# The Unwritten

The Unwritten is an American comic book written by Mike Carey with art by Peter Gross. Published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, the book follows Tom Taylor, who was the inspiration for a series of hugely successful children's fantasy novels in the vein of Harry Potter. The series deals with themes related to fame, celebrity, and the relationship between fiction and human consciousness.

## Inspiration

Mike Carey, in an interview with Nicholas Yanes from scifipulse.net, claimed that "the most important reference point is the autobiography of Christopher Milne – who is famous as the Christopher Robin of the Winnie the Pooh books. Milne grew up feeling that his father had stolen his childhood from him, turned a profit from it and then given it back to him in a form he couldn't use. Our Tom is very much in that situation when we first meet him, although we take his identity crisis a fair bit further than that".

## Collected editions

The series is collected into trade paperbacks:
The Unwritten trade paperbacks :
| Title | ISBN | Release date | Collected material |
| Volume 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity | ISBN 1-4012-2565-9 | January 12, 2010 | The Unwritten #1–5 – 144 pages |
| Volume 2: Inside Man | ISBN 1-4012-2873-9 | August 11, 2010 | The Unwritten #6–12 – 168 pages |
| Volume 3: Dead Man's Knock | ISBN 1-4012-3046-6 | March 29, 2011 | The Unwritten #13–18 – 160 pages |
| Volume 4: Leviathan | ISBN 1-4012-3292-2 | October 25, 2011 | The Unwritten #19–24 – 144 pages |
| Volume 5: On to Genesis | ISBN 1-78116-050-3 | January 27, 2012 | The Unwritten #25–30 – 160 pages |
| Volume 6: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words | ISBN 1-4012-3560-3 | October 17, 2012 | The Unwritten #31–35.5 – 240 pages |
| Volume 7: The Wound | ISBN 1-4012-3806-8 | March 26, 2013 | The Unwritten #36–41 – 144 pages |
| Volume 8: Orpheus in the Underworlds | ISBN 1-4012-4301-0 | February 4, 2014 | The Unwritten #42–49 – 176 pages |
| Volume 9: The Unwritten Fables | ISBN 1-4012-4694-X | July 29, 2014 | The Unwritten #50–54, crossover with Fables – 144 pages |
| Volume 10: War Stories | ISBN 1-4012-5055-6 | October 14, 2014 | The Unwritten: Apocalypse #1–5 – 128 pages |
| Volume 11: Apocalypse | ISBN 1-4012-5348-2 | May 25, 2015 | The Unwritten: Apocalypse #6–12 – 176 pages |
Additionally, Vertigo released in September 2013 an original graphic novel called The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice (hardcover, ISBN 1-4012-2976-X), a standalone story about the origin of Tommy Taylor and his powers.
The story of Tommy Taylor continues in the 12 issue series (also titled Volume 2) of The Unwritten: Apocalypse, started in January 2014 (compiled in collected Volumes 10 and 11).
The Unwritten was partially released in deluxe hardcover editions. Compendium One was released in 2023 collecting half the series. Compendium Two has yet to be announced.
The Unwritten Deluxe & Compendium Editions :
| # | Title | ISBN | Release date | Collected material |
| 1 | The Unwritten: The Deluxe Edition Book One | ISBN 1-4012-6543-X | December 14, 2016 | #1–12 |
| 2 | The Unwritten: The Deluxe Edition Book Two | ISBN 1-4012-7506-0 | December 27, 2017 | #13–24 |
| 1 | The Unwritten: Compendium One | ISBN 978-1779521750 | June 20, 2023 | #1-30 & The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice |

## Reception

IGN gave the first three issues 8.5, 9.0 and 9.0 out of 10 respectively.