By: Mike Carey (writer), Peter Gross (art), Chris Chuckry (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Yuko Shimizu (cover), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)
The Story: Tom Taylor returns to the pages of The Unwritten.
Quick review: This series is kinda at a transitional point and it’s affecting the enjoyment of the single issues. That’s a normal thing in a long running, on-going series that has a defined ending. Something has to be in the middle after the initial climax and that’s what these issues represent. It doesn’t make them “bad”, but they won’t have the same issue-to-issue payoff that we were getting during the War of the Words storyline OR the type of payoff that we’ll get in a year or so when this series starts its final story-cycle.
The best part of this issue are the little tid-bits of information like seeing Tom Taylor fully aware of who and what he is and bringing a shelf-full of books that have featured in the series to his own little Fan Expo. Tom clearly knows how to use The Force now. It was also wonderful learning that the reason the Australian policewoman wasn’t killed by Pullman’s hand is that she’s dyslexic. This series has such depth and even when a particular issue doesn’t have me clapping my hands, I know it’ll be awesome on the reread. And, that’s what really sets The Unwritten apart from most series: it isn’t just a “fun” reread….there’s actually more depth there if you spend the time.
The worst part of the issue was that it felt a little disjointed from the rest of the story arc. There just didn’t seem to be quite as much about the “end of stories” and that whole plot line. Although I suspect it was there and I was just missing it. I know there’s something to be said for fiction that makes the reader “work for it”, but there’s also something to be said for accessibility and not making everything a vision quest. This is a series that could really use a dedicated review website with a single, focused person who doesn’t read other comics tearing each issue apart like the TV series Lost had (compared to a reviewer like me who is doing 4-5 reviews per week).
The art is typical Gross goodness: simple, straight-forward storytelling. The only thing I question about the art in this issue is how Tom looked. Perhaps the idea was to make it look like he’d been in seclusion and how has gained 20 pounds and stopped shaving every day? But, it made me wonder if the “Tom” we were seeing was really a body-double.
Conclusion: Not the best issue, but that’s probably because some of the complexity flew over my head. All the goodies are probably there, but I do have to deduct a few points of lack of accessibility.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
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Conclusion