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Doktor Sleepless, Volume 1: Engines of Desire
Where is the future we were promised? Doktor Sleepless, a renegade mad scientist recently back from the supposed dead, will not rest until he tears the city of Heavenside apart in search of that answer. Aided by a sultry and murderous assistant known only as Nurse, he's outraged that the widescale application of his science has not advanced society, but been abused and twisted. From his tower above, he broadcasts intrigue and revolution to a populace of beautiful Shrieky Girls, angry Grinders, and the conspiratorial authorities. Only Sing Watson, his old flame, truly suspects how dangerous things are about to get! The good Doktor has just the prescription for all of society's ills... whether you want it or not! Warren Ellis presents DOKTOR SLEEPLESS, the thematic successor to his critically acclaimed TRANSMETROPOLITAN.
216 pages, Library Binding
First published October 28, 2004
6 people are currently reading
223 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,910 books5,767 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
June 18, 2017
This ... was not good. Most issues were one big rant about how the future isn't what we were promised and other philosophical bullshit. I can see why Ellis never bothered to finish it. I wouldn't have either. Typically, I like Ellis's work, but this was just some inane, 90's era Vertigo technobabble.
March 4, 2012
Doktor Sleepless is bloody brilliant, and I'll fight anyone who disagrees. It involves some of the coolest, best realised, most imaginative, and most imaginable science fiction concepts ever: IM contact lenses, DIY haptic interfaces, a body modding apple that's romped far from its transhuman tree. As strange and whacked out fantastic as the story is - a cartoon mad scientist who wants to end the world in revenge for his parents being eaten by Lovecraftian monsters - the tone of the writing and artwork really makes you feel it's set next year. As relevant, and as good, as anything in its medium or genre, and the only thing that stops it from getting the full 5 was Ellis' computer crash that means it is still to date unfinished.
The single issues were worth it for the backmatter alone - Ellis' musings on music, technology and culture were some of his best short-form essays. I don't know if they're included with this collected volume, though.
The single issues were worth it for the backmatter alone - Ellis' musings on music, technology and culture were some of his best short-form essays. I don't know if they're included with this collected volume, though.
April 22, 2020
Read for class. Bad. Weird. Boring.
July 8, 2021
Wandering through my local library, I discovered this graphic novel of which I’d never heard, Warren Ellis’ Doktor Sleepless. I d on’t review very many of the graphic novels that I read, but Ellis hits on so many issues in this cyberpunk story that I can’t resist. In Part 1, a character named John Reinhardt takes over a pirate radio frequency as the eponymous “Doktor Sleepless,” a “grinder” name such as is used in the story for those who bio-hack and mechanically-enhance their bodies. The eponymous “hero” chides the “grinder” culture for complaining about those ‘50s and ‘60s era expectations of jet packs, flying cars, personal spaceships, and ray guns that haven’t become part of the life we live. He then offers a brilliant diatribe on how technological and pharmaceutical advancements have made all his listeners (and, by extension, us as readers) into science-fiction characters.
In Part 2, the “grinder”/broadcaster shares about his search for wisdom and how that took him to the depleted former Amazon region: “Because, like you, I’d read all the books, and heard all the lectures, and I knew…KNEW, mind you—that magic still dwelled there. Have you ever noticed how magic is never where we’re at? How wherever we live isn’t good enough somehow?” There is a recounting of a meeting with one Don Bastardos ( a fake name this “shaman” uses along with Fidel Castro, just to annoy Reinhardt/Sleepless) where the shaman plays with names and descriptions, asserting, “…and you are all bound by the magic of naming.” [He might as well have said, “bound by the power of marketing,” but you get the idea.] We discover that Reinhardt has created a lot of the “grinder” culture and, at this point in the story, we don’t know if he will show remorse or any desire to redeem the “grinders” from the circle of futility for which he has enabled them.
Part 3 teases a possible answer to the “bound-tachyon” problem of the John Reinhardt who is imprisoned and the one who has become “Doctor Sleepless.” The imprisoned Reinhardt tells the story of a woman seeking the mystical power of creating a thought construct, a tulpa, who would be comprised of one’s own imagination but would become so real that others could see it and, if it stayed around long enough, could even act of its own free will. So, the conundrum facing Reinhardt’s prison authorities (as well as facing the reader) is deciding that, should a tulpa be possible, would it be the prisoner or “Doktor Sleepless” on the outside?
If the broadcast messages to this point weren’t depressing enough, Part 4 certainly raises the ante. Readers discover something of the fatalistic pun in the former imminent.sea blog and its relationship to the Illuminati trilogy’s “immanentizing the eschaton.” Some of the dark trauma in one character’s life works itself out in the sexualizing of a vicious (probably deserved in a form of poetic justice) murder. Then, in typical comic book stylistics, ends with a prediction of what’s left of society spiraling downward.
