CBR: Carey & Gross Unravel "The Unwritten"

[CBR News]

With the first "Unwritten" collection, "Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity," on sale today, Mike Carey and Peter Gross share news about what's happened so far in their Vertigo Comics hit and what's to come in Year Two.


Full article here.

[Brother Justin Crowe]

This is, bar none, the best comic book being published right now. God bless these cats.

[mastadge]

Yep, great book. And speaking of great books, does anyone have any idea when we can expect to see Mike Carey's sixth Felix Castor novel?

[Mundungus]

I read the first two issues and loved them but fell behind. I picked up this volume immediately after seeing it on the shelf today.

I will probably continue buying it in trades. But this is definitely a worthwhile series.

[durkadurka]

I'm a huge fan of the series. It's easily my favorite new series/ongoing of last year, and i'm staying on it for the long haul. I appreciate the fact that some have referred to it as the Sandman of this generation, because that's how i feel about it.

[DirkStar]

One of my favorite reads. It is superbly written, beautifully illustrated and engages the mind as completely as the eyes.

[Vigomatic V17]

I remember being unconvinced by the first issue, but luckily I also remembered how strangely enough I had been underwhelmed by Yorick as a protagonist in Y the Last Man so I decided to stick around to see how it went.

By #5, the Kipling issue, I knew I was reading a story I would never stop until it finished.

I can't express how glad I was to see what I thought would be a half baked Harry Potter analogy evolve into a wonderful tour of the literary world. I could very easily see this as being the next big thing to show off to people who don't understand the richness of the comics medium.

Regarding the interview, I admit I skimmed over much of it in case it gave away too much of the future storylines, but they come across well in what they say.

[MikeCr]

I remember being unconvinced by the first issue,

[snip]

By #5, the Kipling issue, I knew I was reading a story I would never stop until it finished.

I can't express how glad I was to see what I thought would be a half baked Harry Potter analogy evolve into a wonderful tour of the literary world. I could very easily see this as being the next big thing to show off to people who don't understand the richness of the comics medium.

Yeah, absolutely well said. (All your posts on here have been great btw).

I actually really enjoyed the first issue but remember being underwhelmed by the preview and solicitation. That's why I'm always unsure what to answer when people ask me "what's it about?" I tend to launch into a bit of a spiel about how the initial hook - Harry Potter is coming to life in the "real world" - is just a hook and that the actual premise isn't revealed until the fifth issue. I'm always scared they'll just write it off as another iteration of some of the ideas from Sandman or Fables. While I'll definately agree that it shares some continuity with those books - "stories come to life" and all that - I've now settled on the tag line that Unwritten is "a book about books." Though I guess the "Song of Roland" elements are screwing that up!

On the good side though Unwritten is selling as much as Amazing Spider-Man in the store where I work and I've already sold another five people the tpb in the first two days of release! Diamond's monthly sales charts and the activity in these forums don't reflect it but when you stop to consider how long of a shelf life this series will have in collected form it's clear that books like Unwritten really are the new mainstream in comic books.

[die_yng]

"Absolutely fabulous" book, if you don't have the money for it left in your budget, drop something else and buy it.
This books is for you, if you ever liked one Vertigo title, if you ever liked anything done by Carey, heck, it's for you if you love books in any way.

[Hi-Fi]

The best book out there right now. I'm glad they have long term plans. It's a great replacement for the void left in me after Y The Last Man ended.

[Pixie_Solanas]

A great book that never dumbs it down for the reader. Keeps it highbrow and expects you to follow appropriately. Love it.

[Vigomatic V17]

Yeah, absolutely well said. (All your posts on here have been great btw).

I actually really enjoyed the first issue but remember being underwhelmed by the preview and solicitation. That's why I'm always unsure what to answer when people ask me "what's it about?" I tend to launch into a bit of a spiel about how the initial hook - Harry Potter is coming to life in the "real world" - is just a hook and that the actual premise isn't revealed until the fifth issue. I'm always scared they'll just write it off as another iteration of some of the ideas from Sandman or Fables. While I'll definately agree that it shares some continuity with those books - "stories come to life" and all that - I've now settled on the tag line that Unwritten is "a book about books." Though I guess the "Song of Roland" elements are screwing that up!

...

Thank you MikeCr, I'm just glad to have a place to discuss some of my favorite works of fiction with others.


If I were to try and explain the concept succinctly it would be to say that the series attempts to "highlight the power of stories on societies by creating a world almost exactly like our own, except the line between fiction and fact becomes blurred."

I think this is what Carey & Gross were trying to convey with the original title, "Faction" (which I'm very glad they didn't choose to go with. It's a shame "Fables" is already taken!)

Like I said before I'm no fan of the Harry Potter phenominon, but in retrospect I do believe it was very smart of the creators to begin there.

[Beast_Slayer]

wld hav loved to follow it from Issue #1..
but being a fairly new collector i didn't really know much about the series..
but with mike carey n peter gross this is definitely lookin like a modern day sandman style story..
im definately gonna get the trade..
and follow the on goin series from #10 onwards..haha
does any1 know when and if so wat the 2nd trade wld collect??

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

It's alright - the first issue was amazing, and it's got a lot potential, but the rest of the trade meandered a bit and seemed rather poorly paced.
However, I remember thinking the same thing about Lucifer in it's first trade (and several other Vertigo books as well), but ended up enjoying the heck out of it.

I found Willingham's introduction to the trade a bit odd though.
It was hard to focus on the text with all the rolls it caused my eyes to do.
His whole call of a new movement in comics was great and all, but I couldn't help but notice the oldest book he mentioned was Fables, and none of the many in his 'LAF' tradition that came before it - a backhanded way of making himself the founder?
I would've thought Sandman and Lost Girls (if not League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, though it is off to the side a bit) should surely have been mentioned for kick starting, or at least opening the gate to, his Literary, Animal, Fairytale based fantasy movement.

[Vigomatic V17]

I would've thought Sandman and Lost Girls (if not League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, though it is off to the side a bit) should surely have been mentioned for kick starting, or at least opening the gate to, his Literary, Animal, Fairytale based fantasy movement.

Perhaps he feels only red blooded, right wing Americans deserve the right to create movements.