Description
Tom Taylor's life was screwed from the word go. His father created the mega-popular Tommy Taylor boy-wizard fantasy novels. But dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom that fans constantly compare him to his counterpart, turning him into a lame, Z-level celebrity. When a scandal hints that Tom might really be the boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a mysterious, deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, to all the places in world history where fictions have shaped reality."Tom Taylor has spent his entire life a prisoner of his father's literary legacy-- and the famous, fictional boy wizard, Tommy Taylor, whose name he shares. But now he's a prisoner of an entirely different kind. Framed for the murder of a houseful of famous authors by forces he's only beginning to comprehend, Tom finds himself behind bars in a foreign land. Prison walls may keep him inside, but they won't keep out his powerful enemies-- who want him as dead as his supposed victims. Tom's about to discover that his father's escapist stories may be his only hope of escaping. But as the wall between fact and fiction become weaker, woe to those who find themselves in the way when it collapses. After all, not every story has a happy ending--"--P. [4] of cover.… (more)
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2010-08-10
Physical description
26 cm
Publication
New York : Vertigo, c2010.
ISBN
9781401228736
Local notes
Collects issue 6 through 12, being the arcs "Inside Man" and "Jude Süss", and the single issue "Willowbank Tales" which is set in a Winnie-the-Pooh parody world.
Similar in this library
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Graphic Story — 2011)
British Fantasy Award (Nominee — Graphic Novel — 2011)
User reviews
LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: After the grisly events at the end of Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity, Tom Taylor is transferred to a secure French prison, awaiting trial. He still maintains that he is not the same as Tommy Taylor, the hero of the wildly popular children's fantasy novels written by his father,
The collection ends with a Peter Rabbit-ish tale about someone who has not been taken out of a story, but put into one, much to his hard-living, cynical, foul-mouthed chagrin.
Review: I normally get my graphic novels from the library, but I think I might have to break down and start buying this series. Not only because it's fantastically good - which it is - but also because there is so much going on, and everything is so very meta that I am having a hard time remembering all of the pertinent details in the 6+ months between publications of the trade paperbacks. Re-reading is definitely called for, and that'd be a lot easier if I actually owned them.
The reason that re-reading is called for, apart from my faulty memory, is that there are a *lot* of layers of story packed into these deceptively thin books. There are stories within stories within stories, and most of these stories are about stories, which makes for a wonderfully fascinating and complex world to explore, but also can make it a little bit dense to pick apart. Unusually for a book I like this much, the main character's not a particularly likeable guy... but that's part of the point, and the plot's fascinating enough that it really doesn't matter. I still don't have a good handle on where all of the characters stand, or even on who all of the major players are, let alone what they're really up to, and I did feel a little bit lost at points in this volume, but overall I am eager to see how all of the various layers unfold as this story (stories) continue. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Don't start on Vol. 2, but I'd enthusiastically recommend the series to anyone who likes metafiction or other stories about stories and/or Neil Gaiman (particularly the Sandman series). It should also appeal to Fables fans and adult Harry Potter fans who would appreciate a darker twist.
Show More
although most people don't entirely believe him - and the increasingly high body count around him means that he's gone from being lauded as the word made flesh to being reviled for tarnishing everyone's favorite childhood hero. As much as Tom wants to deny the hold his father's work has over his life, he's forced to admit that something strange might be going on when a prison breakout attempt lands him in Nazi Germany... in the middle of the story of Jud Süss. The collection ends with a Peter Rabbit-ish tale about someone who has not been taken out of a story, but put into one, much to his hard-living, cynical, foul-mouthed chagrin.
Review: I normally get my graphic novels from the library, but I think I might have to break down and start buying this series. Not only because it's fantastically good - which it is - but also because there is so much going on, and everything is so very meta that I am having a hard time remembering all of the pertinent details in the 6+ months between publications of the trade paperbacks. Re-reading is definitely called for, and that'd be a lot easier if I actually owned them.
The reason that re-reading is called for, apart from my faulty memory, is that there are a *lot* of layers of story packed into these deceptively thin books. There are stories within stories within stories, and most of these stories are about stories, which makes for a wonderfully fascinating and complex world to explore, but also can make it a little bit dense to pick apart. Unusually for a book I like this much, the main character's not a particularly likeable guy... but that's part of the point, and the plot's fascinating enough that it really doesn't matter. I still don't have a good handle on where all of the characters stand, or even on who all of the major players are, let alone what they're really up to, and I did feel a little bit lost at points in this volume, but overall I am eager to see how all of the various layers unfold as this story (stories) continue. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Don't start on Vol. 2, but I'd enthusiastically recommend the series to anyone who likes metafiction or other stories about stories and/or Neil Gaiman (particularly the Sandman series). It should also appeal to Fables fans and adult Harry Potter fans who would appreciate a darker twist.
