The Unwritten Vol. 6

The Unwritten Vol. 6: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words

By Mike Carey, Peter Gross and M.K. Perker

4 Covers out of 5

The Unwritten is a brilliant comic book series that explores the meaning and role of stories in society.  The saga follows Tommy Taylor, the son of author Wilson Taylor and namesake of the boy wizard in the most popular book series in the world (yes, the parallels to another book series are meant to be obvious).   But is Tommy really the son of Wilson or is he the boy wizard come to life?  This question is at the core of Tommy’s battle with the Unwritten, a secret cabal that uses stories to manipulate and control the world without ever being written about.  That battle comes to a head in this volume, where Tommy heads an assault on the enemy headquarters and confronts and learns the secret history of his nemesis, Mr. Pullman.

The volume alternates between that main storyline and issues that explore the histories of various characters.  And since this is a story about stories, that history goes back to the origin of man.  That the creators have been able to weave together such an epic mythology is amazing.  And the idea that stories are a kind of magic and can create reality is a powerful and compelling one for any reader.  But it is also a very metaphysical idea that is hard to explain.  This is where the use of illustrations comes to the forefront.  The ability to visualize this idea helps to ground it in the readers mind.  But it is still hard to have a firm hold on it and there are moments where it seems like even the creators reach exceeds their grasp. 

The other problem I had was that this volume very much completes the story that began in the first volume, yet the series is going to continue on.  It may seem odd to complain that I’m going to get more of a good thing, but I didn’t get any sense of how the story would carry on.  It really feels like there a just a few loose ends that can be tied up very quickly, yet the series has over twenty more issues prepared with no conclusion in sight.  I have since found out where the storyline is going and it does make sense and I am especially looking forward to The Unwritten crossing over into another excellent series, Fables.   My issue is that it didn’t feel like many of those future stories were set up here.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful covers by Yuko Shimizu.  The style is very different from the typical comic book covers and that gives the series an aura of art, that this is going to be better than the average comic book.  

For all my quibbles, The Unwritten is an excellent read and considering that Vol. 6 has ten issues for $17.99, Tommy Taylor and the War of Words is a bargain as well.