Writer : Warren Ellis
Artist : Ivan Rodriguez
Publisher : Avatar books
Price : $3.99
Doktor Sleepless is a book for the Warren Ellis fan who knows that they miss his ideas on modern culture, as presented through the lens of science fiction. Similar to Transmetropolitan, it is a long form, serialized tale about a man who stepped away from his environment and who comes back a very different man. This man is up to no good and his philosophy is what will drive Doktor Sleepless to either greatness or ruin.
The concept of Doktor Sleepless is compelling, and in the first page Ellis has John Reinhardt, the stories main protagonist, make the declaration that if people wanted to be ignorant while he was a real person, maybe something unreal would arise more curiosity from the citizens of the city he is from. With this in mind, Reinhardt becomes Doktor Sleepless. So with his trusted assistant Nurse Igor, he goes and commits mayhem. A club/radio deejay kills himself when he is shown his abortion, out of print books appear in his ex-girlfriend’s bookstore, he restarts a man’s artificial heart at a western themed bar and he kidnaps the deejay’s radio station and broadcasts from it.
Ellis delivers truly disturbing lines of humor and a realistic vision of the future. While there is a sense of disappointment in humanity that pervades the book, it is not a result of Ellis being angry, but rather disappointed at seeing life not being what humanity should aspire to. The theme of Doktor Sleepless is about the lead character demanding more from people who should try harder, but choose not to. Ellis, in his world building, is working hard to present a future that could happen as well as one that is of great entertainment to the reader.
The tone of Doktor Sleepless is darker than Ellis’ more famous serialized works, but it is also the tamest of works Ellis has published in conjunction with Avatar Press. Ellis and Ivan Rodriguez deliver a first issue that couldn’t see the light of day at some other publishers, but Avatar delivers a book that has exceeded that of many big name publishers; its rawness and honesty of intent making it a good starting point for a monthly series.
The art by American Newcomer Ivan Rodriguez is beautiful. His storytelling is clear. The characters are very distinct. The designs of Sleepless and Nurse Igor are amusing, and display simplicity of design yet a sense of a talent that has more to display and develop as the series and his career move forward. The coloring by Andrew Dalhouse is vivid, distinct and very creepy. It betrays the intentional randomness with an impending sense of dread and mischief that helps set Doktor Sleepless as a series of superior standards.
Doktor Sleepless is a Warren Ellis book that has his distinct authoritarian voice. There are Ellis’ trademark characters that are “bastards”, which will draw comparisons to Transmetropolitan in some circles, but this series is not recycling the thoughts of previous series, rather it is delivering similar ideas about human culture and lack of feeling, from an angle played less for laughs. Doktor Sleepless is a book for those who loved Fell, Transmetropolitan, Nextwave and Planetary and it cannot get a higher recommendation from this reviewer.
- Francis Davis a career drunk with a love of comics and movies, lives in and works for the City of Chicago. Confidentiality agreements prevent him from saying exactly what he does, but it is important.