Show Less
LibraryThing member clfisha
The setup has bedded down now and fun is had with the genre. Its a beautifully drawn comic/'graphic novel and it's a great, gripping adventure and one with many many layers. Where else would you get a story touching on nazi propaganda twisting old Jewish stories then mixing that with a look at the
I cannot recommend this series enough. With it's literary roots held high, it's playful post modernism deepening the work and still manges to be at heart a great story. That's why this is another comic for everyone.
Show More
downside of fantasy and imagination. Where else could you find in a small side tale it is; a funny (adult) look at a cute children's world, a comment the dark spaces that childrens stories hide, a playful look at story structure and vision of hell and happiness.I cannot recommend this series enough. With it's literary roots held high, it's playful post modernism deepening the work and still manges to be at heart a great story. That's why this is another comic for everyone.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rolhirst
Unwritten tells the story of Tom Taylor, the son of legendary author Wilson Taylor and inspiration for the character Tommy Taylor, Boy Wizard, in a bestselling series of Harry Potteresque fantasies. Tom has made a career out of touring geek conventions and posing for photographs with fans until a
Everyone wants a piece of Tom Taylor - from the shadowy authoritarian thugs who plan to torch the prison to ensure he can't interfere with their schemes to the spooky witch-girl who knows more than she's telling about where reality ends and fiction begins. Then there's the governor of the prison whose children are huge Tommy Taylor fans. And the journalist who's disguised himself as Tommy's cellmate to get the inside story. And Tommy Taylor's "fictional" arch-nemesis Count Ambrosio who's looking for a way across into our world. And Frankenstein's monster. And a mass-murderer who famously bit off the ear of his own defence lawyer. And the soldiers of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (circa 778 AD) who may also haunt the prison. And a flying cat. Don't forget the flying cat.
Carey is telling his story on a huge canvas here, and even two books in it feels like we're still very much in the opening chapter. It draws you in though, and there's a lot to read. Pages are given over to website discussions and news feeds, while prominent supporting characters are given whole issues of back story. And every now and then Carey goes off on a complete tangent, such as the final story in this volume which tells of an angry man who finds himself trapped as a rabbit in a cute Beatrix Potter-style world, desperate to escape and have his revenge on the storyteller who put him there.
Peter Gross has developed into one of comics' best storytellers. He has a very European art style, so I was surprised to discover he's actually an American. He's being given free reign to show off his skills on this book, tailoring (no pun intended) his art to suit specific sequences and showing great skill at making busy pages clean and uncomplicated (Carey often writes 6+ panels with lots of dialogue, but they never seem crowded).
Show More
series of mysterious and deadly events begin to suggest the fictional world of the Tommy Taylor adventures is starting to bleed across into the real world of his day-to-day life. At the end of volume 1, Tom was the only survivor of a massacre at a writers' gathering in Geneva, and with nobody believing his stories of monstrous killers (he kept mention of winged cats to himself) he's now been extradited to a French prison to await trial. Everyone wants a piece of Tom Taylor - from the shadowy authoritarian thugs who plan to torch the prison to ensure he can't interfere with their schemes to the spooky witch-girl who knows more than she's telling about where reality ends and fiction begins. Then there's the governor of the prison whose children are huge Tommy Taylor fans. And the journalist who's disguised himself as Tommy's cellmate to get the inside story. And Tommy Taylor's "fictional" arch-nemesis Count Ambrosio who's looking for a way across into our world. And Frankenstein's monster. And a mass-murderer who famously bit off the ear of his own defence lawyer. And the soldiers of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (circa 778 AD) who may also haunt the prison. And a flying cat. Don't forget the flying cat.
Carey is telling his story on a huge canvas here, and even two books in it feels like we're still very much in the opening chapter. It draws you in though, and there's a lot to read. Pages are given over to website discussions and news feeds, while prominent supporting characters are given whole issues of back story. And every now and then Carey goes off on a complete tangent, such as the final story in this volume which tells of an angry man who finds himself trapped as a rabbit in a cute Beatrix Potter-style world, desperate to escape and have his revenge on the storyteller who put him there.
