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Doktor sleepless ::

07:04 / 24.09.07

i like ellis. a lot. i think warren ellis is one of the best writers around. in comic books, sure. but i also think that he would put any other writer to shame if he were to take up novels or what not.

so, mr. ellis has recent started something that he calls DOKTOR SLEEPLESS. i'm two issues into it and i did not really make up my mind about it.

on the one hand i think this might be a cousin to transmet [not quite as good, mind you. hard to top your own masterpiece.] on the other it might be just another of the many 'nice try, but not quite.' projects of mr. ellis.

so... what do you think?
tell me all your thoughts, your theories, your analysis, your critique, your ridicule of warren ellis' 'doktor sleepless'. pretty please.

07:43 / 24.09.07

I am a sucker for the "revenge architect" stories that seem to be inspired by 1920s German Expressionist Cinema. Dean Motter's Mister X is a good example of such a hero. V in V for Vendetta might be considered another one. I love the idea of great men who build cities or who know the secret of cities who are shuffled under the rug only to come back and take revenge. It is a sort of Fritz Lang/Fountainhead/Count of Monte Cristo genre that not many people have tapped and it fits right in with Warren Ellis' ideas about "The City."

I like that Doktor Sleepless fits a mad scientist role, but with a purpose. With Ellis' other work in Transmetropolitan, you were never sure if Spider Jerusalem was insane. With Doktor Sleepless, you know that he is insane but with a method and a plan.

I love the technology bits that do not sound too far off from how technology works today. His other work, Mek, seems to be the precursor to this book and I think he deftly avoided the flaws in Mek that seemed to make his main character unlikeable instead of complex to create an interesting ongoing comic.

I always enjoy the "Bleeding Edge Sci Fi" that shows technology in a way that is almost obtainable by today's standards. It sounds more "near future" than "far future." Ellis doesn't really do me too wrong whenever he dabbles in this arena. There are always 2-3 bits of information that make me think closer about technology and design in new ways.

- G

Haus of Mystery

12:17 / 24.09.07

Horrid artwork is really putting me of this. The future doesn't seem very...futuristic.

The thing is, the more personal the project with Ellis, the less I tend to enjoy it. I find his little pop science lectures more than a little wearing.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:41 / 24.09.07

Yeah - read a friend's copy of issue 2 (I think?) of this and was very underwhelmed. A pity because I've enjoyed some of Ellis' recent work as much as anything he's done (NextWave, Thunderbolts, Black Summer) - having said that, perhaps it's good that he's putting his more annoying ticks into titles I can just not buy...

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:31 / 24.09.07

Horrid artwork is really putting me of this. The future doesn't seem very...futuristic.

Having read the first issue, the future isn't meant to be too futuristic, but I'd concur. The art is very bland, isn't it? I find the figures feel like stilted cardboard cut-outs more than any kind of kinetic.

And, at least with the first issue, it felt as though Ellis was asleep at the wheel, churning out some sort of mumbly automatic-bullshit rather than anything that feels -- maybe I was spoiled by Nextwave or Desolation Jones, but the project feels oddly lethargic.

Haus of Mystery

15:45 / 24.09.07

I enjoyed/am enjoying 'Desolation Jones', 'N.E.X.T wave' and 'Black Summer' all a lot more, and that has to be at least in part due to the high calibre of Ellis' collaborators.
Hell I'd much rather read 'Thunderbolts' and it's trashy cynicism than the painfully earnest 'Doktor Sleepless'. You can almost feel Warren straining to project his slavering techno-lust onto his audience.

16:09 / 24.09.07

[quote MacReady] Horrid artwork is really putting me of this. The future doesn't seem very...futuristic. [/quote]

yeah, it truly is horrid. but as Pascal P. Papyrus wrote the future [in this case] is meant to be very similar to our present day. then again, that is no excuse to make it look like shit, even if the human world pretty much looks like shit. so, yeah, ellis, get some other artist on the project.

[quote Pascal P. Papyrus] [...]but the project feels oddly lethargic. [/quote]

perhaps that's only me, but i thought it was supposed to feel that way. the gist that i get out of the comic books and doktorsleepless.com is that heavenside is supposed to be a place where even the most outragous rebellion just doesn't raise heads anymore. so, reinhardt is trying to fight this lethargy by crawling under the city's skin.
% i'm writing this because i'm hoping that the series will pick up speed around issue 23. %

[quote MacReady] You can almost feel Warren straining to project his slavering techno-lust onto his audience. [/quote]

hm, yeah... didn't think about that. but isn't our current state of affairs extremely 'technoid'?

