The Unwritten Fables

The Unwritten Vol. 9: The Unwritten Fables Mike Carey, Bill Willingham, Peter Gross, Mark Buckingham

I was so excited for the one. Tom Taylor is trying to fix Leviathan and ends up in the middle of the witches from the 13th floor of Fables (which is my favorite comic) But, in the end… ugh.

Basically, it’s an alternate Fables universe where Mr. Dark has won and the Fables are barely hanging on (most won’t survive.) This is how alternate it is--Snow White is married to Mr. Dark and they’re keeping Bigby prisoner (and Mr. Dark has conquered all of Earth and is moving on to other realms.)

As such, the witches summon the “greatest wizard who never was, but might be” and end up with Tom Taylor as a stand-in for Tommy.

Now it’s a great concept--Fables who know they’re fictional, but they’re real and living in our world intersecting with this story about the power of story and where the line between fiction and reality is, and where it blurs. And it kinda touches on it, but not nearly as much as it could have, or should have. Instead, it ends up being a dark AU piece of Fables story, in which they get Tommy, Sue, and Peter to help fight their battles. It’s a rather horrifying look* at what could have happened in Fables, and it’s so Fables-centric, I’m not really sure what’s the point of having it as an Unwritten story instead of a Fables one. The only thing it really does is end in such a dramatic fashion to set up the Unwritten reboot. Not sure what this does to all the stories and threads that we still have resolve. I kinda wonder if Carey and Gross wrote themselves into a corner and this was the only way to get out.

That said, this series has kept me guessing the entire time, so I’ll withhold final judgement until we see what happens with the reboot.(But at the moment, I'm rather discontented.)

*And given how dark Fables has been recently, that’s really saying something. ALSO, when announcing the upcoming end of Fables Willingham has said that what comes up in the Unwritten crossover has consequences and now I’m really scared.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Orpheus in the Underworld

The Unwritten: Orpheus in the Underworld Mike Carey and Peter Gross


Tom ends up back in the story, but there are so many refugees--the Wound that Pullman gave to Leviathan means stories are dying--with horrible consequences in the real world and in fiction. It's hilariously awesomely horrible what some of our favorite characters from literature are forced to do. Tom journeys to the underworld to save Lizzie but Hades has been disposed by Pauly (PAULY!) But hey, Cosi and Leon are there to help out. (Oh, those kids! I’m so glad they’re still around in the story.)

This was pretty great. Pauly’s horrible, but I’m glad to finally see where that was going. Plus, we get to see what Carey thinks would happen in a Zombies vs. Vampire fight.

But let’s face it-- the FINAL PAGE makes it the greatest thing EVER. Because the final page sets up the next volume, which is a FUCKING FABLES CROSSOVER.

I cannot WAIT for it to come out.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Unwritten: The Wound

The Unwritten, Vol. 7: The Wound Mike Carey and Peter Gross

We start with the Tinker and Pauly-Rabbit hanging out in a wasteland, encountering streams of fictional refugees, streaming from The Wave.

Then we switch to a detective in Australia, who partners up with Danny--the reader from the last issue in Tommy Taylor and the War of Words--to infiltrate the Tommy Taylor cult. Tom and Richie then go hide out and deal with some very real ghosts in Tom’s past.

This is a good “must set up next plot point” volume, but nothing spectacular. EXCEPT that it introduces us to Danny and Didge (the detective), and they are awesome and great additions. (Also, let’s give a shout to Didge, who’s Aboriginal and dyslexic. Turns out dyslexia is a pretty great defense against Pullman’s freaky fiction hand! Also, she’s generally awesome and literally kicks a lot of ass.)