Peter Gross has developed into one of comics' best storytellers. He has a very European art style, so I was surprised to discover he's actually an American. He's being given free reign to show off his skills on this book, tailoring (no pun intended) his art to suit specific sequences and showing great skill at making busy pages clean and uncomplicated (Carey often writes 6+ panels with lots of dialogue, but they never seem crowded).
Show Less
LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
The second part of this intriguing series holds up really well. Very little of the plot can be said without major spoilers, but I like how Carey is still mainly working on complicating things. Still, here we get a few leads to what Taylor’s purpose in life might be, and some things regarding how
This might all sound complicated, but The Unwritten is really a fast-paced, witty and exciting ride. My favorite part, though, is the way it allows for side-plots that are only somewhat connected to the main arc – but still allows us to understand more about this world. In this volume, it’s really the sad story about the prison governor’s daughter and epilogue with the pissed off, foul mouthed criminal dumped in a rabbit’s body in a Pooh-esque forest that stand out the most. Very eager to continue with this series.
Show More
this world works, giving just enough ground to stand on, with a nice solid feel. I also liked the hints that this series communicates with its Tommy Taylor book series within on a meta level. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if The Unwritten will be a series of fourteen voulmes.This might all sound complicated, but The Unwritten is really a fast-paced, witty and exciting ride. My favorite part, though, is the way it allows for side-plots that are only somewhat connected to the main arc – but still allows us to understand more about this world. In this volume, it’s really the sad story about the prison governor’s daughter and epilogue with the pissed off, foul mouthed criminal dumped in a rabbit’s body in a Pooh-esque forest that stand out the most. Very eager to continue with this series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member pokylittlepuppy
I've actually read through issue 15, the most recent released to date, but this collection will cap at 12. I really like several things about the next issues, though, so I look forward to reviewing upcoming volumes. More stars!
This volume mostly deals with Tom's ordeal in prison after the events of
I really like the addition of the blogger friend. In general the author's use of the internet and media is pretty great, and the comic is full of big intimidating ideas so a goofy dude is appreciated. The tragedy of the prison governor and his transformation is impressive. The reflective Frankenstein monster popping up is an occasionally surprising touch: "We have that in common. ... We are made things. And those who made us do not love us." And Lizzie's ability to communicate with Wilson through the words in books is freaking awesome.
Also there's a flying cat.
Less excited about the three following issues, two with the unexpected time-travel visit with Goebbels, Jud Süss, and the, ah, literary "canker" as it's unfortunately named. Though the art is really cool. Tom's abilities don't really make enough sense yet. Why did he get to deal with the messiest mess right away, and is he going to do a lot of this "healing" of historical contradictions? It's just a different type of focus than the rest of the series has had.
And the creepy last issue with the warning fable of Paul the bunny, authorial enemy turned fairy tale character, is just kinda weird. Or, more Beatrix Potter/Milne character than fairy tale. It's kind of funny too -- a suicidal rabbit cursing up a crazy storm with all these huggy forest animals -- but majorly weird. But, I really want to see what other kinds of things like this can happen.
Really excited for more of this, because it's going to get even better.
While reading these issues, I learned that my nightstand drawer is pretty much exactly the same size as a stack of comic books. So that's gonna be a thing now.
This volume mostly deals with Tom's ordeal in prison after the events of
Show More
the first book, and where he begins to go after it's destroyed. He still doesn't have a plan really, or any idea why terrible things are following him and how much to trust the new capabilities he's picking up. How could he trust what he sees? He's walking blind with all these things going on. Lizzie keeps telling him to walk the path, which is totally pissing him off. She clearly knows what's happening. Lizzie, what is happening?!I really like the addition of the blogger friend. In general the author's use of the internet and media is pretty great, and the comic is full of big intimidating ideas so a goofy dude is appreciated. The tragedy of the prison governor and his transformation is impressive. The reflective Frankenstein monster popping up is an occasionally surprising touch: "We have that in common. ... We are made things. And those who made us do not love us." And Lizzie's ability to communicate with Wilson through the words in books is freaking awesome.
Also there's a flying cat.
Less excited about the three following issues, two with the unexpected time-travel visit with Goebbels, Jud Süss, and the, ah, literary "canker" as it's unfortunately named. Though the art is really cool. Tom's abilities don't really make enough sense yet. Why did he get to deal with the messiest mess right away, and is he going to do a lot of this "healing" of historical contradictions? It's just a different type of focus than the rest of the series has had.
