The Unwritten Vol. 04: Leviathan

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1958567.html

This is the second of this year's Hugo nominees for graphic novel which I have read - a pleasing narrative of young Tommy Taylor, who gets separately from his girlfriend and his vampire side-kick to get sucked into crewing the Pequod and ending up in a confined space with Pinocchio and Gepetto, the Prophet Jonah, Sinbad the Sailor and Baron Munchausen (and a random Celt). The literary allusions are dense, the artwork generally good and the narrative coherent, though perhaps a little less adventurous than I had hoped for from previous volumes. The volume ends with a standalone story about a group of small scared animals attempting to escape up an apparently endless staircase, whose links with the show more main narrative aren't clear. I don't think I could recommend it to readers who haven't already tried the first two volumes. show less

Joy! With this the fourth volume, it seems the Unwritten series, full of promise and interesting concepts right from the start, finally kicks into full potential, becoming all I hoped it would be. It’s like everything takes one more step: the literary allusions (love the gathering in the belly of the whale!), the meta level (love how Tom wrestles his way into the narrative panels of the Moby Dick world!), the cast (love the tacky vampire transformation and the puppeteer lady!) and the world building. And to top off the whole thing, we get a concluding short story about what happened to Pauly the foul-mouthed rabbit, a twisted wedding between Kafka and Carroll that is a chilling joy to read.

Always enjoyed this series, but am now show more officially stoked. show less

The power of mutual belief is the major theme in this volume, as Tom journies to the heart of every whale story in the human subconscious. Not only does the whale keep popping up in every major literary culture, but the whale itself is the embodiment of every story that connects along the ages through the mutual human subconscious. It is this belief that turns the whale into a metaphorically physical being, and this is the reason why Tom's journey of self discovery must begin here. The whale is at once the created and the creator of power, as Tom's father has managed to harness the power of the mutual human subconscious through the doorknob and the wand (who's magic is believed by the legions of Tommy Taylor fans). This could show more potentially wind up with Tom losing his power though, since it is so reliant on the faith of others, but chances are this is one of the major storyarcs that the author deals with later! show less

"I wonder if all boy wizards refer to their wand as 'she.' From the shape of the thing, you'd think--"
"This is not a conversation we're going to have."

Definitely the best volume so far, both art and story-wise. Creative and amusing and getting quite interesting now, I'm very intrigued as to how things are going to play out. And a couple visits from my favorite recurring guest character, woo!

Also, another Pauly story. I'm still not sure if I think they're brilliant or if I hate them. ...Or both. Probably both.

The third volume in this terrific series, a fantasy/horror meta-story about the power of stories. Tommy Taylor finds himself trapped on board The Pequod, a-hunting the great white whale, or at least trying to find out what it is the whale represents and what it has to do with the power his father wielded and the very bad people trying to kill him and his friends. I love tis stuff, and it's such a relief that it's found an audience large enough to keep it going (unlike say, Crossing Midnight.) I'm very much looking forward to more.

Tom Taylor, Lizzie Hexam, and Richie Savoy travel to New England. Seeking "the Source," Tom enters Moby-Dick with the magical doorknob, while Ambrosio's bite finally takes effect in Savoy. Lizzie and Savoy are visited by a severe puppetmaster seeking information on her own behalf as well as that of the cabal, now run by Pullman.

Quotes

"The wet ink on his fingers sank down into his blood, and got all mixed in. Which meant the story was inside him, and couldn't be gotten out again. And he never really knew, after that, which was the story and which was his life. Nothing was ever real in the way it had been before." (Wilson Taylor to young Tom)

I think you're that. Kind of - the collective unconscious, or something. The fictional show more unconscious. The minds of all the millions of people who read my father's books, or any books, maybe....I exist in the suspension of your disbelief. (Tom)

"Nobody ever lives happily ever after, ton. If that were to happen, the story would have to stop....The twists and turns of the plot resemble a maze. But they're the very opposite of a maze. There are no wrong turnings. Just one way through, and one end point." (Wilson to Tom) show less

This fourth installment of The Unwritten series was probably the most difficult to read. Tom Taylor gets separated from Lizzie and Savoy and travels through multiple stories, faces the great white whale and must figure out how to get back home. I feel like there was a lot I missed in this story so I'm going to have to go over it again before the fifth volume comes out but I did still enjoy it. I love the premise of these comics and how they illustrate how much the stories we read influence our lives. I also love the way the authors define stories through the series. One particular set of scenes in this volume stuck out to me. Our hero, Tommy, is being read a book by his father as a child and they begin discussing happy endings and how, show more as readers, we expect everyone to live happily ever after. Tommy's father tells Tommy,

"Nobody ever lives happily ever after, Tom. If that were to happen the story would have to stop. Because it's sustained on the endless agonies and exertions of the hero. . . At the close of each book, we promise him a respite. A moment's peace. And a moment's all it is."

I liked these lines a lot because they remind me that life isn't a happily ever after. We're going to have good days and bad days but neither one is going to last forever. So, when the going gets tough, we need to put on our big girl panties and muddle through it and know that better times are around the corner. Of course, we can't get too complacent in the good times because there are going to be bad days ahead.

This series also has some of the best and most interesting artwork I've seen. There are all kinds of hidden gems throughout the story. I recommend this series to anybody who's a lover of literature. show less