DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #7 by Warren Ellis(2008).
© Avatar

Mania Grade: A
Comic Series: Doktor Sleepless
Issue: 7
Authors: Warren Ellis, Ivan Rodriguez
Publisher: Avatar
Price: $3.99

Related Links

1

DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #7

Warren Ellis’s Doktor Sleepless stands as a dense, layered work of science fiction, the caliber of which one rarely sees in comics. By this seventh issue, Ellis has raised many questions, and only begun to answer a few of them. Doktor Sleepless—the adopted identity of the man who may be John Reinhardt—has spent the last six issues lamenting the loss of the future. The residents of Heavenside ask for the kind of advances seen in science fiction from 100 years ago—jetpacks, flying cars, and the like. Through his pirate radio broadcast, Sleepless tells the punks, Goths, and grinders that the future has arrived, and yet stagnates. Communication is instantaneous through instant messaging implants that work on a network called Clatter. Information is available 24 hours a day. The line between magic and technology constantly blurs. The future is here, and yet people still die for the same reasons they have since the dawn of time—disease, childbirth, and stupid accidents. By this issue, Sleepless has made his move against the authorities of Heavenside, with their contract police force that acts as bullies-for-hire. He has distributed masks that block the ports in everyone’s chips—the ones that you can’t shut off, because it’s how the police find you. Now, the underground of Heavenside can work anonymously. This may bring about the end of the world. Sing, the Doktor’s ex-girlfriend, Sing—or that of John Reinhardt, anyway—wants to know why he may have just started a riot, especially since her friend, Celia, has contracted a hallucinatory illness he released.

This seventh issue leaves one more in the first arc of Doktor Sleepless, which has proven itself a complex work ill-suited for a single interpretation. Questions about the future abound—when will it happen as we conceive it, or has it happened already? The story also raises ideas bout the nature of the self, suggesting that authenticity should perhaps bow before creativity and the desire to live as one will. To live authentically in the purest sense may mean to accept less. But, creativity can quickly become mundane, if those who experience it fail to acknowledge its possibilities. The Grinders and the Shrieky Girls of Heavenside use technology for body modification and shared social experiences. Doktor Sleepless invents a completely new persona and creates the technology itself. This handful of observations hardly does Doktor Sleepless justice, because the plot stands secondary to the ideas expounded by the titular character. The reader will feel more comfortable considering the book from the point of view of Sing or one of the Grinders, marveling at Sleepless’s mad genius, and wondering what he ultimately plans for Heavenside. You don’t really “get” Doktor Sleepless. You read it and you come away with a few ideas about it. If you’re really committed, you go to its wiki and help Ellis flesh out the world of Heavenside. The writer has gone so far as to create some of the blogs discussed in the comic, while allowing readers to fill in the story through the wiki. In his own way, Ellis is attempting to usher in the future of his comic, which may be closer than we think.

Ivan Rodriguez does a marvelous job with the art, as usual. He provides realistic figures and backdrops, juxtaposing the myriad of ideas and possibilities suggested by Ellis’s writing. It gives the reader a sense of stability that Doktor Sleepless often lacks. The book often proves disorienting, and more abstract art would likely push the reader past the edge of comprehension. But, like Rodriguez’s art, this seventh issue provides some clarity to the proceedings, as Doktor Sleepless’s anonymiser masks may instigate a full-scale riot in Heavenside. But, one should never assume that simple mayhem lies at the heart of this issue, or the entire series. It’s but one avenue into the soul of Ellis’s story.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@mania.com.