Cole is a book editor at Queendberry Publishers of London and his most important client is Wilson Taylor, author of the extremely popular Tommy Taylor series of books based on his son, which are in a similar vein to the Harry Potter series. The elder Taylor disappeared at the height of his popularity which is why Cole is utterly surprised the morning when Annie, his secretary, presents him with a manuscript for a new novel, “Tommy Taylor and the Emerald Telescope”.
The next time Cole is seen again is close to the release date of the Taylor book. He and his secretary are airing some heated opinions regarding the book. She accuses him of having no shame in printing the book that they both know from its hackneyed style was not written by Taylor. Cole remains convinced the book is the answer to inject high sales and generate income in light of Amazon’s price setting policies.
Security is very tight the night before book’s public release. Coles is heading unloading of boxes of the volume at a Foley’s bookstore after hours when he places a phone call to his lover Gil. The conversation is brief; Cole simply says he’ll have to stay all night to supervise and some teasing comments between the two men. Shortly after ending the call, an assassin named Pullman, who is working for the mysterious Mr. Callander, confronts Cole and tries to beat some secret information from him. Later, two security guards find him beaten. Cole refuses to have an ambulance called, and insists on going through with the book release. It’s wildly successful due to an event that plays out in front of crowds involving Tommy Taylor, his father, and Pullman.
Ernest Cole and Gil are created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Cole is first seen in issue 2 of The Unwritten and his sexuality is shown in #15. Art by Peter Gross and Chris Chuckry.
All rights reserved by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Published by Vertigo/ DC.