And the creepy last issue with the warning fable of Paul the bunny, authorial enemy turned fairy tale character, is just kinda weird. Or, more Beatrix Potter/Milne character than fairy tale. It's kind of funny too -- a suicidal rabbit cursing up a crazy storm with all these huggy forest animals -- but majorly weird. But, I really want to see what other kinds of things like this can happen.
Really excited for more of this, because it's going to get even better.
While reading these issues, I learned that my nightstand drawer is pretty much exactly the same size as a stack of comic books. So that's gonna be a thing now.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RullsenbergLisa
Purchased this yesterday having devoured the first volume earlier in the year. Have already sat and re-read both this (and Volume 1) twice more since purchase. Even managed to persuade my more reluctant partner to pour his attention into them (reluctant in terms of consuming graphic novels at the
Meta hardly covers how this narrative works: let's just say that if you have a passion for debates about how fiction is constructed and consumed and wish that graphic novels paid attention to the matter, then this is for you.
Start with Volume 1 though for goodness sake: you'll feel like your brains are frying starting in the middle.
Oh, and in case you don't pick up on this: be a mature reader too -- not just because you'll need full-on critical faculties to keep any track on what is happening, but also because nasty stuff happens.
Show More
rate I read/re-read them).Meta hardly covers how this narrative works: let's just say that if you have a passion for debates about how fiction is constructed and consumed and wish that graphic novels paid attention to the matter, then this is for you.
Start with Volume 1 though for goodness sake: you'll feel like your brains are frying starting in the middle.
Oh, and in case you don't pick up on this: be a mature reader too -- not just because you'll need full-on critical faculties to keep any track on what is happening, but also because nasty stuff happens.
Show Less
LibraryThing member -Eva-
Tom arrives at Donostia prison and falls into the Roland story, which doesn't end well, and escapes only to find himself in a ghost version of 1940's Stuttgart ruled by a Goebbels who wishes for victory or death. Like the first installment, this is an innovative story about the connection between
Show More
fiction and reality and how fiction affect our lives. The meta aspects are a boon to any lover of fiction and Tom's character is getting stronger and more likable. This book does feel a little like an interim story, but I am very excited to see where Carey takes us as we follow Tom on his journey to finding out who and what he is. The Alice-epilogue is quite creepy too, especially as it is based on such a loved story. Show Less
LibraryThing member .Monkey.
This second volume is certainly better than the first; the story starts to come into its own a bit and begins to take shape, with some interesting developments and a new character added. That said, while it has piqued my interest and curiosity, it's still not quite there yet. I'm curious what will
Show More
happen next, but it hasn't gripped me, I feel no urge to go rushing out to find out what Tom(my) will.deal with next. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauren.castan
Interesting
LibraryThing member pivic
This was quite a treat.
As Tom Taylor continues surveying the Universe as he once knew it to be, it continues crashing around him. As he is wanted for multiple murder, he is also being desired by different creatures alive and dead, from his ordinary world as well as from fables and his vanished
And Mingus, the winged cat, is cute as a button.
All in all: exciting, making me long for the third collection of stories regarding...all of this.
As Tom Taylor continues surveying the Universe as he once knew it to be, it continues crashing around him. As he is wanted for multiple murder, he is also being desired by different creatures alive and dead, from his ordinary world as well as from fables and his vanished
Show More
father.And Mingus, the winged cat, is cute as a button.
All in all: exciting, making me long for the third collection of stories regarding...all of this.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Count_Zero
Better than volume 1, though I do find myself wondering which way the writers are going to take their subtext on imagination. Is imagination power and something to be preserved, or something to be quelled - because one thing is clear - the authors' take is definitely black or white - with no grey
Show More
in sight. Show Less
LibraryThing member booklover3258
Just as good as volume 1... although I did not understand the bunny story at the end. Great graphics and good story.
LibraryThing member ritaer
Sent to prison in France Tom is befriended by another prisoner. The prison is attacked by the mysterious organization and the mysterious woman who challenged Tom's history and has managed to get herself arrested as well helps Tom and Savoy escape with the magic doorknob that can transport them to
Show More
locales on the literary map that Tom's father coached in about. Show Less
Media reviews
While spinning the fascinating tale of his reluctant hero’s odyssey, Carey delves deeply into how stories influence reality—most movingly here in the characters of an indulgent father and his two children, who may play at being Tommy Taylor’s wizard friends a little too avidly. A dark,
Show More
thoughtful metafiction with all of literature as its canvas; like Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next, with teeth. Highly recommended Show Less
If you like Willingham's Fables and the way that an adventure story can explore story itself, The Unwritten continues to satisfy. Highly recommended.