As Sleeper gets deeper into the super-villain underworld that is the setting, I find myself liking it more and more. This issue gives us a glimpse of what Tao is really up to, as well as an in-depth look at one of his top lieutenants, and it helps to show that Brubaker has come up with a fascinating backdrop against which to play the undercover super-villain high concept. Combined with Sean Phillips's moody artwork, and throwing in a gunfight for the requisite action scene, this issue has cemented Sleeper in my mind as a comic to watch, and one that is quickly becoming a favorite.
What I like about the style of Sleeper is that it is very open-ended, but also has a clear possible ending point in sight at the same time. There's so much potential in seeing Holden as he learns about Tao's organization and performs missions, but all it would take is Lynch waking up or a fairly elaborate and clever plan and Brubaker would be able to put his undercover career to rest. Or, for that matter, having Tao discover that Holden is in fact undercover (if he doesn't already know) could send the series in a whole different direction. At any rate, there's a ton of potential in the concept.
Brubaker has even given himself a little more room to maneuver with the dual plot structure of the first three issues. In addition to seeing what Holden is up to now, we're getting flashbacks to how he was recruited and became a player in Tao's organization. This serves as flashback exposition, but it also allows Brubaker to tell multiple stories at the same time, and to provide more insight into Holden's character. Given that so much is revealed in the first-person narration anyway, this makes Holden a remarkably well-realized and complex character only three issues into the series, and it's easy to buy him as the central character on which the series can turn.
Beyond simply the structure and style of Sleeper being so appealing, it's clear that Brubaker has put some serious thought into the characters. Miss Misery, who gets her origin story revealed in this issue, has a super-power that is based on a clever inversion of the super-heroic tradition, and while the nature of a hidden conspiracy that runs the world has gotten a bit tired, it fits in well enough with Tao's methods of operations that I'm willing to wait and see what the actual deal is with it.
On the art score, the issue is also pretty impressive. Phillips does a particularly great job with the gunfight in the dark that is the central action set-piece, and he seems to be taking a special joy in the violence and twisted actions that drive so many of the characters in this series, with some particularly brutal imagery from Miss Misery in both current and flashback modes. The colors continue to look a bit bland and way too dark, but it's more a notion that they could be better with more nuance than a failure on the colorists' part.
