The Unwritten #8 – Review

by Mike Carey (writer), Peter Gross (art), Chris Chuckry & Jeanne McGee (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Prison Governor Chadron’s personal life and his children’s imaginative investment in Tommy Taylor are explored.

What’s Good: A couple of issues ago, I criticized Carey’s writing of Governor Chadrons chastisement of Tom Taylor as being a bit over the top.  Well, this month, Carey goes out of his way to make a fool of me and prove that there is pretty much no way to even nitpick his series, as he gives us an issue fleshing out Chadron and his children.

What ensues is the brilliance we’ve come to expect from the Unwritten.  While it isn’t overt, it’s clear that Carey is drawing heavily on Romantic ideas about the child.  As Chadron’s children get lost in Tommy Taylor themed role-play, the conflict between Chadron and his wife over their daughter’s seeming inability to separate fantasy from reality grows into a larger clash between Romanticism and the oppression of materialism and rationalism.  Simply put, Chadron wants his children to enjoy their childhood make believe, while Chadron’s wife sees it as a mental disturbance.