“Authenticity” is the theme of Part 5. Ellis, as profound in his allusions as he is in his fictional presentations, uses the cautionary tale of Big Bill Broonzy, a blues guitarist forced into a strict repertoire of acoustic blues when he was a forerunner in applying electric guitar to the blues (as was Memphis Minnie, singer of “When the Levee Breaks” before Bob Dylan co-opted it for “The Levee’s Gonna’ Break” or Led Zeppelin covered it, who is also mentioned in this story). When the police commissioner confronts the “Doktor Sleepless” character to ascertain for himself whether the tulpa is the prisoner or the “Doktor,” the “Doktor” offers him a blood sample to “verify” his “authenticity.” The reader is treated to what the prophet Ezekiel might have called “wheels within wheels” which not only describes the plot of this story but also the logo/tattoo/insignia of the three interlocking gears which plays prominently in the plot.
The revelation of an attempted coup d’etat in 1963 opens the unveiling of a potential seat of power for “immanentizing the eschaton” program for the remnants of a revolution gone awry. Much like an urban archaeologist would explain to a first-year student—even urban objects, buildings, and rooms “evolve” according to socio-political forces. In this case, an area which began as a Cold War fallout shelter is pivotal in the development of the plan emerging from “Doktor Sleepless.” In revealing his personal sanctuary, the protagonist (whether hero, anti-hero, or villain may not yet be clear to the first-time reader) calls it a “cultural bunker/societal fort.” And what may be most disturbing is the rant set off when his “nurse” says that she has never been in love. He responds, “Love is a gateway emotion, without it, you cannot fully comprehend and experience things like vengeance, for instance, or terror, loss, hate. Hate is all you need. Hate means never having to say you’re sorry.” I’ll stop there with the twisted reversals on The Beatles and the popular ‘70s Love Story line lest I inadvertently spoil the discovery left in this extremely well-written section.
If I had found a single copy of the seventh issue and hadn’t read the previous six, I doubt if I would have picked this up. I don’t read escape literature to become depressed, but Ellis leads off Part 7 with a screed against life with a bombardment of statistics. To be sure, they are illustrated. To be sure, he weaves them together in a horrifying tapestry that makes Judge Dredd’s world seem like paradise and one cannot look away, much as one sees the video of an assassination or a massive natural disaster. You don’t want to see it; you can’t “un-see” it; and you wish it hadn’t happened. Of course, when I got to the part where Ellis did the V is for Vendetta masks one better, I was intrigued enough to keep reading.
This section unveiled where the eponymous Doktor Sleepless was headed. It explained the thesis of the book by Henrik Boemer (The Darkening Sky which the protagonist (anti-hero? Major villain?) had republished in the story. It opened a window to this relatively obscure 20th century Dutch art professor who apparently married nihilism (or perhaps, merely fatalism) to supernatural horror seemingly based on the H. P. Lovecraft mythos. This portion of the story completes the portion published in this trade version of Doktor Sleepless.
The writing style is iconic Warren Ellis and the visuals are as disconcerting, in places, as the text. Too much is going on for the story to end where it does in the trade format, but the journey is one where the rapid-fire ejaculation of ideas is almost what one would expect if it were possible to survive taking a jackhammer to the brain. Call it apocalyptic or call it cyberpunk, Doktor Sleepless may well lure the unsuspecting reader to a case of surreal insomnia.
In Part 2, the “grinder”/broadcaster shares about his search for wisdom and how that took him to the depleted former Amazon region: “Because, like you, I’d read all the books, and heard all the lectures, and I knew…KNEW, mind you—that magic still dwelled there. Have you ever noticed how magic is never where we’re at? How wherever we live isn’t good enough somehow?” There is a recounting of a meeting with one Don Bastardos ( a fake name this “shaman” uses along with Fidel Castro, just to annoy Reinhardt/Sleepless) where the shaman plays with names and descriptions, asserting, “…and you are all bound by the magic of naming.” [He might as well have said, “bound by the power of marketing,” but you get the idea.] We discover that Reinhardt has created a lot of the “grinder” culture and, at this point in the story, we don’t know if he will show remorse or any desire to redeem the “grinders” from the circle of futility for which he has enabled them.
Part 3 teases a possible answer to the “bound-tachyon” problem of the John Reinhardt who is imprisoned and the one who has become “Doctor Sleepless.” The imprisoned Reinhardt tells the story of a woman seeking the mystical power of creating a thought construct, a tulpa, who would be comprised of one’s own imagination but would become so real that others could see it and, if it stayed around long enough, could even act of its own free will. So, the conundrum facing Reinhardt’s prison authorities (as well as facing the reader) is deciding that, should a tulpa be possible, would it be the prisoner or “Doktor Sleepless” on the outside?
