All too many times, when someone does a comic with metaphysical weirdness, their story becomes muddled and hard to read as they're trying to convey that sense of out of body confusion. Hester has no such problems with Deep Sleeper, as this issue sheds some more light on Cole's unusual ability to "travel" when he dreams and introduces some very high concept weirdness, but he never loses the reader while still managing to creep the reader out. Deep Sleeper is a tale of unimaginable magic but with a lingering sense of horror in the background, a sense that Cole shouldn't be messing around with these forces, and Hester manages some really creepy, spooky moments here, not to mention one hell of a cliffhanger. With Huddleston providing frighteningly imaginative visuals for these dreamscape scares and slightly different but equally great artwork for Cole's waking life, Deep Sleeper is a masterpiece, better even than the previous collaboration between these two.
Hester drops a lot of information on the reader here, but rather than doing it in infodump fashion, he lets it play out at a reasonable pace as Cole has encounters with people who know more than he does about the dream tripping he's been doing. These are fascinating characters in their own right, from the laid back but composed Tulsa to the hyperactive and open Perry, who hides a secret of her own. Hester not only provides information directly from these characters' dialogue, but he gives us more of a view of this unusual realm through their behavior and mannerisms.
What I'm really loving about Deep Sleeper is that it combines a sense of wonder with a sense of horror. Cole's ability to dream trip is pretty cool when you think about it, and he does have some fun exploring this unusual altered consciousness. Probably the best example of this sort of thing is the unusual dreamshow of Jahi (which bears a striking visual similarity to the Morse/Mahfood live art shows, a fun inside joke), but even that slowly takes a turn for the more horrific, as we see the consequences of Cole's harmless dream flirtation back in the real world.
Some of the really scary stuff, though, comes in the actual dream visions. Huddleston does some phenomenally creepy designs for the monsters of the dream, such as the tentacled, organic monstrosity that is the Harvester or the disturbing visual of the mad genocidal king. Huddleston's work on the dream world reminds me of stylists like Paul Pope and Scott Morse, but with more realistic elements mixed in for the design of Cole or the normal surroundings that make up the backdrop of the dream realm. He changes his style a little bit for the actual real world sequences, using what looks like zip-a-tone and giving that world a more polished, rigid line that makes it feel more real. The art throughout is just gorgeous, and given how much I loved his work on The Coffin, I think it says a lot that I think his work on Deep Sleeper puts it to shame.
Grounded in a real and relatable character but set loose in a realm of imagination and danger, Deep Sleeper is really one of the best horror comics I've come across in a while. It doesn't have the visceral scares of something like Uzumaki, but it's got a creep factor that's hard to beat, and a sense of imagination and weird adventure that competes with the best stuff by Grant Morrison. Throw in a brutally evil cliffhanger and I'm left chomping at the bit to see the rest of the miniseries.
