Sleeper #6 Review

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Reviewer: Tim Sheridan
Story Title: Four-Sided Triangle

Written by: Ed Brubaker
Art by: Sean Philips
Colored by: Carrie Strachan
Lettered by: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Publisher: Wildstorm > DC Comics

Everyone knows this is a great book. I don’t need to tell you that. You do not need to read another pointless review of just how great the writing, art, or anything else about this book is. I’m sure you’ve heard it enough. I have. Which is why I started to pick it up. Like many, I got the trades, then the issues. And the book is totally deserving of all the hype it gets every month. It’s one of the most entertaining, intelligent books released by any comic company.

It is helpful to read these in trade format, I’ll admit. From month to month, it’s difficult to remember just what bizarre twist the book has most recently taken. The status quo on the characters can change rather quickly, so you have to know what has come before.

Once again, there are double and triple crosses this month, and it’s all great to read.

Our main character, Holden, is working for both the good guys and the bad guys, trying to play them against each other and trying to come off unscathed. He also kind of sort of wants his girlfriend, Miss Misery, to play along…maybe. We don’t know if she is just playing him or not. The whole Sleeper series, and especially this issue, is very much a puzzle. And all the pieces are not readily available to the reader. The non-linear structure to Brubaker’s writing really lets the book unfold for the reader like no other book. It’s a great experience, and it’s a book I look forward to mostly because of that.

I can’t say any more in this review that you have not heard before. I also don’t want to say any more because writing about this issue really has made me want to go and read it again. Bye now.