If the broadcast messages to this point weren’t depressing enough, Part 4 certainly raises the ante. Readers discover something of the fatalistic pun in the former imminent.sea blog and its relationship to the Illuminati trilogy’s “immanentizing the eschaton.” Some of the dark trauma in one character’s life works itself out in the sexualizing of a vicious (probably deserved in a form of poetic justice) murder. Then, in typical comic book stylistics, ends with a prediction of what’s left of society spiraling downward.
“Authenticity” is the theme of Part 5. Ellis, as profound in his allusions as he is in his fictional presentations, uses the cautionary tale of Big Bill Broonzy, a blues guitarist forced into a strict repertoire of acoustic blues when he was a forerunner in applying electric guitar to the blues (as was Memphis Minnie, singer of “When the Levee Breaks” before Bob Dylan co-opted it for “The Levee’s Gonna’ Break” or Led Zeppelin covered it, who is also mentioned in this story). When the police commissioner confronts the “Doktor Sleepless” character to ascertain for himself whether the tulpa is the prisoner or the “Doktor,” the “Doktor” offers him a blood sample to “verify” his “authenticity.” The reader is treated to what the prophet Ezekiel might have called “wheels within wheels” which not only describes the plot of this story but also the logo/tattoo/insignia of the three interlocking gears which plays prominently in the plot.
The revelation of an attempted coup d’etat in 1963 opens the unveiling of a potential seat of power for “immanentizing the eschaton” program for the remnants of a revolution gone awry. Much like an urban archaeologist would explain to a first-year student—even urban objects, buildings, and rooms “evolve” according to socio-political forces. In this case, an area which began as a Cold War fallout shelter is pivotal in the development of the plan emerging from “Doktor Sleepless.” In revealing his personal sanctuary, the protagonist (whether hero, anti-hero, or villain may not yet be clear to the first-time reader) calls it a “cultural bunker/societal fort.” And what may be most disturbing is the rant set off when his “nurse” says that she has never been in love. He responds, “Love is a gateway emotion, without it, you cannot fully comprehend and experience things like vengeance, for instance, or terror, loss, hate. Hate is all you need. Hate means never having to say you’re sorry.” I’ll stop there with the twisted reversals on The Beatles and the popular ‘70s Love Story line lest I inadvertently spoil the discovery left in this extremely well-written section.
If I had found a single copy of the seventh issue and hadn’t read the previous six, I doubt if I would have picked this up. I don’t read escape literature to become depressed, but Ellis leads off Part 7 with a screed against life with a bombardment of statistics. To be sure, they are illustrated. To be sure, he weaves them together in a horrifying tapestry that makes Judge Dredd’s world seem like paradise and one cannot look away, much as one sees the video of an assassination or a massive natural disaster. You don’t want to see it; you can’t “un-see” it; and you wish it hadn’t happened. Of course, when I got to the part where Ellis did the V is for Vendetta masks one better, I was intrigued enough to keep reading.
This section unveiled where the eponymous Doktor Sleepless was headed. It explained the thesis of the book by Henrik Boemer (The Darkening Sky which the protagonist (anti-hero? Major villain?) had republished in the story. It opened a window to this relatively obscure 20th century Dutch art professor who apparently married nihilism (or perhaps, merely fatalism) to supernatural horror seemingly based on the H. P. Lovecraft mythos. This portion of the story completes the portion published in this trade version of Doktor Sleepless.
The writing style is iconic Warren Ellis and the visuals are as disconcerting, in places, as the text. Too much is going on for the story to end where it does in the trade format, but the journey is one where the rapid-fire ejaculation of ideas is almost what one would expect if it were possible to survive taking a jackhammer to the brain. Call it apocalyptic or call it cyberpunk, Doktor Sleepless may well lure the unsuspecting reader to a case of surreal insomnia.
December 28, 2009
Warren Ellis must miss having Transmetropolitan as an outlet to dump his futurist, transhuman antiestablishment rants. When the series states, "This was not the future we were promised!" it seems like Ellis longing for his days in Transmetro's sprawling future setting of "The City" where he could do anything and get away with it. In Doktor Sleepless he creates a character that's the bastard child of Batman, Spider Jerusalem and Dr. Frankenstein: a damaged, trust fund orphan, too smart for his own good stuck in a world that just doesn't give a shit. This series has lots of promise, but the problem is the writing is just not there, the characters are stagnant and the artwork is just alright. That said, Ellis is usually worth reading just for the filthy kicks of his sadistic wit. Makes you wonder who to fear and despise more, the duplicitous agents of control or the calculating madman who wants to burn it all down.
