God damn, that's dark. Sleeper: Season Two has been more than a little grim throughout, but this issue, focusing on Miss Misery, really plays up the darker side of Tao's operations and adds even more to the suspense of the impending endgame between Holden, Lynch and Tao. Just as Genocide sort of stole the series from Holden Carver for me originally, Miss Misery grabbed my attention in this issue more than Holden ever has, as we see her tragic, unusual powers played for all their worth, and are left wondering where her loyalties lie, just how many plans she's in on and what she'll wind up doing, regardless of what her wishes might be.
There's forward movement in the overall Lynch/Tao war that's been driving this story in this issue, as Holden makes another move manipulating both of them and Lynch and Tao continue to move their own pieces into position. I'm dying to know exactly what Holden is planning and how it will inevitably go wrong and what the final results will be, and the silver lining of their only being four issues left in this miniseries is that I only have at most four months to wait before seeing the all-important answers.
However, the bulk of the issue, and the reason it was my favorite read of this week, is given over to a focus on Miss Misery. This is a character whose origin and powers are deeply f'ed up, and I love the character that Brubaker and Phillips have given her. On the one hand, she's so obviously twisted and evil, and yet, she has to be in order to survive, and you can see glimpses of decency in her as a result of Holden's influence, a reflection of the humanity that Misery brought up in Holden's undercover facade. These two are a fascinating couple, because they're both undeniably broken by the curse of their powers, and yet they're also genuinely in love (or as close as either of them can get) with one another. It's a huge tragedy waiting to happen, even moreso than all the tragedies that have already piled up upon both of them.
Miss Misery's particular power-set puts her on a trail of debauchery and destruction this issue. She starts out with what is arguably a public service (offing a potential rapist/definite crack dealer) and then quickly escalates to the murder of innocents, along with one of the most sensual and yet disturbing sex scenes I've seen in the pages of comics. Of course, this is all just the warm-up as she "juices up" for a mission, resulting in a terrific violent action sequence of the type that Brubaker and Phillips excel at. Misery's mission and the way she attacks it with gusto and ease makes for some terrific, cinematic moments. On top of great action storytelling, though, Phillips deserves credit for the aforementioned sex scene (shown in a bunch of small panels for a feeling of building to a deadly climax) as well as the wicked, joyful look on Misery's face as she goes about her destructive business.
The flipside of that almost sexual pleasure gained by her vicious nature is when we see the physical downsides of her one weakness, her attraction to Holden, and so we're left with a big question at the end: Is she betraying Holden, is this all part of the plan, or is it a little bit of both? This issue is a fascinating read as a portrait of true, twisted evil, albeit from a surprisingly sympathetic character, but it is also a major turning point for the story of Sleeper: Season Two. 10/10
