THE UNWRITTEN-Tuesday Tonic with editor Shelly Bond

Tue, 05/15/2012 - 7:00am | Pamela Mullin

Dear Mike and Peter,


Hey, Guys!  Remember me...the person who steered you to stardom in the late ‘90s? Does The Morningstar/Lightbringer/Looks great in Black Tie ring a bell?  Just wanted to tell you both that I got my hands on a copy of THE UNWRITTEN #37 and upon reading it, I had to immediately reach out to both of you to ask you this:

Who ARE You?

(just kidding)

What I really want to ask you is this:

WHAT'S IN A NUMBER?

Sure I was around when you guys launched THE UNWRITTEN and I even read the first few issues...but then, well, to be honest, I got kinda busy.  I've edited lots of other VERTIGO titles since our little 75-issue stint on LUCIFER, the longest running title that spun out of the pages of THE SANDMAN.  No hard feelings when you dumped me for a newer editing model when THE UNWRITTEN launched 3 tears/I mean years ago.

THE UNWRITTEN # 37.  But don't let the number fool you.  It has the guts and the glory of a certified number one.  So it's going to be a serious hit with new and loyal readers alike.

The Neo Set will get a brief, insightful recap by way of the media pages and a new protagonist named Didge, an Australian cop who walks the talk --  especially when it comes to the wrong end of a shotgun.  She takes all the punches to infiltrate a cult a la the Jonestown Massacre. Only these Church of Tommy crackpots use a lexicon that includes all the books that made you who you are as the Kool aid.

Your loyal readers get some unexpected things too with this new direction. They'll find out if a certain vampire sidekick is really infected or if he's faking it.  And the solemn promise that Tom Taylor will neither whine nor cry, pout or pontificate over the death of his girlfriend, Lizzie, or over anything at all for that matter. He might not even BE in this series anymore, right...how about that?!

But I digress...

What I really want to ask you is this:
How did you get my number?

THE UNWRITTEN #37 is teeming with the requisite goods that you'd expect from an Eisner-nominated writer and an amazing artist:  swift, engaging prose, artful pages with gripping linework, lush, painterly color, and covers by an Eisner nominee who exhibits more sound and vision than a symphony.

Make no mistake:  It all starts here.

The Unwritten #37:  The Wound part one is in stores Wednesday, May 23.

p.s.  For what it's worth, I was particularly taken with the change in editorial direction.

But that's just me...
Shelly Bond

Tags: 
the unwritten, mike carey, peter gross, shelly bond

The 2012 Hugo Award Finalists Have Been Announced

Mon, 04/09/2012 - 10:11am | Official Press ...

The Hugo Award finalists for 2012, honoring excellence in science fiction and fantasy, were announced in the UK. In the Best Graphic Story category, the finalists include two Vertigo titles:

 

Fables Vol 15: Rose Red, written by Bill Willingham and illustrated by Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)

 

The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

 

In addition, we’d like to give a special nod to Neil Gaiman for his nomination in the category of Best Dramatic Performance (Short Form), Paul Cornell in the category of Best Novelette and China Miéville in the category of Best Novel. Gaiman is the writer of the bestselling SANDMAN series and BLACK ORCHID,  available later this month in a Deluxe Edition, Cornell is currently writing DEMON KNIGHTS and the new Vertigo series SAUCER COUNTRY and Miéville is new to the group with his debut DIAL H coming from DC Comics this May.

 

Congratulations to all the finalists! For the full list, head over to TheHugoAwards.org. The winners will be presented at the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention, August 30 to September 3, 2012 in Chicago.

 

Tags: 
the hugo awards, fables, the unwritten, bill willingham, mark buckingham, mike carey, peter gross, neil gaiman, sandman, black orchid, paul cornell, ryan kelley, saucer country, demon knights, china mieville, Dial H

Preview Mondays: THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #7 and THE UNWRITTEN #35.5

Mon, 03/26/2012 - 9:00am | Alex Nagorski

For this week’s installment of Preview Mondays, we’re bringing you exclusive first looks at THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #7 and THE UNWRITTEN #35.5.

 

THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #7 marks the first issue that acclaimed writer Joe Harris joins the series’ creative team and the first issue in which series co-writer Ethan Van Sciver serves full art duties. Click here to see a sneak peek at the duo’s take on the adventures of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch. DC Comics’ THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #7 hits stands this Wednesday.

 

And in THE UNWRITTEN #35.5, learn about the Grid – an arcane device that maps the flow of reality and fiction. Follow Tom Taylor, the cabal headquarters’ newest recruit, as he tries to make sense of this enigmatic contraption. THE UNWRITTEN #35.5 is written by Mike Carey and Peter Gross and illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta. Click here to view an exclusive preview of the issue, which goes on sale this Wednesday from Vertigo Comics.

Tags: 
Preview Mondays, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men, the unwritten, joe harris, Ethan Van Sciver, mike carey, peter gross, Gabriel Hernandez Walta

From The Editor’s Desk: Karen Berger

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 10:00am | DCE Editorial

Ontogenesis or Onto Genesis? That Mike Carey is awfully clever, not only when it comes to creating catchy titles for storylines, but for also crafting a series month-in-and-month-out, with co-conspirator Peter Gross, that is a prime example of why Vertigo publishes the best comics around. Where else can you find a comics story that takes you back to the birthplace of our incredible medium and most importantly to meet Miriam Walzer, a comics writer and artist who uses Greek myth as a parable to an adventure story starring the deliciously strange, The Tinker? Miriam is one of the best realized characters I’ve read in any story, and I wish we could see more of her someday. And where else can you be transported back to the magical borough of Brooklyn (even if this story does take place during the Depression!) and walk the tree-lined streets of Flatbush, take a stroll through Prospect Park and ponder the universe while gazing through the spires of the Brooklyn Bridge? Plus there’s an unlikely, but passionate romance, a mysterious murder plot, and a very odd case of sibling rivalry. As an editor working here for many years on so many amazing stories, it’s so hard to choose favorites, but the On To Genesis storyline in THE UNWRITTEN volume 5, on sale this week, is definitely on that list. For fans of THE UNWRITTEN who wait for the trade to read the entire story, you will continue to be captivated. And for those who haven’t yet read this book, this is a perfect time to be swept away. Here are a few of my favorite pages, plus a spectacular cover by Yuko Shimizu, no doubt inspired by the great Fritz Lang! See you next week, Karen

