I used to feel sorry for Holden Carver, and to wonder how he was going to get out of the deepening mess that his life had become. Now I'm just wondering how long it's going to be before it's all over, and how he's finally going to go, because Brubaker has really painted the character into a corner. This sounds like it should be fatalistic and no fun, and to be sure, Sleeper: Season Two is much darker than the first Sleeper, but watching Holden struggle with this impossible situation is fascinating. In addition, Brubaker and Phillips have always done great gunfights in the pages of this book, and there's a doozy in this issue that takes up a pretty good chunk of pages.
I have started to wonder if maybe Holden is fighting a losing battle on the wrong terms. The actions of Grimm and Tao in this issue show that Holden is outmatched when matching wits with Tao or Lynch, and I started thinking he might be better off if he used his physical capabilities and just started putting bullets into people. Certainly he doesn't have any particular qualms about killing, and neither Grimm nor Tao seems to be a physical match for him. On the other hand, Holden's inability to act so impulsively or, more importantly, decisively, is a big part of why he's in this mess in a first place. He doesn't usually just react, he just tries to think about how to deal with things later, and the result is he's usually in too deep by the time he's come up with a course of action.
One of the stronger aspects of Sleeper: Season Two has been a ratcheting up of the tension of Holden's undercover assignment. Given that his cover was blown in the first series, this is unusual, but the ambiguity of who Holden is really working for and what his bosses really believe about him provides a lot of nice tension. The real story of what Tao and Lynch are up to is hidden in their mutual animosity and sneaky, chess-like strategic minds, and Holden is very much caught in the middle. As are his friends, although that's becoming less and less of a problem with each passing issue, as Brubaker continues to isolate the poor guy in the most violent and shocking of ways.
I've spent a lot of time in my reviews praising the complexity of the writing and the intricacy of the plotting, so it seems only fair to direct a little attention at Sean Phillips and Carrie Strachan, the artists responsible for the look of Sleeper: Season Two. Phillips specializes in the subdued, interpersonal moments that drive this book. Small emotions play out across the faces of the characters, such that the occasional bouts of weirdness (Tao's colorful visual for XXX Ray) or outrageous emotions (Holden's reaction to Grimm's mission) really stand out. In addition, Phillips does a fantastic job with the firefight in this issue, conveying a realistic brutality with an exaggerated, Woo-esque fight choreography.
We're over halfway into Sleeper: Season Two now, and it's clear that while the creative team remains the same, the book is very different. The dark sense of humor that pervaded the first series has dropped away to some extent, and I miss that quite a bit. However, it's been replaced with an increased sense of paranoia and pressure on the lead character that continues to make for compelling reading. 9/10
