The Unwritten

The Unwritten is an American comic book written by Mike Carey[1] with art by Peter Gross.[2] Published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics,[3][4][5][6] the book follows Tom Taylor, who was the inspiration for a series of hugely successful children's fantasy novels in the vein of Harry Potter. The series deals with themes related to fame, celebrity, and the relationship between fiction and human consciousness.

The Unwritten
Cover to The Unwritten #1 by Yuko Shimizu.
Publication information
PublisherVertigo
ScheduleMonthly
GenreContemporary fantasy
Publication dateOctober 2009 – January 2015
No. of issues71 (#1–54, #31.5–35.5, Apocalypse #1–12)
Main character(s)Tom Taylor
Creative team
Written byMike Carey
Artist(s)Peter Gross
Yuko Shimizu (covers)
Letterer(s)Todd Klein
Colorist(s)Chris Chuckry
Jeanne McGee
Editor(s)Pornsak Pichetshote
Collected editions
Volume 1ISBN 1-4012-2565-9
Volume 2ISBN 1-4012-2873-9
Volume 3ISBN 1-4012-3046-6
Volume 4ISBN 1-4012-3292-2
Volume 5ISBN 1-7811-6050-3
Volume 6ISBN 1-4012-3560-3
Volume 7ISBN 1-4012-3806-8
Volume 8ISBN 1-4012-4301-0
Volume 9ISBN 1-4012-4694-X
Volume 10ISBN 1-4012-5055-6
Volume 11ISBN 1-4012-5348-2

Inspiration

Mike Carey, in an interview with Nicholas Yanes from scifipulse.net, claimed that "the most important reference point is the autobiography of Christopher Milne – who is famous as the Christopher Robin of the Winnie the Pooh books. Milne grew up feeling that his father had stolen his childhood from him, turned a profit from it and then given it back to him in a form he couldn't use. Our Tom is very much in that situation when we first meet him, although we take his identity crisis a fair bit further than that".[7]

Collected editions

The series is being collected into trade paperbacks:

The Unwritten trade paperbacks
TitleISBNRelease dateCollected material
Volume 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity ISBN 1-4012-2565-9 January 12, 2010 The Unwritten #1–5 – 144 pages
Volume 2: Inside Man ISBN 1-4012-2873-9 August 11, 2010 The Unwritten #6–12 – 168 pages
Volume 3: Dead Man's Knock ISBN 1-4012-3046-6 March 29, 2011 The Unwritten #13–18 – 160 pages
Volume 4: Leviathan ISBN 1-4012-3292-2 October 25, 2011 The Unwritten #19–24 – 144 pages
Volume 5: On to Genesis ISBN 1-78116-050-3 January 27, 2012 The Unwritten #25–30 – 160 pages
Volume 6: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words ISBN 1-4012-3560-3 October 17, 2012 The Unwritten #31–35.5 – 240 pages
Volume 7: The Wound ISBN 1-4012-3806-8 March 26, 2013 The Unwritten #36–41 – 144 pages
Volume 8: Orpheus in the Underworlds ISBN 1-4012-4301-0 February 4, 2014 The Unwritten #42–49 – 176 pages
Volume 9: The Unwritten Fables ISBN 1-4012-4694-X July 29, 2014 The Unwritten #50–54, crossover with Fables – 144 pages
Volume 10: War Stories ISBN 1-4012-5055-6 October 14, 2014 The Unwritten: Apocalypse #1–5 – 128 pages
Volume 11: Apocalypse ISBN 1-4012-5348-2 May 25, 2015 The Unwritten: Apocalypse #6–12 – 176 pages

Additionally, Vertigo released in September 2013 an original graphic novel called The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice (hardcover, ISBN 1-4012-2976-X), a standalone story about the origin of Tommy Taylor and his powers.

The story of Tommy Taylor continues in the 12 issue series (also titled Volume 2) of The Unwritten: Apocalypse, started in January 2014 (compiled in collected Volumes 10 and 11).

The Unwritten is also being released in deluxe hardcover editions.

The Unwritten Deluxe Editions
#TitleISBNRelease dateCollected material
1The Unwritten: The Deluxe Edition Book OneISBN 1-4012-6543-XDecember 14, 2016#1–12
2The Unwritten: The Deluxe Edition Book TwoISBN 1-4012-7506-0December 27, 2017#13–24

Reception

IGN gave the first three issues 8.5, 9.0 and 9.0 out of 10 respectively.[8]

References
  1. Ekstrom, Steve (March 26, 2009). "Life as Fiction? Mike Carey on Vertigo's 'The Unwritten'". Newsarama. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  2. Arrant, Chris (May 18, 2009). "Peter Gross: The Art Side of 'The Unwritten'". Newsarama. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  3. Arrant, Chris (February 27, 2009). "PMike Carey & Peter Gross on Vertigo's 'The Unwritten'". Newsarama. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  4. Renaud, Jeffrey (March 29, 2009). "UNWRITTEN: Mike Carey & Peter Gross". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  5. Renaud, Jeffrey (March 31, 2009). "UNWRITTEN: Mike Carey & Peter Gross II". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  6. Hautain, Frederik (May 13, 2009). "Unwritten Ties Between Reality and Fiction". Broken Frontier. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  7. Yanes, Nicholas. "Comics Interview: UK Writer Mike Carey on His Career to Date". Scifi Pulse. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "The Unwritten". IGN. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
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