What if George R. R. Martin was given a secret ghost writer with a bag full of great ideas for how to finally end A Song of Ice and Fire - would he accept it, if it meant keeping the ghost writer’s identity a secret? And, if after delivering the finished manuscripts, what would he do if the ghost writer threatened to expose their secret - would he resort to murder?
Before I start, let me just say: thank fucking god for Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Not just the best creative team in comics, but dependable and prolific too. There are precious few good comics being published each year and there’d be even less without these two around. This is their second book I’ve read this year (the other was Five Gears in Reverse) and both were absolute knockouts. As a fan of quality comics, thank you both and I don’t know how you’re doing it at this pace but please carry on!
Now onto Unfinished Tales. Obviously Brubaker’s not using George R. R. Martin’s real name but his proxy - “Finnegan Blake” - is clearly modelled on Martin’s career as it relates to his hit fantasy series. Blake too has a bestselling swords and sorcery series that got made into an even bigger TV show, but the show outpaced his publishing and they had to make the final series based on his notes, rather than an actual book. The final series was panned by all and Blake’s writing has stalled. It’s years later now and fans are still waiting for the final book in the series, but Blake can’t bring himself to complete it.
So yeah, if you know anything about Martin and ASOIAF, it’s the same thing but with different names.
And relating that story alone is compelling. Brubaker provides credible insight into the life of a popular writer with the fan signings and editorial meetings that I’m sure he’s experienced firsthand (maybe not on the same scale but still), and posits a convincing theory for why Blake/Martin is unable to finish the series: the TV show finale was his real finale and he doesn’t want to write it because he knows the fans will hate it and he hasn’t come up with a better alternative.
Brubaker then throws a crime element (of course) into the mix which is basically a version of Strangers on a Train where two people enter into a secret pact which can only end badly. I won’t go into the details but suffice it to say I was totally enthralled with every aspect of this story - I read it through in one effortless sitting because it’s just that damn good a comic.
The title is a partial nod to Tolkien, the creator of the fantasy genre, who has a book called Unfinished Tales. I wonder if Finnegan Blake is a reference to Finnegans Wake, famously a novel without an ending (the final line is the first half of a sentence with the book’s first line being the second half of that sentence; the implication being that the book is a never-ending loop), while Finn is a writer in search of an ending.
I’m just glad that Brubaker doesn’t have what George R. R. Martin has and he’s able to put out high quality stories at an unreal rate. An absolutely wonderful standalone comic from Brubaker/Phillips that’s very contemporary and a superb read to boot. You’ll probably never read The Winds of Winter/A Dream of Spring (unless someone like Brandon Sanderson finishes them years after George’s death) but Unfinished Tales is real and definitely worth reading.
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