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Sleeper
Out Of The Cold
1/MAR/2003
Publisher: Wildstorm - Eye of The Storm
[Mature Readers]
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Sean Phillips
Inks: Sean Phillips
Colors: Tony Avina & Randy Mayor
Letters: Bill Oakley
Price: $2.95/R35.50 SA |
I have never read any of Windstorms ‘Eye of the Storm’
books before and am not overly familiar with the Wildstorm Universe.
Upon reading some awesome reviews for this title I decided I’d
give it a try, even though I knew very little about it or the world
in which the story is placed.
This first issue was quite confusing. First off it is told as a
back-story. It starts at the end of the action and retells the story
of how the main character, Holden, got into the mess that he finds
himself in.
The story, as far as I knew, was supposed to be about a secret agent,
deep undercover kind of thing. What I wasn’t expecting was
super powers and super villains to be heavily involved. The inclusion
of powers is by no means a bad thing, it’s just a bit of a
weird concoction of ideas to get your head around at first.
Brubaker [Catwoman, Gotham Central] uses a flashback
sequence repeatedly to tell the story of how the undercover agent
[Holden] got into the Organisation known only as TAO, and his position
and reason for being there. This back story can get a little confusing
but it is nevertheless a great way for Brubaker to keep the story
interesting. He only allows small snippets of information out to
the reader at a time, thus keeping you in the dark and somewhat
confused and therefore sharing some of the same feelings as his
main character.
A double cross and the hunt for a spy within the TAO organisation
means that Holden is forced to murder one of his fellow agents in
order to hide his secret. The conversation between Holden and the
other agent, the Nilhilist, lead to us finding out about Holden’s
powers and is a nice vehicle for exploring his personality a bit
more. His power is truly different and amazingly interesting as
it carries a cost that follows Holden more like a curse than a blessing.
The powers which Holden has remove him further from reality and
people and of course any chance of a normal life. The characterisation
is great in this issue and we are finding out some juicy facts about
Holden, his reason for being a spy in the TAO organisation and his
strange powers.
A lot is left unexplained, such as what TAO is actually all about,
a lot of Holden’s past and his reasons for being a spy in
the organisation are still somewhat unclear at the end of the issue.
Brubaker does an awesome job of creating a new and interesting anti-hero
in Holden, strange and curse-like powers within a spy who seems
confused and uncertain about the world around him. A really interesting
and original story drives a well rounded first issue of
Sleeper.
Score 8/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
