The Unwritten #41

Vertigo's The Unwritten #41 arrives in November 2012 with a cover by Yuko Shimizu that immediately commands attention: a figure screams defiantly upward, mouth wide open, as coils of yellow crime-scene tape spiral around him bearing fragmented phrases — "I am not your bloody toy," "Who are you?" — while a small house sits nestled within the loops below. The tension between the figure's raw anguish and the encircling, text-laden ribbons captures the series' ongoing preoccupation with identity, language, and control in a single striking image. With Mike Carey and Peter Gross steering the ship on "Puppet Masters," this is the kind of issue that reminds you why The Unwritten remains one of Vertigo's most thoughtfully crafted ongoing series.