Unwritten #1

hard to pass on a first issue for a dollar. i didn't love the first issue of unwritten; it seemed a bit muddled to me, and didn't give me that thrill of wanting see what's going to happen next.

the fiction/reality gulf is being breached again; this time we've got a stand-in for harry potter, and a whole cast of unique characters around it. the mysterious author, who died (probably not) or disappeared; his son (or is he!), a lazy-type cashing in on his father's success who may actually BE the harry potter character in our world (though neither he nor we seem to know for sure); an intrepid female reporter who also might be from the potter-verse; an evil villain who gets blown up; a harry potter cult leader; and somebody on the last page who seems to be a sort of evil mastermind-type.

that's a LOT of people in one book, and i give carey credit for throwing it all out there. but for me, it was a bit too much - none of those people really grabbed me, especially not tommy, the son, who seems to be the main character - he's a bit whiny and hard to really get attached to. and if the cast is a lot, the events in the 40 pages are more - tommy is a c-list convention-circuit celeb, then he's outed as a fraud, mobs are after him (really? mobs?), then he becomes a hero and object of cult worship? i'm worn out from typing it.

again, i give credit to carey - this book is packed with stuff happening. and while the premise was intriguing, the execution seemed middling. some mysteries tantalize you with what you don't know, and some frustrate you, and some you simply don't care about. i was left not quite caring aout all the unknowns here - maybe if there were fewer presented right away, i would be more engaged. but having so many question marks tossed around so early was perhaps a bit much. having harry potter added made it that much more bloated. (or maybe it was just the way it was executed).

well worth the dollar, but i won't continue to buy at full price. it's a shame because the solicits made it sound quite thrilling, and because the book has some very nice art - a great cover, and a lot of really good layouts.