September 2, 2013
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Where are our Jetpacks? Where are our flying cars? Who cares about having the whole internet in the palm of your hand or in your glasses? Who cares about being able to tell anyone anything anywhere in the world in about 10 seconds? Who cares about being connected. It's all boring. May as well bring the world to an end. Doktor Sleepless. Eighties teen.
December 20, 2017
This is for the whole of the series. It's a shame that Ellis was never able to finish this because it's wonderfully clever. Full of a lot of Ellis' tropes, but still entertaining and original in a sea of superheros. It gets to be quite over the top, so it's even more of a shame that Ellis wasn't able to continue it.
October 5, 2017
If you enjoyed Transmetropolitan, you should enjoy this comic, though there's a reason why the former is praised and the latter is pretty much forgotten. The future holds many technological advances, but not necessarily the ones people expected, so the atmosphere is dark and grotesque. Implants have become mainstream, drugs are commonplace, so the premise sounds good, but the execution is too abstract to be enjoyable. The long rants don't feel like they fit the story as they add nothing to it, except to underline the people's discontent.
The doctor had an unpleasant childhood after he found his parents dead in their home. He was raised by a legal guardian who was a serial killer. His assistant's mother killed her husband and her daughter figured out she did it. There are plenty of other broken characters, ruined relationships and you also have some violence, but the heavy focus on philosophy, the interpretation of historical events and the main character's lack of appeal make this an agonizing read. Fortunately, it picks up in the second half when Sleepless' plans unfold.
John Reinhardt decides to assume the persona of Doktor Sleepless. He goes on the radio to tell people how wrong they are for complaining about their lives. Instead of focusing on what they are missing, they should be glad about the many things the modern world has gained through progress.
The character's existence takes a turn for the philosophical when an imprisoned character also named John Reinhardt claims that one of them was created by the mind of the other by sheer force of will. The question becomes: who is the real Reinhardt and who is the construct? And why does the initial Reinhardt have so much pull in the city, even to the point of causing a city-wide blackout?
The doctor had an unpleasant childhood after he found his parents dead in their home. He was raised by a legal guardian who was a serial killer. His assistant's mother killed her husband and her daughter figured out she did it. There are plenty of other broken characters, ruined relationships and you also have some violence, but the heavy focus on philosophy, the interpretation of historical events and the main character's lack of appeal make this an agonizing read. Fortunately, it picks up in the second half when Sleepless' plans unfold.
John Reinhardt decides to assume the persona of Doktor Sleepless. He goes on the radio to tell people how wrong they are for complaining about their lives. Instead of focusing on what they are missing, they should be glad about the many things the modern world has gained through progress.
The character's existence takes a turn for the philosophical when an imprisoned character also named John Reinhardt claims that one of them was created by the mind of the other by sheer force of will. The question becomes: who is the real Reinhardt and who is the construct? And why does the initial Reinhardt have so much pull in the city, even to the point of causing a city-wide blackout?
July 6, 2017
Ellis can do no wrong in my eyes, though I wish he'd finish this series.
September 5, 2017
Another awesome Warren Ellis with Ivan Rodriguez art in full color, some of my favorite graphic novels.
December 18, 2017
Multiple cameos and clips. Hard to follow.
August 18, 2022
Comprado de casualidad. Me ha encantado. El tema es: encontraré la segunda parte? Uh...
August 2, 2011
I gave this a three because there are some interesting, Transmet-esque ideas at play and some fun pulp fiction/retro future work going on, but as for the story...
Ellis is a tremendous talent. The guy can tell a story through visuals and snappy dialogue better than just about anyone outside of Alan Moore, and I loved his work on Transmet, Planetary and Global Frequency. That was Ellis firing on all cylinders. I also recently read Crecy, Aetheric Mechanics, his Apparat one-shots and Red, and enjoyed them all to a degree, but Doktor Sleepless confounds me.
Darkness does not scare me off in comics or any artform. Darkness can be a tool to get at a greater truth (like say, in Watchmen or Transmet), or simply a way to tell the story "proper," (like say in Red or We3). But I don't really see the point Ellis is going for here. In Transmet he showed us a semi-realistic future but grounded those tropes and that horror in a story about muckraking justice. What are we to take away from Doktor Sleepless?
I know in following the mad scientist trope the good Doktor has every right to be villainous, but do we have anyone else we even care about? His assistant is not just a murderer, but a butcher of sorts, and both the lead cop and ex-girlfriend, though more "pure" than the Doktor, are both presented as downright boring. So what we are left with is a story about a villain. Ok, it's been done before, and can be done well, but those stories tend to be "let's look at their side" sorts of things, like Killing Joke or Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. In Doktor Sleepless, it seems as though Ellis wants us to root for our own extermination.
