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Sleeper (comic book)
Encyclopedia
Sleeper was a comic book
series written by Ed Brubaker
with art by Sean Phillips
, published by DC Comics
under their Wildstorm
imprint
. The series consisted of two twelve-issue limited series
and the events of the first "season" served as a catalyst for the Coup D'Etat
line-wide crossover.
Sleeper was set in the Wildstorm Universe
and concerned the travails of Holden Carver
, a covert operative who has been placed undercover in a villainous organisation led by TAO
, a WildC.A.T.s villain from Alan Moore
's run. It was a spin-off of Point Blank
, a mini-series about Grifter from Wildcats and John Lynch from Gen¹³
that was also written by Ed Brubaker.
criminal organization by John Lynch
, the director of International Operations
after being fused with an alien artifact that makes him impervious to pain, gives him a powerful healing factor, and allows him to store pain he receives and pass it on to others through skin contact. Holden hates these abilities and constantly wishes to be rid of them. Lynch falls into a coma after being shot by Grifter (who had been brainwashed by Tao), leaving Holden with no link to the outside world.
He quickly rises through the ranks of Tao's syndicate and becomes one of his lieutenants, called "Prodigals". He falls in love with another Prodigal named Miss Misery and befriends Genocide Jones, a super-strong, bullet-proof member of Tao's organization. The series also focuses on Holden's internal struggle over whether or not there is a difference between his actions while serving Tao and his actions while serving Lynch.
Tao learns of Holden's true allegiance, and Holden is forced to live on the run. With the help of Peter Grimm, his most trusted Prodigal, Tao captures Holden and tells him that he is a survivor, past petty concepts like "good" and "evil." Beginning to believe Tao and seeing no other options, Holden rejoins Tao's organization, this time as a true criminal. As Season One ends, John Lynch miraculously awakes from his coma.
Coup D'Etat
comes to pass and the members of Tao's organization are forced into hiding so The Authority cannot discover them. Holden is now a full-fledged villain and a trusted Prodigal. While on a mission with his own band of Torpedoes (lower-level members of Tao's organization) called the Hounds, consisting of the eager-to-please Pit Bull (introduced in Season One) and the werewolf
Blackwolf, Holden is contacted by an agent of John Lynch. Lynch wants Holden to leave Tao and defect back to I.O. He later presents Holden with a member of the alien race who built the artifact that gave Holden his abilities and promises that if he agrees to come back he'll rid him of his powers.
Holden then begins to play both sides against the middle, hoping he will be able to free himself of his obligations to Tao and Lynch and run away with Miss Misery. As this goes on, he tries to reform, despite knowing that he will never again be the man he thought he was before falling in with Tao.
At the end of Season Two, Holden Carver is left in a vegetative state. Lynch uses his gen factor powers to make the vegetative Holden believe that he is finally retired and living with Miss Misery and his ex-fiancee, Veronica St. James, on a tropical island. Tao's tongue was ripped out by Holden as a last effort to 'disarm' the main villain of the series before being handed over to Lynch. It is here that the story ends.
:
and Sam Raimi
are in the process of creating a movie adaptation of Sleeper with Warner Bros.
, in which Cruise may star and Brad Inglesby is writing the screenplay. Brubaker has said that this is at least the fifth time there have been serious attempts to film the story.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series written by Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime...
with art by Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist.He is best known in the American comic book industry for his work on DC Comics' Sleeper, WildC.A.T.s, Batman and Hellblazer.-Career:...
, published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
under their Wildstorm
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
. The series consisted of two twelve-issue limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
and the events of the first "season" served as a catalyst for the Coup D'Etat
Coup d'Etat (comics)
"Coup d'État" was a company-wide crossover event published by Wildstorm Comics in 2004.-Publication history:The story ran across 4 issues, each featuring one of the major titles in the Wildstorm Universe at that time: Sleeper, Stormwatch: Team Achilles, Wildcats 3.0 and The Authority...
line-wide crossover.
Sleeper was set in the Wildstorm Universe
Wildstorm Universe
The Wildstorm Universe is a fictional shared universe where the comic books published by Wildstorm take place. It represents an alternate history of the real world where ideas such as interstellar travel and superhuman abilities are commonplace...
and concerned the travails of Holden Carver
Holden Carver
Holden Carver is the protagonist of the DC Comics/Wildstorm comic book series Sleeper written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Sean Phillips.- Early years :...
, a covert operative who has been placed undercover in a villainous organisation led by TAO
Tao (comics)
Tao is a fictional character in the Wildstorm universe.-History:The Tactical Augmented Organism was created by Optigen, a subsidiary of the Halo Corporation, on behalf of International Operations. As a child, he grew at an amazing rate...
, a WildC.A.T.s villain from Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's run. It was a spin-off of Point Blank
Point Blank (comics)
Point Blank was a five-issue comic book limited series written by Ed Brubaker with art by Colin Wilson. It was published by Wildstorm comics.It starred Grifter from the Wildcats investigating an attempted murder on his friend John Lynch.-Plot:...
, a mini-series about Grifter from Wildcats and John Lynch from Gen¹³
Gen¹³
Gen¹³ is a fictional superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was originally published by Image Comics under the banner Wildstorm, which went on to become an imprint for DC Comics, who continued publishing the Gen¹³...
that was also written by Ed Brubaker.