Book Provided by... my local library

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Tommy Taylor and the War of Words

The Unwritten Vol. 6: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words Mike Carey and Peter Gross

Tommy’s coming for the Cabal, but they’re not sure how to prepare for him. Pullman has some ideas, but no one wants to listen to him. We get A LOT of Pullman backstory here. He’s been the Cabal’s thug for millennia. Lots of exploits to cover. There’s even an entire issue of Pullman in Gilgamesh. Plus, we find out who/what Pullman is, exactly (although it’s already been heavily hinted at.) Also, some important backstory with Wilson and Mme. Rauch.

This is a much larger omnibus, and we also have the final showdown between Pullman and Tommy, and the results are… not good. (Setting up the next chapter in the overall story.)

We end with the story of one of the Cabal’s readers--how he got involved and his role in everything, even as a completely insignificant player.

This is where the series really drives home the point about story and how we use story in our lives, and the power story holds in our world.

I loved seeing Pullman through the ages--especially with Gilgamesh and how the art style changed depending on the time period. I think that’s another thing this series does really well--changing the art as things shift. Different time periods, different book, all have art that fits with that story, which is different art than the main story we’re telling. Very cool.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Unwritten: On To Genesis

The Unwritten Vol. 5: On to Genesis Mike Carey and Peter Gross

Back story time! Through some fairly fun hijinks (involving explosions, the Cabal, and Madame Rauch), we see more of what Wilson Taylor was up to, both in the time before Tommy Taylor, but also in how he raised Tom and Lizzie. And the Cabal kicks its game up a notch.

So it doesn’t do much to develop overall plot, but it continues to answer some questions, and the back story is awesomely f-ed up. I like it involves comics-as-literature, and I like the introduction of The Tinker--an old-timey over-the-top superhero. It answers A LOT of questions and raises even more as the world and plot really start to make sense.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Unwritten: Leviathan

The Unwritten Vol. 4: Leviathan Mike Carey and Peter Gross

Tommy’s been told to go to the source, which is Moby Dick. Yes--they’re off hunting the elusive white whale. Meanwhile, Pullman (and his creepy wooden hand) meet a super-creepy puppet maker. But the real meat of the story is when Tom gets sucked into Moby Dick, which has his dad playing Ahab and Frankenstein’s Monster lurking in the shadows. By the end, Tom has figured out some really big clues to WTF is going on here. And it’s totally awesome (in every sense of the world.)

It ends with some random animals climbing an endless staircase, featuring our favorite surly rabbit from the issue at the end of Inside Man.

I really like the direction this series is going in, and what it says about the importance of story. I'm also impressed how long it took for Carey and Gross to explain this world, and what they were doing. It says a lot about their level of craft that readers have held on for so long without understanding the basic premise of the story. The payoff is definitely worth the wait.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Dead Man's Knock

The Unwritten Vol. 3: Dead Man's Knock Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly

So, there’s a new Tommy Taylor book coming, and it’s terrible. But will Wilson Taylor show, or is this just a cabal ploy to get to Tom? Either way, this is one book release party with a body count.

Also, who is Lizzie? Is she really escaped from Dickens?

And here’s where I started to get a better sense of what, exactly is happening in this world, and it wasn’t really what I thought it would be, which is awesome. I like how it explores Lizzie’s backstory with a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type issue (although it was really hard to read by booklight!)

Oh, and Richie becomes a vampire.

It's hard to talk about this one without giving it all away. But mostly, this is the one where it starts to make sense and where I really started getting into the series.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Inside Man

The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man Mike Carey and Peter Gross

We open with a scene from “Song of Roland” and then switch to Tom’s legal issues as he’s being tried for the murders at his father’s villa. There he meets a fellow inmate/embedded journalist. Meanwhile, Lizzie is asking books questions and they’re answering back. Frankenstein’s monster shows up, and when the Cabal attacks the prison that’s holding Tom, the results are disastrous for everyone. At the end, we get a comic about someone (from the cabal?) trapped as a bunny in a fairly insipid children’s story, desperate to escape.