I may be missing the grander point, and there is some humor at play, but I don't think this is full-on satire. So has Ellis slipped off into the nether realms and decided people aren't worth the trouble? For all the foul, violent, irritable outbursts of Spider Jerusalem, he was still a man trying to help the world. I'm not so America & Apple Pie as to outright reject looking at things with a nihilistic lens, but I just cannot see myself staying with a comic like this for an extended run.
It reminds me of another nihilistic book, JTHM. But to Johnny's credit, it was much funnier. I guess if Ellis wants me to root for the bad guy, he needs to give me a reason to.
Ellis is a tremendous talent. The guy can tell a story through visuals and snappy dialogue better than just about anyone outside of Alan Moore, and I loved his work on Transmet, Planetary and Global Frequency. That was Ellis firing on all cylinders. I also recently read Crecy, Aetheric Mechanics, his Apparat one-shots and Red, and enjoyed them all to a degree, but Doktor Sleepless confounds me.
Darkness does not scare me off in comics or any artform. Darkness can be a tool to get at a greater truth (like say, in Watchmen or Transmet), or simply a way to tell the story "proper," (like say in Red or We3). But I don't really see the point Ellis is going for here. In Transmet he showed us a semi-realistic future but grounded those tropes and that horror in a story about muckraking justice. What are we to take away from Doktor Sleepless?
I know in following the mad scientist trope the good Doktor has every right to be villainous, but do we have anyone else we even care about? His assistant is not just a murderer, but a butcher of sorts, and both the lead cop and ex-girlfriend, though more "pure" than the Doktor, are both presented as downright boring. So what we are left with is a story about a villain. Ok, it's been done before, and can be done well, but those stories tend to be "let's look at their side" sorts of things, like Killing Joke or Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. In Doktor Sleepless, it seems as though Ellis wants us to root for our own extermination.
I may be missing the grander point, and there is some humor at play, but I don't think this is full-on satire. So has Ellis slipped off into the nether realms and decided people aren't worth the trouble? For all the foul, violent, irritable outbursts of Spider Jerusalem, he was still a man trying to help the world. I'm not so America & Apple Pie as to outright reject looking at things with a nihilistic lens, but I just cannot see myself staying with a comic like this for an extended run.
It reminds me of another nihilistic book, JTHM. But to Johnny's credit, it was much funnier. I guess if Ellis wants me to root for the bad guy, he needs to give me a reason to.
April 7, 2021
All works by Warren Ellis need to be "re appraised" post 2020 and this is probably one of the worst I've read so far. It is basically an inane re thread of Transmetropolitan but with a noticeable worse art (really this is "90s Image" bad) and no plot.
That is not true, the plot is actually Accelerationist fiction-praxis and, as such, it is just another instance of Ellis' regurgitation of ideas into comic book shape, something that he sometimes does well and sometimes does terribly. This? this is the latter.
Rambling texts with some pictures behind that really barely count as narrative and more of his stock characters. Chatter of a never delivered future that makes no sense and he doesn't have the interest to back it up (so you just leave shit on the street and people make it a sub culture? yeah, right).
And then there is that pesky thing that a lot of his narrative ideas are now creepy as hell. The whole "Shrieky girls" thing where there is a network of women who share the same feelings from the one guy? wow, what a fucking gall putting that on his work.
To be honest I just read this TPB, I know a few more issues existed in the wild and I will probably read them at some point. Just out of completism, but this is one of the worst pieces of work I've read by Ellis and amazingly some people hail it as a landmark piece (Cough*Sequart*Cough).
That is not true, the plot is actually Accelerationist fiction-praxis and, as such, it is just another instance of Ellis' regurgitation of ideas into comic book shape, something that he sometimes does well and sometimes does terribly. This? this is the latter.
Rambling texts with some pictures behind that really barely count as narrative and more of his stock characters. Chatter of a never delivered future that makes no sense and he doesn't have the interest to back it up (so you just leave shit on the street and people make it a sub culture? yeah, right).
And then there is that pesky thing that a lot of his narrative ideas are now creepy as hell. The whole "Shrieky girls" thing where there is a network of women who share the same feelings from the one guy? wow, what a fucking gall putting that on his work.
To be honest I just read this TPB, I know a few more issues existed in the wild and I will probably read them at some point. Just out of completism, but this is one of the worst pieces of work I've read by Ellis and amazingly some people hail it as a landmark piece (Cough*Sequart*Cough).
