Wednesday, 13 March 2013

So I Read The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor And The War Of Words


A 250 word (or less) review of the sixth trade of The Unwritten
By Mike Carey, Peter Gross, MK Perker, Dean Ormston, Vince Locke, Michael MW Kaluta, 
Gary Erskine, Rick Geary, Bryan Talbot, and Gabriel Hernandez Walta; Vertigo Comics

(This review contains mild *SPOILERS*. To read a *SPOILER* free review of The Unwritten: go here.)


The Unwritten is a comic about how stories shape human societies and the struggle to control this power through literature. Specifically the comic series focuses on Tom Taylor, the real life inspiration for a Harry Potter-esque boy wizard, and his fight to destroy a Cabal who have been manipulating the publishing industry for centuries. Tommy Taylor And The War Of Words tells the story of Tom Taylor taking the fight directly to the cabal and represents the climax of many of the comic’s ongoing storylines. The core story is action-packed and the explanations and resolutions provided in this collection are overall quite satisfying. Carey and Gross also tell the origin stories of many of The Unwritten’s villains and supporting characters interspersed between main chapters. Much like the main chapters, these origins are well written and really pay off ideas established elsewhere in the series. To keep the dramatic main plot ticking away while still telling elaborate origin stories, Carey and Gross resorted to double publishing The Unwritten during the time span collected in Tommy Taylor And The War Of Worlds. This publishing strategy necessitated fill-in and finishing artists for Peter Gross. The resulting art is still very nice and overall manages to closely match Gross’ style but occasionally enters this uncanny valley territory of looking ever-so-slightly off… it’s a little like a peripheral vision distraction. Still, Tommy Taylor And The War Of Words is a great comic in a great series. I have no idea what comes next.

Word count: 248

Previously:

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