Everyone knows about the boy wizard.
We’ve all read the novels and poured over the comic books. We’ve all watched the movies and sat through the stage plays. We’ve all played with the toys and experienced the larger-than-life theme parks. We’ve all stood in line for starlet photographs and autographs.
Yep. The boy wizard. Tommy Taylor.
Wait. Who?
That’s right. Tommy Taylor. What? You were thinking of Harry Potter? Maybe Tim Hunter?
No, no, no. Tommy Taylor. You know, the fictional–and famous–boy wizard. Tommy Taylor, the main protagonist of dozens of best-selling books and the son of famed author, Wilson Taylor. Tommy Taylor, the b-list celebrity, tired of his life status. Tommy Taylor, who scorns the relationship he (doesn’t) have with his (absent) father.
Tommy Taylor, the main protagonist of the fan-favourite Vertigo Comics series that ran from 2009-2015, now compiled into The Unwritten Compendium Volume One.
Imaginatively and emotionally written by award-winning author Mike Carey (Lucifer, John Constantine: Hellblazer, X-Men: Legacy, novel The Girl With All The Gifts) and wonderfully illustrated by Peter Gross (The Books of Magic, Lucifer), the 984-page The Unwritten Compendium Volume One softcover collects the first 30 issues of the monthly series along with the standalone graphic novel, Tommy Taylor and the Ship That Sank Twice. Published by DC Comics, under their Black Label publishing banner, it’s a big book, with the second, and final, volume still to come.
The Unwritten is the long-form story of the real-life Tom Taylor, whose father, the mysterious author Wilson Taylor, used him as fodder in order to write a series of successful fictional novels about a boy wizard. It’s as if J.K. Rowling used her own offspring as inspiration for Harry Potter. Now, authors do that sort of thing all the time: borrow and steal from the exploits of their real-life family and friends, all for their own literary pursuits. But Wilson Taylor was a real piece of work and fans of his books compare the real-life Tommy to his fictional counterpart. It all makes a b-list celebrity question his own reality, his relationship with celebrity, his father and his own sense of worth.
But there’s a secret buried deep in those fantasy novels that just happens to have the real-life Tommy Taylor at a mysterious center: what if Tommy really was the boy-wizard made flesh?
The unwritten truth about his own existence may very well be deadly to Tommy. Furtive and dangerous cabals, real-world history and famous literary works from around the world prove to be the backdrop for a wholly engrossing chapter-by-chapter read. And as exciting and as page-turning as the narrative is, at heart The Unwritten is a story of the importance of fiction on each of our lives.
Make the run to your local comic shop or bookstore and pick up the amazing The Unwritten Compendium Volume One today!
You can catch a short DC Comics video interview with writer Mike Carey from nearly ten years ago about his final story arc on The Unwritten directly below. It’s spoiler-free and gives a good account of his relationship with series artist Peter Gross and the breadth and long-standing reader love affair for the comic book.