April 19, 2009
Either I need to take a break from reading comics or Ellis needs to take a break from writing comics. I lean towards the latter. This was… interesting? Kind of like kids’ paintings or drawings are sometimes “interesting,” if you know what I mean? Maybe it’s me, though. Maybe not. There are too many clumsy current pop culture references in this for it to be comfortable for me to read. And that leads me to think it’s me, my hang up, my problem. Regardless, Warren, you’re killing me, here. You’re killing me.
On the other hand, as bad as Technical Ecstasy and some of Never Say Die were, the original Sabbath lineup was aces. I mean, “Jonny Blade”, right? It’s not Black Sabbath Vol. 4 but it’s got spirit! It’s a story song! And "A Hard Road", right? Right? Yeah! Right on, brothers!
And why does everyone hate on Born Again so much? What gives? I mean, Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame singing for Tony, Bill and Geez, i.e. the best Black Sabbath (band) lineup ever? That’s better than ANY issue of Marvel's What If…?, y'know? Seriously. And people hate on it. Typical.
On the other hand, as bad as Technical Ecstasy and some of Never Say Die were, the original Sabbath lineup was aces. I mean, “Jonny Blade”, right? It’s not Black Sabbath Vol. 4 but it’s got spirit! It’s a story song! And "A Hard Road", right? Right? Yeah! Right on, brothers!
And why does everyone hate on Born Again so much? What gives? I mean, Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame singing for Tony, Bill and Geez, i.e. the best Black Sabbath (band) lineup ever? That’s better than ANY issue of Marvel's What If…?, y'know? Seriously. And people hate on it. Typical.
December 31, 2011
Warren Ellis desata todas sus pasiones cyberpunk en esta fábula que mezcla elementos de ci-fi mas clásica con un elaborado discurso sobre la relación entre hombres y tecnología, trascendencia y mitos lovecraftianos.
La conspiración de John Reinhardt es absoluta e interesante, aunque sus motivaciones algo simplonas. Asimismo, no hay hasta aquí (hablamos del libro I) personajes que actúen como contrapunto interesante. A pesar de alcanzar un clímax, estamos ante una historia inconclusa que aun no puede evaluarse en propiedad.
Por otro lado, el dibujo de Iván Rodríguez cumple con figuras y fondos, pero sin la expresividad mínima esperable para contar una historia. Incluso, hay momentos en que su trazo es definitivamente feo. No hay mucho mas que decir al respecto. JJ Ryp, que toma relevo, no se muestra mucho mas auspicioso. Habrá que esperar.
En resumen, un comic mas que interesante en su propuesta, por sobre la media como todos los de Ellis, pero al debe en sus motivaciones y ejecución. Ciertamente, al hombre de Planetary se le exige excelencia.
La conspiración de John Reinhardt es absoluta e interesante, aunque sus motivaciones algo simplonas. Asimismo, no hay hasta aquí (hablamos del libro I) personajes que actúen como contrapunto interesante. A pesar de alcanzar un clímax, estamos ante una historia inconclusa que aun no puede evaluarse en propiedad.
Por otro lado, el dibujo de Iván Rodríguez cumple con figuras y fondos, pero sin la expresividad mínima esperable para contar una historia. Incluso, hay momentos en que su trazo es definitivamente feo. No hay mucho mas que decir al respecto. JJ Ryp, que toma relevo, no se muestra mucho mas auspicioso. Habrá que esperar.
En resumen, un comic mas que interesante en su propuesta, por sobre la media como todos los de Ellis, pero al debe en sus motivaciones y ejecución. Ciertamente, al hombre de Planetary se le exige excelencia.
February 12, 2013
Doktor Sleepless, the latest ongoing series by Warren Ellis, offers some society criticism in the spirit of his earlier masterpiece, Transmetropolitan. Doktor Sleepless is a bit darker and not quite as rant-filled as Transmet but it hits almost as hard.
The main character is a man who's supposed to be in prison but isn't. And then again kind of is. Maybe. Anyway, he's not quite satisfied with the way things are right now (Spider Jerusalem anyone?) and aims for some drastic changes. The difference is, that where Spider used words and backed it up with some minor action, Doktor Sleepless uses action and cunning ploys and backs them up with some words through the radio.
Ellis' writing is as good as ever. The dialogue works and the plot is top quality. As usual with Ellis, I have no complaints. Rodriguez' artwork could be a bit better but it's good enough that I don't have to hate it and it doesn't degrade the value of this otherwise brilliant comic.
This is turning out to be the next Transmet. Read it while it's hot.
The main character is a man who's supposed to be in prison but isn't. And then again kind of is. Maybe. Anyway, he's not quite satisfied with the way things are right now (Spider Jerusalem anyone?) and aims for some drastic changes. The difference is, that where Spider used words and backed it up with some minor action, Doktor Sleepless uses action and cunning ploys and backs them up with some words through the radio.
