BeautyandBoost.com
4:59pm
Music
One of the strongest graphic novel debuts I read in 2010 was the first collection of The Unwritten, a story that peeks into the secret life of narrative and the blood and teeth lurking beneath our fantasies and fairy tales.
Now, The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man, author Mike Carey and illustrator Peter Gross continue to work their magic, in a fast paced adventure story that delves more explicitly into the ways that humans manipulate story to their own ends.
Tom Taylor is the namesake of Tommy Taylor, a globally beloved fantasy character in the mold of Harry Potter from a series of books written by his father, who mysteriously disappeared years before. A Z-list celebrity, Tom ekes out a meager living signing copies of his father’s books at conventions until a grad student publicly challenges him with evidence that he is an impostor (news to Tom!).
A pariah, Tom flees angry mobs of disillusioned fans, finally coming to the very castle where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, where a group of famous (and insufferable) writers have gathered. Then, amid revelations about an ancient conspiracy of story and storytelling (encompassing Twain and Kipling), the writers are murdered in most grisly fashion, leaving Tom to take the blame.
Book 2 picks up with Tom in jail in France, the subject of worldwide resentment and hate, in a prison built on the site memorialized in the ballad of Sir Roland’s famous rout by the Saracens. Now all the stories are coming together: the ancient ballads, the Tommy Taylor novels, the gossip blogs that follow Taylor’s every move — and now Tom is in more danger than ever.
If you like Willingham’s Fables and the way that an adventure story can explore story itself, The Unwritten continues to satisfy. Highly recommended.
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man
Related Posts: On this day...
- Kanye and Jay-Z destroy a Maybach - 2011
- Criterion Collection reissues R. Crumb documentary with special features - 2010
- HOWTO: Block brute force attacks on your SSH server - 2010
- Microsoft Rolling out Retail stores to compete directly with the Apple stores - 2009
- Showdown at the 4chan corral - 2009
- "Open Source Twitter" proposed as antidote to Twitter's DDOS vulnerability - 2009
- Not your normal road on Google Street View - 2009
- VMWARE Users: All your ESX 3.5 are belong to us - 2008
The Unwritten is simply the best thing out right now and I love it so much that not only do I buy the issues monthly, but I get the Trade Paperbacks when they come out as well (it’s so good I have to own it twice!)
There is nothing that is better much less equals the quality of the story. The art is perfectly presented and serves to compliment it just that much more. If you have not read this series, and you either:
a) Love to read
b) Enjoy fantasy
c) Enjoy quality art
d) Want to see how a masterpiece is done
This is for you. If you don’t fit into any of those categories, it’s still for you. It’s like LOST, if you watch the first episode, you’re hooked. IF you read the first 3 pages, you’re in it until the end.
Do yourself a favor and read this. You owe it to yourself.