Sleeper: Season One

Sleeper: Season One tells the first part of Holden Carver’s story. Codename “The Conductor,” Carver has been converted to superhero-like status by a brush with an alien artifact. He can no longer feel pain but whatever violence is done to him, he can pass that pain along to the next person he touches. Carver originally started as an agent for the I.O. – “'International Operations, a covert government organization that made the CIA look like the IRS” (p. 13) – but his boss John Lynch saw the value in Carver’s new abilities and provided a cover story so that Carver could be embedded as a double agent in a criminal organization run by the shadowy figure Tao. Carver’s cover story is so good, however, that when Lynch is show more knocked into a coma, no one at I.O. knows that Carver is secretly working for them. And with no one left to report to, Carver begins to feel unsure himself what he stands for anymore. It’s into this world of moral grayness that the reader is thrust…

The beginning of Sleeper: Season One is a bit slow, as you try to get into it and understand the back story. You also have to get past/get acclimated to this criminal world where violence, profanity, and objectified, half-clad women are commonplace. But around page 70, I think I had successfully done all those things and hit the ground running with a story that became increasingly more gripping.

Besides the fast-paced spy story, amongst the things I enjoyed about this book are:
- the moral questions that arise as who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and what separates the two;
- the frequent nods to superheroes followed by the quick tearing down of this trope, pointing out the futility of people who exist solely to solve the symptoms but not the underlying cause, to paraphrase the book’s text;
- the back stories to characters besides Holden like Miss Misery and Genocide, allowing these characters to then feel more real and fleshed out and not just functioning as the femme fatale and barfly buddy, respectively; and
- the great illustrations, such as how the background of the page functions as another “panel” of the story or fabulous effects such as the amazing illusion of stained glass lighting seen on page 195.

Despite being a spy novel on the surface, the book seems to derive a lot of inspiration from the noir detective genre instead. For instance, we have the lone anti-hero voicing his concerns in largely defeatist “voiceovers” (narration), the femme fatale character, numerous flashbacks, even a muted palette of colors for the illustrations. (Incidentally, it was interesting to pick this book up while on hiatus from Neptune Noir, which explores some common noir elements. For some more on common noir tropes, check out this page. You will definitely see commonalities between classic noir films and Sleeper.)

All and all, this is a page-turner with an interesting story and great illustrations to boot. I’d recommend it for anyone interested in comic books, superheroes, crime and detective stories, spy novels, film noir, or some combination of the above. show less

This is some of the finest work I have ever read within the medium of comic books, and I say that without any hint of hyperbole. The team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are putting out a consistent stream of excellence through their work. I mean, you can't get much better than this.

In Sleeper, we meet Agent Carver. Carver is injected as an undercover operative into a secret criminal group with it's fingers in all things political. As Carver ascends to a pretty prominent position within the company, he continously lowers himself to the criminal level just to keep his true identity hidden. The only problem is that Carver has been entangled within this organization for so long that he begins to question which side he's on.

If that's not show more interesting enough, I'll gladly inform you that Carver is a post-human (which by the way, is my favorite name for mutants or superheroes). Unable to feel any pain and heal himself at a rapid rate, Carver also contains the ability absorb pain and weaponize it by injecting it into an adversary. While that sounds pretty unique, he's surrounded by individuals with their own unique powers - one of which forces a vision of images from your deepest, darkest fears leaving you paralized.

Everything about this book kicks-ass. From the language, to the artwork, to the characters (Genocide is awesome!) - everything just operates on such a high level. Like [b:Criminal, Vol. 1: Coward|106033|Criminal, Vol. 1 Coward|Ed Brubaker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1221425041s/106033.jpg|102209] and like [b:Incognito, Volume 1|6584405|Incognito, Volume 1 (Incognito, #1)|Ed Brubaker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1259044050s/6584405.jpg|6777898], the action and violence here is both swift and brutal. Once again - and I can't say this enough - Phillips vision is both stylistic and gritty.

Can I also mention that I love the idea of calling this "Season One"? Why isn't this done more often? show less

Holden Carver is working undercover in Tao's organization to ferret out exactly what Tao is trying to do with his organization. We meet the fellow's that Carver is working with, their origin stories and Carver's contact--who ends up in a coma leaving Carver stuck in the organization.

I had no idea what to expect here. I honestly wasn't even entirely sure what this was about when I started reading it as it was for a reading group. So glad I did though. I really enjoyed reading about Carver and finding out how people got their powers, watching Carver struggle through trying to get out, and his strange relationship with Miss Misery develop. I was not expecting the ending at all and I'm curious about where this is going.

Holden Carver is working undercover in Tao's organization to ferret out exactly what Tao is trying to do with his organization. We meet the fellow's that Carver is working with, their origin stories and Carver's contact--who ends up in a coma leaving Carver stuck in the organization.

I had no idea what to expect here. I honestly wasn't even entirely sure what this was about when I started reading it as it was for a reading group. So glad I did though. I really enjoyed reading about Carver and finding out how people got their powers, watching Carver struggle through trying to get out, and his strange relationship with Miss Misery develop. I was not expecting the ending at all and I'm curious about where this is going.

Holden Carver is working undercover in Tao's organization to ferret out exactly what Tao is trying to do with his organization. We meet the fellow's that Carver is working with, their origin stories and Carver's contact--who ends up in a coma leaving Carver stuck in the organization.

I had no idea what to expect here. I honestly wasn't even entirely sure what this was about when I started reading it as it was for a reading group. So glad I did though. I really enjoyed reading about Carver and finding out how people got their powers, watching Carver struggle through trying to get out, and his strange relationship with Miss Misery develop. I was not expecting the ending at all and I'm curious about where this is going.

Holden Carver is working undercover in Tao's organization to ferret out exactly what Tao is trying to do with his organization. We meet the fellow's that Carver is working with, their origin stories and Carver's contact--who ends up in a coma leaving Carver stuck in the organization.

I had no idea what to expect here. I honestly wasn't even entirely sure what this was about when I started reading it as it was for a reading group. So glad I did though. I really enjoyed reading about Carver and finding out how people got their powers, watching Carver struggle through trying to get out, and his strange relationship with Miss Misery develop. I was not expecting the ending at all and I'm curious about where this is going.

A nice self-contained graphic novel. The premise is interesting and I enjoyed it. Makes me curious to see whether the suspense carries through as tightly in "Season Two."