Ellis' writing is as good as ever. The dialogue works and the plot is top quality. As usual with Ellis, I have no complaints. Rodriguez' artwork could be a bit better but it's good enough that I don't have to hate it and it doesn't degrade the value of this otherwise brilliant comic.
This is turning out to be the next Transmet. Read it while it's hot.
August 26, 2013
Good to know that Warren Ellis is still Warren Ellis, or at least he was in 2008. (The series seems to have fallen into a hole for reasons that -- well, if the data-loss story I found on Warren Ellis's web site turned up in a Warren Ellis comic book, everybody would snort and say "typical Warren Ellis over-the-top gonzo story". Thus does real life make monkeys of us all.)
This book will feel familiar to _Transmetropolitan_ fans, but it's not a retread. Rather, I get the sense that the author wasn't satisfied with how Spider Jerusalem was received -- too self-congratulatory, too easy to superfically identify with? -- and is now trying again a little closer to the present and a little closer to the bone. Doktor Sleepless is self-admittedly a fiction created to make a point; John Reinhardt tells us this on the first page. I know I'm projecting, but I hear Ellis's voice shouting "...and *listen* this time goddammit!"
This book will feel familiar to _Transmetropolitan_ fans, but it's not a retread. Rather, I get the sense that the author wasn't satisfied with how Spider Jerusalem was received -- too self-congratulatory, too easy to superfically identify with? -- and is now trying again a little closer to the present and a little closer to the bone. Doktor Sleepless is self-admittedly a fiction created to make a point; John Reinhardt tells us this on the first page. I know I'm projecting, but I hear Ellis's voice shouting "...and *listen* this time goddammit!"
November 17, 2008
I spend a lot of time thinking 'What the &*(^! is going on!?' but despite that, I love this series.
It is just pure Warren Ellis. Tons of weird science, swearing, ideas both brilliant and a little disturbing, humor, and cynicism all crammed into a story that may be epic and novelist, or may be completely made up as Warren goes along and he just won't admit that he has no more idea than the reader where it's going to end up.
Either way, I don't care and I am along for the ride.
Plus, the hero ( or possibly the villain) is a mad scientist with tons of cool gadgets and a sidekick that dresses like a nurse/stripper.
There's a thin line between genius and insanity, and if you look closely at the line, you'd see a copy of this series perched there.
It is just pure Warren Ellis. Tons of weird science, swearing, ideas both brilliant and a little disturbing, humor, and cynicism all crammed into a story that may be epic and novelist, or may be completely made up as Warren goes along and he just won't admit that he has no more idea than the reader where it's going to end up.
Either way, I don't care and I am along for the ride.
Plus, the hero ( or possibly the villain) is a mad scientist with tons of cool gadgets and a sidekick that dresses like a nurse/stripper.
There's a thin line between genius and insanity, and if you look closely at the line, you'd see a copy of this series perched there.
March 19, 2012
Ah, that's the stuff. Pure unfiltered Warren Ellis. IM contact lenses, antidepressant medication labeled PRONOIA (everything's going to be fine), contract police zones, voter tags via vaccination, and the following dialog between two bums:
"Aah well, there's nothing to be done."
"Don't Samuel-Beckett me. I'll have you know I beat up Samuel Beckett in a fair fight once."
"A fair fight, you say?"
"Yes. I had a baseball bat and he had emphysema."
Also said by the title character, after jolting someone with implants back to life: "There. I am Science Jesus now. A shot for me and a shot for my nurse please, barkeep. Electricity can only be replenished by whisky. This is actual physics. Do not argue with me. I am a doktor."
That's all in chapter one.
Good stuff.
"Aah well, there's nothing to be done."
"Don't Samuel-Beckett me. I'll have you know I beat up Samuel Beckett in a fair fight once."
"A fair fight, you say?"
"Yes. I had a baseball bat and he had emphysema."
Also said by the title character, after jolting someone with implants back to life: "There. I am Science Jesus now. A shot for me and a shot for my nurse please, barkeep. Electricity can only be replenished by whisky. This is actual physics. Do not argue with me. I am a doktor."
That's all in chapter one.
Good stuff.
