By Owen Craig
The Unwritten #1
Written by Mike Carey
Art by Peter Gross
Vertigo, 2009
I don’t know about you guys, but when I see a #1 issue from Vertigo Comics I buy it. I don’t care if it doesn’t look like my kind of thing, I buy it anyway. How could I not? This publisher has a disproportionately large number of my favourite comic series under its belt: Sandman, Animal Man, Fables, Y: The Last Man, Preacher, …the list goes on. They’re also publishing four of my favourite ongoing series: Scalped, Young Liars, Air, and DMZ.
So, to me it goes without saying that I should at least try the first issue. The thing is, sales of a lot of Vertigo books haven’t been fantastic lately and a lot of great series are being cancelled or are in danger of cancellation. A whole crop of Vertigo’s books were axed last year, including The Exterminators and Crossing Midnight — both of which I thought were tremendous. It’s getting to the point where after I read a great first issue from Vertigo, I immediately start worrying about the series’ longevity.
So here’s what I am asking of you, dear readers. The Unwritten launches this week (May 13th). It’s a fantastic-looking new series created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (the team behind another amazing Vertigo series, Lucifer). I, personally, am very excited about the book and would love to see it get a fighting chance. What’s it about? Check out the solicitation:
Everyone’s read the Tommy Taylor books, the popular series of novels turned pop culture phenomenon about a boy wizard’s adventures. And everyone knows about Tom Taylor, the boy the novels were based on, whose life was so overshadowed by his Dad’s fictional epic that Tom’s become a lame Z-level celebrity at best and a human viral marketing tool at worst. But what if the resemblance goes even deeper? What if Tom is the boy-wizard of the books made flesh? And if that sounds crazy, why is it bringing him into the crosshairs of an ancient faction that has never been named in any book or text? To discover the truth about himself, Tom must search through all the places in history where fiction and reality have intersected. And in the process, he’ll learn more about that unwritten cabal and the plot they’re at the center of — a plot that spans all of literature from the first clay tablets to the gothic castles where Frankenstein was conceived to the self-adjusting stories of the internet.
Sounds cool, right? I sure think so, and I would like to see the series get a fighting chance. This time Vertigo has made it easy on our wallets to see if we like it by giving it a $1.00 price tag! One dollar! So please, from the guy who doesn’t want any more of his favourite Vertigo books to be cancelled, check this out. If you don’t like the first issue, at least you can tell me you tried.
Click here for a preview of The Unwritten.
Uh, now it looks like Young Liars is cancelled, too. Man, I hope everyone listens to me and buys The Unwritten.
Well, that’s two people who’ve told me to go get it, that’s good enough. Off to the comic store!
You shan’t regret it.
That was a really fun read, and at $1.00 I really can’t complain. It was definitely darker than I was expecting given the blurb, but it was interesting.
I’m not sure where they’re going with this one, but I’ll definitely keep my eye out for the eventual TPB.