Review by Darren: Sleeper Volumes 1-4 TPBS

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Publisher: Wildstorm (DC) (January 1, 2004-October 1, 2005)
Price: $17.95 (Softcover) Volumes 2 and 3 In Print. Volumes 1 and 4 are Out of Print.
Format: TPB
Includes: Sleeper #1-12 and Sleeper: Season Two #1-12

It's the late 90's and an obscure Wildstorm character, Holden Carver, has been resurrected by relative unknown, Ed Brubaker.

Holden is placed in deep cover with the bad guys. I mean, the real bad guys (the Illuminati, bilderberg group, any secret society that rules the world). His job, to infiltrate and eventually destroy them. The problem is, the only man who knows he's undercover, the man who placed him undercover has been shot and is in a deep coma . Can Holden survive playing for both sides? Is there any way to maintain a moral compass when both sides start to seem indistinguishable from one another.

Brubaker is a master at injecting passion and gravitas into comics while most writers sleep through years of tired continuity. His stories matter.

All four Sleeper books should be purchased and all at once. Anything less will only cause you further grief, because you're going to read the first one and immediately want the next and curse the fates for having to get in your shitty and burn precious fossil fuels getting back to the comic shop. There's also a great prequel by the name of Point Blank that explains just who put Holden's boss in a coma. It's a doozy.

If you like your superheroes on the mature side, if you love noir, if you love espionage, if you have any love for anything in your heart, you will pick up these books. A complete saga in a finite amount of books. Go. Buy.

P.S. If you want to go to a store that 99% of the time keeps the books in stock, Earth 2 at 15017 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks is the store for you. They also do mail order. Tell them Darren sent you.