October 29, 2015
Quizá con una continuación me hubiera gustado más, pero la sensación de quedarse a medias sin haber tenido una mínima conclusión nunca me ha gustado. Todo son cabos abiertos y cosas apenas aclaradas. El presente-futuro aparentemente bueno pero jodido en realidad hasta el fondo, el discurso fatalista del Doktor, los dioses de Lovecraft,... me parece un cyberpunk algo descafeinado, a medio construir, y no hay un sólo personaje que me atraiga lo suficiente para querer conocer su historia, ni siquiera el perturbado mental del Doktor Sleepless. Por algunos aspectos podría darle cuatro estrellas, por otros dos o hasta una, así que lo dejaremos en un punto intermedio. Suerte que fue prestado, me hubiera dado rabia comprarme un libro así ;-)
March 26, 2009
Doktor Sleepless! I got this as a gift from Caroline with the high recommendation that it had been her favorite comic from last year. It's very Ellis, with it's future that is already here but not what was promised to us. It is Cthulian horror, it is sci-fi, it is murder mystery. It is brilliance mixed with some gore and gray area morality in a not-farway future -or a parable of the present, I guess. We're not that far from it, anyway.
I can't wait for more. I love the crazy villain heroes. I think Doktor Sleepless would be disappointed to know Spider Jerusalem's future came to happen, but he would look up to Spider. So.. you know. It's all the Ellis-voice, leading the Ellis-way.
I can't wait for more. I love the crazy villain heroes. I think Doktor Sleepless would be disappointed to know Spider Jerusalem's future came to happen, but he would look up to Spider. So.. you know. It's all the Ellis-voice, leading the Ellis-way.
November 13, 2009
I had read the first issue online (if you follow Warren Ellis he tends to post a lot of content) and got hooked but decided to wait until the first TPB to get really into it as I'm not particularly good with carefully doled out content. This TPB is 216 pages of non-stop bitter, ascerbic, brilliant, Warren Ellis action. It's steampunk, it's Cthuloid, it slices, it dices, it juliennes. One of the more interesting things about this title is that it's interactive and multimedia. A full editable wiki of the setting is available at http://www.doktorsleepless.com and readers are encouraged to add content and discover hidden content on their own.
February 20, 2010
Warren Ellis seems to not care about telling a coherent story in his recent creator-owned work, but at least he has engaging ideas to explore. The ruminations on how technology leads to a non-utopian future, the salvaging and crowdsourcing of ideas and tech, and the creation of an eternal icon (here, the Doktor's trademark goggles) are all really well thought out. The actual story is a bit too fractured at the beginning, but seems to settle down by the end, though that may have just been me accepting the rules Ellis was playing by.
The artwork's fine, though Ellis' Avatar artists all seem to be guys who can draw great, detailed panels, but don't put together many captivating sequences.
The artwork's fine, though Ellis' Avatar artists all seem to be guys who can draw great, detailed panels, but don't put together many captivating sequences.
June 10, 2019
O seu futurismo viral, as incríveis ilustrações de Juan Ryp e Raulo Caceres para as capas, a memetização dos seus títulos, a cultura visual underground de que se alimentava, torna as aventuras de Doktor Sleepless algo a descobrir. Fora dos limites editoriais das grandes editoras, que apreciam algum radicalismo atrator de atenção, mas com conta, peso e medida para não chocar ninguém, Ellis aproveitou para explorar estéticas e ideários de um futurismo nalguns aspetos revoltante, noutros, fascinante. Resenha completa na H-alt: Doktor Sleepless.
May 10, 2010
even though this is getting close to transmetropolitan, closer than ellis has been in years, it is unfortunately missing the humor. Regarding the art, the world feels antiseptic and barren, but not by choice, instead it seems like the artist is overtaxed or didn't get enough direction. Heavenside feels suburban and planned. I would like to see where the story goes though.
November 24, 2013
Still one of my favorite comics. A great take on a realistic distopia where transhumanism is in full swing, law is pointless, and social media is rampant. I made it a point to grab every issue is the beautiful wrap covers that Avatar loves to produce. I wish the series weren't shelved! Where's issue 14 already?!
November 27, 2015
Re-read all 13 issue again and maybe wrote 3 different ending for it in my mind. Hope Warren will find time to finish it in the future.
This definitely goes my "most influential things I've read" list. And you should definitely start reading it if you haven't.
(Will definitely write something more detailed on this on my blog soon.)
This definitely goes my "most influential things I've read" list. And you should definitely start reading it if you haven't.
(Will definitely write something more detailed on this on my blog soon.)
January 3, 2010
This was fantastic. If it hadn't been for the trashy, completely heteroboring art, I would have given it 5 stars. Fans of V for Vendetta (the film as well as the comic), Transmetropolitan, and other dystopian near-future apocalypse-mongering works will enjoy Doktor Sleepless greatly.
April 4, 2010
Disappointing. Vaguely interesting premise, but doesn't really build a rich world like with Transmet. Possibly too dark for me(!?!?) and I would've overlooked the graphic bloodiness if the story was more compelling. Sigh.
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