarring after having ~40 issues of a very focused story to suddenly jump to new characters in a separate (but related) situation. When you think about how comics are published these days, this current story arc is almost one that would appear in a spin-off 5-issue miniseries (and we’d all complain about having to buy two series).
Well…THIS was the issue that tied things back together. It doesn’t provide an answer to everything but it definitely heads in that direction. Just learning that the central protagonist of this arc (Danny) is the same young man that we met at the end of the War of the Words (as a guy hired to be a writing minion for the Cabal) and that this Lucas Filby (the Jesus-looking guy) was not only the same guy who heckled Tom Taylor in the first issue of the series, but a former thug for the Cabal…..this stuff really made a lot of difference. Maybe those connections were there to see all along, but they went over my head.
2). Very interesting art. – Usually the art in The Unwritten is very understated. I’m a big, fat art whore, so when a comic is just plunking down very capable sequential panels, I’m probably not going to rave very much even if I DO appreciate the competence. But, then artist Gross goes and mixes it up for a few pages in this issue where he goes all abstract and blocky with his characters. It’s like a mix of Eduardo Risso, Frank Miller and Darwyn Cooke. I loved those pages and while it seems silly to gush about a few pages when the entire series has been very capable, it’s little touches like this that let me know that Gross is fully engaged in the series. Not saying he was bored before, but a withdrawn artist would have just drawn the Pauly Bruckner flashback in the standard, Unwritten style. Instead he said, “Hmmm….here’s a chance to do something really different. How about THIS?” Also, the coloring effects by Chris Chuckry when people get dissolved into words–awesome!
3). An origin of Pauly Bruckner! – As mentioned above, we now know who Pauly Bruckner was before he got turned into a bunny rabbit. Hmm…..so he was basically a henchman for The Cabal. But, not anyone of great import. We don’t get to learn much more, but it does make me greatly anticipated the next Pauly Bruckner/Mr. Bun issue.
4). Other factoids. – This issue just teemed with little bits that might be important. Like Pullman’s hand being some sort of magic object that was salvaged from the wreckage of the observatory. Or that when the hand dissolves people, they seem to turn into a glowing puddle of words. Is that the story of their life? How about the fact that Lucas and Pauly were partners once upon a time? And then we saw Didge (the female police officer) return from being word-puddled. That means there is hope for Lizzie, right? And, I don’t even know what to make of all the magical animals we saw.
Conclusion: Every time I get a little bored with The Unwritten, it cranks out an issue where it recaptures its mojo. This was that issue. We learn a LOT about how various events from the series tie together and are also treated to some wonderful art.
Grade: A-
– Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion