Unwritten volume 3: Dead Man's Knock (tpb)

The Vertigo series The Unwritten continues its fantastic run here with volume 3, Dead Man’s Knock collecting issues 13 to 18. The creative team of Mike Carey and Peter Gross carry on the Vertigo tradition of great story telling and artwork with this series. Spinning a tale that keeps the reader guessing what will happen with each flip of the page.

Volume 3 opens in London with the only 2 days left before the release of the long awaited 14^th installment of the Tommy Taylor novels. Tom is risking been re-arrested in London by attended the release but he’s convinced by the swirls of internet rumors that his father will be at the book launch.

This latest installment of The Unwritten moves along at a fairly fast pace compared to the previous two. This volume is a real page turner that keeps you guessing to what will happen next. Besides all the action Carey also really starts to open up more details about Tom’s surrounding cast of characters. We get more details on Tom’s enemies, Pullman and Callendar, as well as Savoy and especially Lizzie. In fact the last part of the volume is a rendition of the “choose your own adventure” books directly focusing on Lizzie’s upbringing with Tom’s father. I did enjoy the history on Lizzie but I did find the format a tad annoying after a while. I’m not a fan of the landscape layout.

This volume really moves the adventure along with plenty of action and character development. We learn more about Lizzie’s background, Savoy’s intentions, and Tom’s enemies. Of course along with all this we continue to be treated to tidbits of literature factoids and geography. Volume 3 leaves no doubt in my mind that when this series unfortunately ends it will be considered a must read.