I love how they incorporate Song of Roland into this. I still have no idea what, exactly, is going on, but I’m really enjoying trying to figure it out and I assume it’ll make sense at some point.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Graphic Novel Week: The Unwritten--Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity

Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity Mike Carey and Peter Gross

This is one that’s been on my radar forever. Like since Leila reviewed back in, oh 2012.

I *finally* got around to reading it, and it’s so good! Tom’s father wrote a series of highly popular fantasy novels (think Harry Potter), but made Tommy the lead character (think Christopher Robin.) People have a really hard time realizing that Tom the man and Tommy the fictional character aren’t the same person.

Coupled with this is the fact that when he was younger, his father disappeared without a trace, leaving the series unfinished and his estate was very complicated, making it so Tom can’t get any of the money. Tom makes a living by signing his father’s books and making public appearances-- this doesn’t help people separate the two identities, and it means constant questions about his father’s abandonment.

Only, at this con, a fan points out that Tom Taylor, the real person, doesn’t actually exist--which is how Tom learns that most of his identity is fabricated. Then, as he tries to trace his past he discovers that the line between fiction and reality might be thinner than he ever imagined… maybe there Tom the man and Tommy the character aren’t that different…

This one is obviously a lot of set up for the greater story, which I can’t wait to delve into. I like how the book incorporates a lot of the Tommy Taylor novels, interweaving them with the main story, as well as lots of flashbacks from Tom’s past.

Tom’s father was also very into literary geography-- knowing where people wrote things, the real places that inspired fiction settings, and the trivia behind it all. It’s a slightly annoying party trick of Tom’s-- reciting all of it as he travels, but it’s fun to read and it looks like it’s going to be important to the larger plot, which I find very intriguing.

The next volume is on its way to me-- I can’t wait to read it and see what happens next.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Gobble Gobble

I hope you all had the happiest of Thanksgivings! It was great to see my parents (HI MOM AND DAD! I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS!) It was nice to also just hang out a bit and relax.

Yesterday afternoon, we were all sitting in the living room reading. Well, Dan was doing something on his laptop. I knew Mom was at the end of a spy novel. I was pretty into my book, too. Dad looked like he was into his.

Dan: So, what are we going to do all afternoon
Me: Um, I think we could just sit here in read, I know Mom's near the end of her book
Dan:?!
Me: Dear, they are my parents. This pointing to them, and to my book is totally a learned behavior!

Also, while we were gorging ourselves on mashed potatoes and stuffing (ha ha, not me. Two things I don't like. I gorged on pie. And cranberry dressing.) Our fearless Cybils leaders were putting together the final long lists. CHECK THEM OUT!

So usually, when I post multiple reviews, there's some sort of theme or something. Today's theme is:

These books are all due back at the library TODAY. In order in which I liked them:

Confessions of a Blabbermouth Mike Carey, Louise Carey, illustrated by Aaron Alexovich

So, this is part of the Minx series of graphic novels. My favorite, up to this point, was Re-Gifters , but I think I like this one better. The good news is, they're both by Mike Carey, so now I have a new author to be on the look-out for!

Anyway, Tasha is an angry blogger whose mother has a knack for dating losers. This new one she's brought home? Takes the cake and thinks that Tasha just needs a strong father figure in her life. His own daughter, of course, is perfect. Too bad she's a grade-A stuck up bee-yotch. And every time Tasha thinks that Chloe might be human after all, Chloe writes something awful in her newspaper column.

Tasha is supposed to spend spring break in the US, off-line, with these freaks?! How will she survive?!

Hilarious. Carey obviously knows how to write for the medium of the graphic novel and Alexovich's depictions of the bully Big Sylvie? Excellent.

The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl Ma Yan Ed. by Pierre Haski. Trans. from the French by Lisa Appignanesi, originally trans. from the Mandarin by He Yanping

Ma Yan is a school girl from Ningxia province, in Central China. She is a member of the Muslim Hui minority. She, like many of her neighbors, is extremely poor. She struggles with spending 50 fen (which is about 6 US cents). All she wants is to go to school, to make her family proud, to get a good job so she can support her family. School is expensive and she's often pulled out so her brothers can go and she can work at home. Her father spends most of his time in Inner Mongolia, looking for work. Her mother is very ill and climbs mountains far away from home, picking fa cai to sell.