Tags: 
mike carey, peter gross, the unwritten, yuko shimizu

ON THE LEDGE With Mike Carey and Peter Gross

Wed, 12/14/2011 - 9:00am | DCE Editorial

PG: It's no easy task getting each issue of THE UNWRITTEN out on time. You would not believe how quickly four weeks flies by when you're making a comic. So it makes no sense whatsoever that Mike and I decided to go bi-weekly for 5 months and put out 10 issues instead of the normal 5. And yet, given the way THE UNWRITTEN has developed it makes perfect sense... MC: It was a habit we got into back when we were working on LUCIFER. At the end of every arc we'd do a one-off, not as a diversion or change of pace, but as a way of cutting across the flow of the narrative and illuminating some detail—a character beat, a reveal, a repercussion—that we wanted to bring out. But THE UNWRITTEN is a story about stories, so we took that idea a lot further in issues like How the Whale Became, the Mister Bun stories, and the choose-your-own-adventure. PG: It wasn’t really planned to do this, it just sort of evolved. One of us would often say to the other that we wished we could just do four or five one-offs in a row, but we knew that taking that big a break from the main story would be detrimental to its pace. I think I was the one who jokingly suggested that we just do a whole bunch of one-offs and do them on the side, in addition to the main story... MC: And that's what we did, in the end. We put together a proposal for a series of one-off stories that would weave in and out of the main arc, answering long-standing questions, revealing parts of character origins, and so on. We pitched it to our editors and got a green light on the same day. PG: And I think these .5 issues succeed beyond what we hoped. They've become another tool to tell a great epic story. Instead of slowing things down to explore these rich background tales, we're able to keep the pace going in the main story but deepen and widen the scope with the in-between issues. We love the way it turned out and hopefully, you will too. MC: Peter says we're doing comics the way musicians do jazz. I see it as more of a classical fugue. Either way, it's all about different voices telling the same story. Kind of like this On the Ledge.

Tags: 
mike carey, peter gross, the unwritten

THE UNWRITTEN "Tommy Taylor and the War of Words" begins now!

Wed, 11/09/2011 - 1:11pm | DCE Editorial

The game-changing, twice-monthly epic "Tommy Taylor and the War of Words" written by Mike Carey with art by Peter Gross and M.K. Perker (Air, Cairo) begins today! Tom Taylor goes to war against the cabal that has tormented, imprisoned and tried to destroy him – and it's far more than just a war of words! To have a hope of winning, Tom must use every weapon he can get hold of, but even storybook magic carries its own risks. And for a story unlike any you've ever seen, the first of the special, standalone .5 issues #31.5 begins in two weeks.

Tags: 
m k perker, mike carey, peter gross, the unwritten, yuko shimizu

Mike Carey Celebrates Halloween Vertigo style

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 5:24pm | DCE Editorial

Mike Carey, writer of THE UNWRITTEN, and I talk about Halloween and who he'd be if he were to dress up as a Vertigo character today.

PM: Pumpkin seeds, pumpkin ice cream or pumpkin pie?

MC: Any of the above, so long as they're certified pumpkin-free.

Corn maze or haunted house?

MC: Haunted house.

Trick or treat?

MC: Treat. Is that a trick question?

What’s your favorite Halloween tradition?

MC: When I was a kid, it was bobbing for apples. These days, it's making jack-o-lanterns with my kids - who, now that they're all grown up, would rather be doing serious drugs.

What’s your least favorite trick-or-treating memory?

MC: Trick-or-treating didn't exist when I were a lad. Not on this side of the Atlantic. So probably my least favorite memory dates from the year when I had to shepherd my eight-year-old daughter and her eight-year-old friends around the neighbourhood in their costumes, at a time when trick-or-treating was still a recent import and most of the people whose doors we knocked on thought we were either crazy people or burglars.

What creature scares you the most vampire, werewolf, zombie, or ghost?

MC: I guess I'd go for vampire. You can keep werewolves and zombies out by locking the door, but vampires will always find a way in. In my experience, anyway.

If you were to dress up as a character from a Vertigo comic book this Halloween, who would you be?

MC: John Constantine. I already own a grubby trenchcoat, so the initial outlay would be very small - couple of quid for a pack of Silk Cut, and I'd be all set.

What would you claim is the scariest inspiration for your current Vertigo comic book?

MC: Josef Goebbels. He only came into two issues, but his theories of propaganda are sort of in the mix. On the other hand, so is Winnie the Pooh. It's a tough call.

Thanks Mike!

Tags: 
mike carey, the unwritten

THE UNWRITTEN #29 Preview

Tue, 09/13/2011 - 9:15am | DCE Editorial

Tom, with the help of Lizzie, enters the journals of Wilson Taylor. While there, he learns that something horrible happened to Milton Jardine, the man whose name Miriam Walzer was using as a pen name. And Tom is shocked when he goes looking for Miri in present day.

On to Genesis continues in THE UNWRITTEN #29 this Wednesday!

Tags: 
mike carey, peter gross, the unwritten, vince locke

Pages

Subscribe to mike carey