The Unwritten #12

This Vertigo gem from June 2010 invites readers into a storybook world with a cover by Yuko Shimizu that radiates the warmth of vintage children's illustration — a curly-haired girl in a ruffled pink dress holds dandelions while a tumbling white rabbit with a red heart charm frolics among ivy at her feet, with an open book floating nearby amid pinecones and a hedgehog peeking from the corner. The dreamy, antique aesthetic perfectly suits the issue's story, "Eliza Mae Hertford's Willowbank Tales," suggesting a tale that blurs the line between cozy fiction and something stranger beneath the surface. With Mike Carey writing alongside artists Peter Gross and Kurt Huggins, and colors by Zelda Devon, The Unwritten continues to be one of Vertigo's most imaginatively crafted explorations of the power of stories.