This is not so much a good book as an important one. Ma Yan's diary is written by the thirteen year old girl that she is. She's not writing for an audience. Her prose goes between matter-of-fact and very earnest. But what she does is paints a picture of modern day Chinese poverty that can get forgotten in all the coverage of China's booming economy. She paints a picture of hunger and parental sacrifice. And, above all, she paints a picture of hope and the strength of spirit. That sounds dumb, but it's true.

The photographs and Haski's information given valuable insight and background information.

I Am the Wallpaper Mark Peter Hughes

Floey Packer is sick of always being overlooked in favor of Lillian, her fabulous older sister. So, one summer, stuck at home with her two terrible cousins, she decides to make herself fabulous.

And she's getting the attention she wants. Until she finds out why. (Now, I think this is a bit of a spoiler, but it says so on the back cover so... her evil little cousin is posting her diary on the internet. No wonder her best friend is so pissed off!)

The problem with Floey is... Hughes has captured the voice of a 13 year old perfectly. The guy she likes called her and they talked for an hour! It doesn't matter that they're good friends, he obviously LIKES her! It's all going so well!

And, frankly, 13 year old girls? Are annoying. Oiy. So, Floey annoyed me. It's never good when your narrator annoys you. But, she annoyed me because Hughes is so good. Aiya.

Also, Floey writes a lot of haikus. Love. It's good while still sounding like it was actually written by a teen.

Blood Red Horse K. M. Grant

This is an excellent book for a teen who still loves horses.

Hosanna is the blood red horse of the title. A horse with mystical powers to bridge opposite sides of the Crusades.

Gavin and Will are brothers. Ellie's the girl that Will loves but is betrothed to Gavin.

Richard is the king that's dragging everyone (Well, not Ellie) off to the Holy Land.

La la la la la la.

This book took me a month and a half to read. I just couldn't get that into it. But, I was enough into it that I couldn't put it down, you know? I'm not that into horses anymore. And the crusade battle scenes? Kinda bored me. That's never a good thing.

Sassy!

Forgive me if I am distracted, but wouldn't you be if such a bundle of cuteness came and started to live with you? Meet Sassy, our new puppy-dog. She's almost 3 years old, a hound mix (hound is the only identifiable breed in her) and is super sweet, pretty mellow, and big fan of getting scratched behind the ears.

I'm celebrating Vetran's Day over at Geek Buffet today with my list of recommened WWI reading.

But, let's get down to some books, ok? Earlier this summer, I blogged about DC Comics new imprint, Minx. I have now had the chance to read two more books in the series.

Clubbing Andi Watson and Josh Howard

Exiled to her grandparent's Lake District golf resor after a minor incident involving a club, a fake ID, the cops, and a school, night, Charlotte is set for a summer of drudgery. But then, a woman trying to tell her something is found murdered, drained of blood, with some weird symbol carved into her arm. The police rule it as suicide, the Charlotte and her friend Howard think differently.

Vaguely reminiscent of Hot Fuzz, the ending left me a big underwhelmed.

I really liked the drawing style of clear, bold lines, with lots of large blocks of space.

Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, and Marc Hempel

Dixie is hapkido (a Korean martial art) fanatic. Living on the edge of LA's Koreatown, she battles the usual high school crap of boys and the urban crap of which side the street it's ok for Koreans to walk on.

In a daring move to get the guy, she spends her tournament entry fee on a statue of a Korean warrior. The guy promptly gives it to the prettiest girl in school. Heart in the gutter, with no way to enter the tournament, Dixie needs to find her missing ki, and fast.

A most fantastic story, this is my favorite Minx title so far. Very well done. I love Dixie's prickly character and the very real story arc.