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Oct 07, 2010 Web Exclusive By Jeremy Nisen

The second volume of The Unwritten takes up where the first left off, an adventure wherein Christopher Robin-Harry Potter pastiche Tom Taylor is caught up in a conspiracy involving his father, an ultra-famous author who’s gone missing, and the very real magic of fiction. Vol. 2 mimics the structure of the first, with the preponderance of the volume following the misadventures of Taylor, while the end veers off to show some color of the magic-is-fiction world. In the first volume, that last chapter was a marvelous tale of an alternate Rudyard Kipling. In this, it’s sort of a horror story-a person transformed into a cartoon rabbit and trapped in a Beatrix Potter- or Winnie the Pooh-inspired world.

The protagonist, Taylor, spends some time in French prison, which subjects him to echoes of the epic poem The Song of Roland. He also meets a fictional version of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, which is the oddest chapter by far. With his companion, the mysterious and sometimes bumbling Lizzie Hexam, the mystery of Tom’s father begins to unravel, if just barely.

It may be odd to say for such a fictional world, but the story feels less grounded than before, like the rules are changing. I’m not quite as high on the book as Vol. 1, but very close. The Unwritten Vol. 2 is still highly original, with very good art and a compelling cast of characters. (www.dccomics.com/vertigo)

Author rating: 7/10