Graphic Novel Review – The Unwritten Vol 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Urban Fantasy
Length: 144 pages
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: January 12, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1401225650
Stand Alone or Series: 1st volume in The Unwritten series
Source: Gift
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Tom Taylor’s life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom’s real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it’s even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom.

When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that’s secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map — one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction.”

This was an incredibly creative and unique graphic novel. The tone of it reminds a lot of Willingham’s Fables series. This is all about a story within a story and fictional stories suddenly having pull in the real world.

The characters were well done and interesting. The illustration (while not my favorite color pallette) was detailed and fairly easy to follow. Illustration is very similar in style to the Fables series as well.

At times this story wasn’t the easiest to follow. It jumps around a bit and there are many layers to the story. As a result this is a story that you really have to pay attention to and concentrate on to follow. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it makes for a very intriguing and creative read.

Overall I really found this to be an interesting read and was impressed at the depth of the characters and the breadth of the story. I plan on continuing with the series because I am curious to see where this whole thing goes…. I would recommend to those who are into the whole “stories leaking into real life” type of story.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge