The Unwritten #12

The Unwritten #12
Written and layouts by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Finishes and Colors by Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon
Letters by Todd Klein
Cover by Yuko Shimizu
Published by Vertigo
Review by Lan Pitts

"You're a very bad rabbit. And you're looking for a spanking."

My first read-through of the issue, I wasn't really sold on the concept and thought it more of a determent of the main story. It wasn't after my third or fourth time reading it, all the elements hit me. I felt devoured by the depth of it all, and quite frankly now that I get it, it's quite possibly the best book of the month if not of the whole series thus far. While at first it seems like a sort of children's tale in the vein of Peter Rabbit, until you realize the level of profanity that is used by the central character of the issue, a rabbit that has the most unusual name of Pauly Bruckner. Interesting name for a rabbit, right? Only problem is, that's no ordinary rabbit.

I don't mean in the Hoppy the Marvel Bunny sort of sense, no, this rabbit is actually a human. In addition to that, he's in a world that reminds me of the 100 Acre Woods and is surrounded by all sorts of children's book cliches and characters. It's only realizing the true nature of Paul's existence in the story has to deal with him botching a job and in return, Wilson Taylor (Tom's dad) put him there. Now, we know Wilson had the ability to take people and characters out of stories, but to put them IN one is a horse of a different color.

This issue reminds me of the earlier issue, and now Eisner-nominated "The Whale", as it takes a slight detour from the main plot with Tom, Liz and Savoy. Yet, it still expands their world indirectly with this revelation of Wilson's power. Of course this just built the suspense on what is going on with the trio and I have to wait another month.

The most beautiful thing about this issue is the ye ole story book art style. Huggins and Devon really soar here with the antique look of the pages. It's fresh and could be deserving of another award come next year. Unwritten #12 doesn't haven't any resemblance of the previous issues, but still has the originality and creative spirit of Carey and Gross.

If you haven't heard by now, this book picked up a few Eisner nominations and, in my opinion, rightfully so. Don't be the only reader at your shop not picking this book up.