Plot
Holden Carver, a.k.a. The Conductor (although he prefers going by his real name), is placed undercover in Tao'sTao (comics)
Tao is a fictional character in the Wildstorm universe.-History:The Tactical Augmented Organism was created by Optigen, a subsidiary of the Halo Corporation, on behalf of International Operations. As a child, he grew at an amazing rate...
criminal organization by John Lynch
John Lynch (comics)
John Lynch is a fictional comic book character, published by Wildstorm. He is the head of Internal Operations. He has starred in Gen¹³, Team 7, Sleeper, and Wildcats.John Lynch is an homage to Nick Fury, the one-eyed head of Marvel Comics' S.H.I.E.L.D....
, the director of International Operations
International Operations
International Operations is a fictional American Intelligence Agency in Wildstorm comics. I.O. first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee.-International Operations:...
after being fused with an alien artifact that makes him impervious to pain, gives him a powerful healing factor, and allows him to store pain he receives and pass it on to others through skin contact. Holden hates these abilities and constantly wishes to be rid of them. Lynch falls into a coma after being shot by Grifter (who had been brainwashed by Tao), leaving Holden with no link to the outside world.
He quickly rises through the ranks of Tao's syndicate and becomes one of his lieutenants, called "Prodigals". He falls in love with another Prodigal named Miss Misery and befriends Genocide Jones, a super-strong, bullet-proof member of Tao's organization. The series also focuses on Holden's internal struggle over whether or not there is a difference between his actions while serving Tao and his actions while serving Lynch.
Tao learns of Holden's true allegiance, and Holden is forced to live on the run. With the help of Peter Grimm, his most trusted Prodigal, Tao captures Holden and tells him that he is a survivor, past petty concepts like "good" and "evil." Beginning to believe Tao and seeing no other options, Holden rejoins Tao's organization, this time as a true criminal. As Season One ends, John Lynch miraculously awakes from his coma.
Coup D'Etat
Coup d'Etat (comics)
"Coup d'État" was a company-wide crossover event published by Wildstorm Comics in 2004.-Publication history:The story ran across 4 issues, each featuring one of the major titles in the Wildstorm Universe at that time: Sleeper, Stormwatch: Team Achilles, Wildcats 3.0 and The Authority...
comes to pass and the members of Tao's organization are forced into hiding so The Authority cannot discover them. Holden is now a full-fledged villain and a trusted Prodigal. While on a mission with his own band of Torpedoes (lower-level members of Tao's organization) called the Hounds, consisting of the eager-to-please Pit Bull (introduced in Season One) and the werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
Blackwolf, Holden is contacted by an agent of John Lynch. Lynch wants Holden to leave Tao and defect back to I.O. He later presents Holden with a member of the alien race who built the artifact that gave Holden his abilities and promises that if he agrees to come back he'll rid him of his powers.
Holden then begins to play both sides against the middle, hoping he will be able to free himself of his obligations to Tao and Lynch and run away with Miss Misery. As this goes on, he tries to reform, despite knowing that he will never again be the man he thought he was before falling in with Tao.
At the end of Season Two, Holden Carver is left in a vegetative state. Lynch uses his gen factor powers to make the vegetative Holden believe that he is finally retired and living with Miss Misery and his ex-fiancee, Veronica St. James, on a tropical island. Tao's tongue was ripped out by Holden as a last effort to 'disarm' the main villain of the series before being handed over to Lynch. It is here that the story ends.
Collected editions
Sleeper has been collected in a series of four trade paperbacksTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
:
- Sleeper: Season One (ISBN 1-4012-2360-5) collects:
- Sleeper Vol. 1: Out in the Cold (collects Sleeper Season 1 #1–6, ISBN 1-4012-0115-6)
- Sleeper Vol. 2: All False Moves (collects Sleeper Season 1 #7–12, ISBN 1-4012-0288-8)
- Sleeper: Season Two (ISBN 1-4012-2493-8) collects:
- Sleeper Vol. 3: A Crooked Line (collects Sleeper Season 2 #1–6, ISBN 1-4012-0618-2)
- Sleeper Vol. 4: The Long Way Home (collects Sleeper Season 2 #7–12, ISBN 1-4012-0627-1)
- Coup D'état (collects Coup D'état #1: Sleeper, ISBN 1-4012-0570-4)
Film
Tom CruiseTom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
and Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
are in the process of creating a movie adaptation of Sleeper with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, in which Cruise may star and Brad Inglesby is writing the screenplay. Brubaker has said that this is at least the fifth time there have been serious attempts to film the story.
See also
- CriminalCriminal (comics)In 2009 the first three trades were also repackaged in a 432 page "Deluxe Edition" hardcover . Included in this edition are a number of extras, including three of the original backpages "essays" with all 13 original accompanying pieces of art, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund short story No One Rides...
, a series from the same creative team published by MarvelMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media... - IncognitoIncognito (comics)Incognito is a six-issue comic book limited series written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, It was published by the Icon Comics imprint of Marvel Comics.A second six issue miniseries, Incognito: Bad Influences, was released in late 2010....
, a similar series from the same creative team published by MarvelMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.