Battlemouth

It is the age of the literary rock star…Harry Potter has sold over 400 million copies…Twilight over 50 million… both movies have grossed over 5 billion dollars at the box office (not including DVD sales)….the amount of fans of each is incalculable. Imagine for a moment that those characters were one day discovered to be living among us. They would probably be lifted to a “Christ” like level… This is the picture that word-master Mike Carey along with the beautiful art work of Peter Gross are painting in “THE UNWRITTEN”. I have to say that when I read the preview for this book last month I was already excited…the concept alone doesn’t seem all that amazing at first, but the manor in which Mike and Peter subtly hinted at what was to come made the wait for Issue 1 almost unbearable. Opening with the final scene from, what we are lead to believe through Mr. Gross comically fantastic renditions is, the final book of the “Tommy Taylor” saga. Instantly we are presented with what could only be intended as a story in the stylings of Harry Potter, a blonde haired, awkward looking boy named Peter clasps the hand of a school uniformed Sue as they search for their bespectacled friend Tommy Taylor… Through a curious series of events involving a trumpet and a “last note” that will end the world we find our hero, Tommy, laying motionless and bloodied on the floor of a large, ominous chamber after having uttered the magic words to turn the evil Count Ambrosio to stone. As Sue cradles her dead friend, sobbing, Peter grabs the trumpet from the Counts hands and ponders if he can use its power to return their friend to life…and so ends the book. Tommy Wilson, our main character, and son of the author of the “Tommy Taylor” saga sits signing books at “Tommy Con”. Clearly annoyed with questions about the “disappearance” of his father (“…Isn’t it wierd how he just disapeared?”—Replies Tommy “How he LEFT me? Yes very…” ) Tommy is greeted at a panel by a grad student and her questions about the authenticity of his claim to be who he really is. Unfortunately for Tommy her claims are backed by substantial evidence and this causes a media feeding frenzy and an ensuing mass hysteria throughout the world in the days following. I have enjoyed this book so much that I will not go near spoiling all the of the great details, suffice to say that things do not go as you would think, and if this first book doesn’t leave you drooling for issue 2…then perhaps this bit taken from the Afterword of “Tommy Taylor and the Golden Trumpet” will peak your intrests further:

Heaven is closer than you think.
Eyes that are open read the lines
Where closed minds stumble at the brink
In endless darkness, without signs.

Let Tommy tell it his way now.
Let Tommy take the burden up,
Choose sides, choose weapons, keep the vow
Or else refuse the proffered cup.

My story’s over. On into
Elsewhere must I make my way.
Trust him, and with your trust renew
Our faith, our fortune and our day.

Yours is the love, this is the hour.
Oh take it, lest your mythic power,
Unused, lie in your soul and sour.

-Wilson Taylor

I have to say that this book is shaping up to be a serious favorite of mine…I can’t say yet what specifically it is that is drawing me in so much, only that it has certainly dug its hooks deep into me already…I am a Harry Potter fan after all, perhaps there is a bit of the Potter magic here as well? Or perhaps its just the magic of these two specific creators joining forces yet again, for another wild tale. I tried to get ahold of Mike Carey and Peter Gross to take part in a lovely bit of “7 Questions” ,but they are too busy being brilliant…mayhaps more Vertigo talent to come though…be sure to keep an eye out here for constant updates!