≫ [PDF] Free "Sleeper" Season One 9781848562943 Books

"Sleeper" Season One 9781848562943 Books

Download As PDF : "Sleeper" Season One 9781848562943 Books

"Sleeper" Season One 9781848562943 Books

Sometimes I am reluctant to seek out earlier work from a writer whose current stories I enjoy, for fear that I'll end up reading material completed during his or her formative years, and that it won't match up. That's silly, of course, and various works have proven me wrong over the years (one of the latest being Cormac McCarthy, whom I discovered via The Road and whose earlier All the Pretty Horses is a masterpiece), yet I persist.

So I was cautious about Sleeper: Season One from the Eisner Award-winning writer and artist duo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. While I love the work the two are doing with Criminal and Incognito over at Marvel, I was reluctant to try their Wildstorm series for the reason listed above and because the title is set in the Wildstorm super-hero universe, a locale I hadn't explored and had no interest learning anything about.

I shouldn't have worried. Yes, there are a few heroes flying around in Sleeper, but no advance knowledge is required to appreciate the story. It isn't really a super-hero tale at all, but rather a big, dark, hard-boiled spy/espionage saga. The protagonist, Holden Carver, is a double agent assigned to go deep undercover in a "post-human" criminal organization, so far undercover that not only is he is framed for crimes he hasn't committed, but his father (now deceased) is also implicated. This guy is so far out in the cold that it makes Siberia look like the Bahamas. Then, the one person who knows the truth of his undercover status -- his boss, Jack Lynch -- ends up in a coma, and Carver is screwed.

The series is one cat-and-mouse game after another, as Carver tries to keep up his facade as an operative in a villainous organization while trying to re-enter his former life as one of the good guys. Along the way, he becomes romantically entangled with one Miss Misery, a woman who maintains super strength (not to mention her health) only when involved in morally repugnant activities. Carver's super-power, granted by an alien artifact left on Earth (and one not wholly explained in the first twelve issues comprising Season One), is to collect and store pain and then release it on others. So he can stick his finger into an electric socket, soak up the juice, and fry an enemy at a later date. He becomes, in effect, a man without physical feeling, which adds to his isolation as a sleeper agent.

Man, is this series good! Given the premise, Brubaker could spin story after story in such a rich universe, but his goal seems not to maintain the status quo, but to constantly advance the plot and raise the stakes. Phillips' art is just as good here as it is in his later Criminal work, providing a gritty texture perfectly in keeping with the noir-ish world Carver inhabits.

Sleeper: Season Two (and final, apparently) will be re-released in late September. I have no reservations about picking it up, and no qualms about seeking out an earlier Wildstorm tale, Point Blank, also by Brubaker, that serves as a prequel of sorts for Sleeper. Highly recommended.


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"Sleeper" Season One 9781848562943 Books Reviews

My favorite ever Bru and Phil book. Flawless.
Great story, great writing, great art.
Holy hell, was that good. This is gritty, comedic, gruesome work. Holden Carver is a double agent asked to do the most terrible acts while still believing he's doing good for god and country.His former beloved believes him a criminal. His handler is in a coma. His "boss" thinks there's a spy in their ranks. And did I mention, these are all people with powers of some sort? So, every moment for Holden is bursting with tension and rightful paranoia.

And every moment for us, the readers, is wonderful.

Just go get it. You won't be disappointed. Brubaker rules.
I was a big fan of Ed Brubaker by the time Criminal came out, so I bought the first issue enthusiastically. It was amazing -- one of the best first issues I'd ever read.

The next week, I was back in the comic store, and I overheard the clerk gushing to another customer about how great Criminal was.

I chimed in, "It's the best Brubaker comic I've read." They both looked confused, like I'd said something nonsensical.

"Have you read Sleeper?" the clerk asked.

I hadn't.

"Oh, you should read that," said the clerk. The customer agreed. I obviously didn't know what I was talking about in their opinions. The clerk had just gushed unreservedly about how great Criminal was a moment earlier, but apparently felt it was utterly absurd to place it ahead of this other book.

Two years later, I finally read Sleeper. They were right. Brubaker is one of the very best writers in comics, and Sleeper is his best. Sean Williams is outstanding here too. Don't be put off by when it came out or the universe in which it takes place. The Universe doesn't matter, and nothing about Sleeper suggests it's an "early work." Just read it. This book will not disappoint you.
Sleeper Season One and the whole series is phenomenal. Its grimn and gritty noir story wonderfully told amd set in the DC/Wildstorm Universe featuring Wild C.A.T' s and other Wildstorm character's as you've never seen them.

The art is a perfect compliment with the noir blues, greys and blacks with neon signs and rain slicked streets. It is perfect for this story of twist and turns with no one to trust and everyone lying except the for the few foolish people not realizing that heroes don't go very far in this world. A few twists left my jaw on the floor and the rest of the time the book is awashed in a stomach churning sense of danger and paranoia. I camt find a single bad thing to say about this book. Ed Brubaker proves yet again he is the king of Crime and suspence in the medium, a can't miss/can't put down title youll read till the wee hours and happily for go sleep for.
Sometimes I am reluctant to seek out earlier work from a writer whose current stories I enjoy, for fear that I'll end up reading material completed during his or her formative years, and that it won't match up. That's silly, of course, and various works have proven me wrong over the years (one of the latest being Cormac McCarthy, whom I discovered via The Road and whose earlier All the Pretty Horses is a masterpiece), yet I persist.

So I was cautious about Sleeper Season One from the Eisner Award-winning writer and artist duo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. While I love the work the two are doing with Criminal and Incognito over at Marvel, I was reluctant to try their Wildstorm series for the reason listed above and because the title is set in the Wildstorm super-hero universe, a locale I hadn't explored and had no interest learning anything about.

I shouldn't have worried. Yes, there are a few heroes flying around in Sleeper, but no advance knowledge is required to appreciate the story. It isn't really a super-hero tale at all, but rather a big, dark, hard-boiled spy/espionage saga. The protagonist, Holden Carver, is a double agent assigned to go deep undercover in a "post-human" criminal organization, so far undercover that not only is he is framed for crimes he hasn't committed, but his father (now deceased) is also implicated. This guy is so far out in the cold that it makes Siberia look like the Bahamas. Then, the one person who knows the truth of his undercover status -- his boss, Jack Lynch -- ends up in a coma, and Carver is screwed.

The series is one cat-and-mouse game after another, as Carver tries to keep up his facade as an operative in a villainous organization while trying to re-enter his former life as one of the good guys. Along the way, he becomes romantically entangled with one Miss Misery, a woman who maintains super strength (not to mention her health) only when involved in morally repugnant activities. Carver's super-power, granted by an alien artifact left on Earth (and one not wholly explained in the first twelve issues comprising Season One), is to collect and store pain and then release it on others. So he can stick his finger into an electric socket, soak up the juice, and fry an enemy at a later date. He becomes, in effect, a man without physical feeling, which adds to his isolation as a sleeper agent.

Man, is this series good! Given the premise, Brubaker could spin story after story in such a rich universe, but his goal seems not to maintain the status quo, but to constantly advance the plot and raise the stakes. Phillips' art is just as good here as it is in his later Criminal work, providing a gritty texture perfectly in keeping with the noir-ish world Carver inhabits.

Sleeper Season Two (and final, apparently) will be re-released in late September. I have no reservations about picking it up, and no qualms about seeking out an earlier Wildstorm tale, Point Blank, also by Brubaker, that serves as a prequel of sorts for Sleeper. Highly recommended.