Sleeper (Comic Book): Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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* [[Continuity Nod]]: To the Wildstorm universe and more specifically [[Alan Moore|Moore’s]] run on [[Wild CATS]].
* [[Continuity Nod]]: To the Wildstorm universe and more specifically [[Alan Moore|Moore’s]] run on [[Wild CATS]].
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Impressively so, even by [[Wildstorm]] standards.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Impressively so, even by [[Wildstorm]] standards.
* [[Deep Cover Agent]]
* [[Deep-Cover Agent]]
* [[Evil Costume Switch]]: Averted. Hero and villain costumes look exactly the same. A nice bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] illustrating the [[Black and Gray Morality]] of the book.
* [[Evil Costume Switch]]: Averted. Hero and villain costumes look exactly the same. A nice bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] illustrating the [[Black and Gray Morality]] of the book.
* [[Fag Hag]]: There is a supervillain named Faghag who [[Vampiric Draining|feeds on the life force of gay men.]] She got this power after being [[Crowning Moment of Funny|bitten by a radioactive gay Peter Parker]].
* [[Fag Hag]]: There is a supervillain named Faghag who [[Vampiric Draining|feeds on the life force of gay men.]] She got this power after being [[Crowning Moment of Funny|bitten by a radioactive gay Peter Parker]].
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{{quote| '''Holden''': ''“I hate flying cars. I really do. They’re so super-spy.”''}}
{{quote| '''Holden''': ''“I hate flying cars. I really do. They’re so super-spy.”''}}
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: Especially in volume 2.
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: Especially in volume 2.
* [[Good Guy Bar]]: “The Domino” (formerly called Clark’s and run by an elderly [[Superman]] expy until they had to change their name “for legal reasons.”) Mostly filled with [[Super Zeroes]] and [[Nineties Anti Hero|90s antiheroes]].
* [[Good Guy Bar]]: “The Domino” (formerly called Clark’s and run by an elderly [[Superman]] expy until they had to change their name “for legal reasons.”) Mostly filled with [[Super Zeroes]] and [[Nineties Anti-Hero|90s antiheroes]].
* [[Government Agency of Fiction]]: I.O. whether it stands for International Operations or Internal Operations. "Makes the CIA look like the IRS".
* [[Government Agency of Fiction]]: I.O. whether it stands for International Operations or Internal Operations. "Makes the CIA look like the IRS".
* [[Guns Akimbo]]: Used throughout the series. Holden and Grifter in particular like this trope.
* [[Guns Akimbo]]: Used throughout the series. Holden and Grifter in particular like this trope.
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* [[Superman Stays Out of Gotham]]: The events are [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] as being beneath the notice of the more public superhuman teams like [[The Authority]].
* [[Superman Stays Out of Gotham]]: The events are [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] as being beneath the notice of the more public superhuman teams like [[The Authority]].
* [[Superpowered Mooks]]: Many henchmen on both sides are described as having “low level cybernetic enhancements” that [[Informed Ability|serve no purpose but to spark]] when the characters are hit.
* [[Superpowered Mooks]]: Many henchmen on both sides are described as having “low level cybernetic enhancements” that [[Informed Ability|serve no purpose but to spark]] when the characters are hit.
* [[Super Hero Origin|Origin Story]]:In-universe villains use it to kill time between missions, and it’s the done thing to tell your origin story in third-person.
* [[Super-Hero Origin|Origin Story]]:In-universe villains use it to kill time between missions, and it’s the done thing to tell your origin story in third-person.
* [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch]]
* [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch]]
* [[This Page Will Self Destruct]]: And often the messenger, too.
* [[This Page Will Self-Destruct]]: And often the messenger, too.
* [[Title Drop]]: The [[Vanity License Plate]] on Lynch’s [[Flying Car]] reads “[[SLEEPER 1]]”. The dialogue hilariously lampshades this, to boot.
* [[Title Drop]]: The [[Vanity License Plate]] on Lynch’s [[Flying Car]] reads “[[SLEEPER 1]]”. The dialogue hilariously lampshades this, to boot.
* [[Trunk Shot]]
* [[Trunk Shot]]

Revision as of 11:07, 26 January 2014

A comic book series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, set in the Wildstorm universe, combining Noir and superheroes. Originally introduced as 12-issue mini-series (March, 2003-March, 2004). It spawned the one-shot "Coup D'Etat: Sleeper" (April, 2004) and the sequel "Sleeper: Season 2". The later was another 12-issue series (August, 2004-July, 2005). Sleeper was preceded by a 5 issue miniseries called Point Blank that effectively acts as a prelude, so tropes present in Point Blank are discussed here.

Holden Carver used to be a black ops operative for the American government agency known as International Operations. When his late father was revealed to have been a traitor, Carver stole a retrieved alien artifact and went rogue, eventually joining a syndicate of super-powered criminals run by supervillain Tao (formerly of the Wild CATS).

Except that's not true. Carver unintentionally became bonded with the artifact while on a mission; he was recruited to infiltrate the syndicate by his mentor John Lynch. The preceding is just a cover story.

That is until a failed assassination attempt sent Lynch into a coma, and the cover story became, for all intent and purposes, reality. Carver then has to find his own way out while doing more and more questionable things to maintain his cover.

Has a character sheet.

Not to be confused with the Woody Allen film.

Tropes used

 Veronica: He's a terrorist, Holden. He's destabilized governments across the globe. He's killed innocent people, and God knows what he's done that we don't know about.

Carver: What kind of black ops do you think I did for I.O.? Destabilizing governments, killing innocent people and lots of stuff you really don't want to know about.

Veronica: That's not the same. With I.O. there's a greater purpose...

Carver: Is there? Or is it just covert imperialism? Dead children are still dead children at the end of the day, Veronica... they don't care about the reasons behind it.

 Holden: “I hate flying cars. I really do. They’re so super-spy.”

{{quote| “There was a hierarchy. TAO, of course, was at the top of the pyramid, and just under him were the Prodigals – his three closest agents. If anyone knew TAO’s motives, it was probably them. Beneath the Prodigals were the Torpedoes. Which is what I was, sort of a lieutenant in the organization. There were maybe 30 of us. In between missions we did as we pleased, answering only to the four people above us. Under the torpedoes were the Blackguards – Our soldiers. These guys[[Mooks followed orders and kept the peace among the rank and file.}} Higher level Blackguards, like the ones that caught me and Genocide red-handed, reported directly to TAO. And below them was everyone else – the Quislings. These guys were small-time post human crooks, some working just the odd mission here or there, and some eventually moving up the chain.” }}

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