Phex: Dorset Doom

16:53 / 24.09.07

The world you mean? Well, some of it is 'technoid'. If your view on our state of affairs comes reading Wired and BoingBoing from your Nokia 880 while updating your Twitter profile and streaming Rocketboom then yeah, the world is pretty Technoid. But it's a world that most of the world doesn't get to see if they're not in the West, they're not in a major city, they're not rich, or they're just not interested. You might say that the problems of affluent Western tech-hipster city-dwellers (which, given BoingBoing's content, seem to be Creative Commons licenses for sci-fi stories and the tyranny of digital rights management on hardware the writers and readers wouldn't deign to use) are minor in comparison to the rest of the world (which, given the News's content, seem to be avoiding dying on a second-by-second basis) and thus not likely to generate the dramatic tension needed to propel a story.
That's my problem with Doktor Sleepless, horrible art aside. I don't give a shit about Heavenside or it's denizens so I don't give a shit whether Reinhardt saves it or burns it to the ground.
I'll do Mr. Ellis proud by downloading the next few issues from the Internet and reading it on my Treo while drinking Open-source coffee and hope I to find something to care about.

Haus of Mystery

20:28 / 24.09.07

I'm not sure another Warren Ellis ongoing is what the world needs right now, tbh. I mean 'Fell' and 'Desolation Jones' have fallen off the radar. Avatar hardly have a good track record with shipping things on time, if at all. Arguably Ellis is one of the worst offenders in producing titles that come out at such a glacial pace that it's actually quite offensive to his readership. I mean is 'Planetary' still unfinished? 'Ministry of Space' had a gap of over a year between it's paltry 3 issue run. Hubris, and a lack of respect for one's audience doth apoor creator make.

Which is a shame, as I really have been appreciating a good deal of Ellis' writing recently, perhaps more so than ever before.

00:17 / 25.09.07

In terms of release dates, I think Planetary and Ministry got massively off track due to a family member's terminal (long and not pleasant) illness. With Cassidy on X-Men, Planetary hit even more scheduling issues. I think it is brilliant, so don't mind the wait at all. And Desolation Jones also hit some kind of problems, presumably with the artist.

The art on Sleepless is not top drawer, but it is, IMO, far, far above adequate. You can't always work with well seasoned artists: even Ellis.

In terms of caring for characters, etc, I'm more attracted by the set up than the cast, at least thus far.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

02:21 / 25.09.07

The art on Sleepless is not top drawer, but it is, IMO, far, far above adequate. You can't always work with well seasoned artists: even Ellis.

At first, I thought I liked the first page of the first issue-- Sleepless talking himself up to a mirror, going on about cartoon mad scientists and all that-- for the art, but I think it was definitely a decent bit of Ellis writing that carried the art. Because otherwise I find the artist's routinely routine, reminding me oddly of Mike McKone's work but without some of the distinctive qualities.

06:48 / 26.09.07

[quote Phex is in DESPAIR!] The world you mean? Well, some of it is 'technoid'. [...] But it's a world that most of the world doesn't get to see if they're not in the West, they're not in a major city, they're not rich, or they're just not interested. You might say that the problems of affluent Western tech-hipster city-dwellers [...] are minor in comparison to the rest of the world [...]. [/quote]

have to agree, but then again i didn't mean the entire world, but rather the world i live in. which happens to be a technoid, industrialized, rather well-off-ish western pseudo-democracy. also, just because there are bigger and more severe problems out there doesn't mean that every story has to deal with them, does it? [not that i would know of stories that DO actually deal with them in comics...] and philosophizing about the world i live in helps me find a better position and outlook in it, which in term helps me get a better overview of the entirety of the world. i'm yet waiting for ellis to make any points in 'doktor sleepless' that are actually worth pondering, though.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

07:00 / 26.09.07

also, just because there are bigger and more severe problems out there doesn't mean that every story has to deal with them, does it? [not that i would know of stories that DO actually deal with them in comics...]

I can think of at least three, Persopolis being the obvious one that strikes me even with it nearly one in the morning and my delicate brain falling to sweet, slick pieces in the bone-china wrapper.

I think, oddly--and what Phex said upthread really cemented it in my mind--that the tension between the technoid hipster "How many friends have I got on Facebook" / "How Smart is my Phone" world and the low-fi world of people who can't afford all those accoutrements would be a more interesting tack to take with something like Doktor Sleepless, and really amp up that tension and explore how the two "worlds" / "modes" fit together or fight against each other - that's what I want to be reading. Or, maybe, writing. Ellis could do it, certainly, if he tried; something about those Scientific American speeches ramming up against more traditional (or, more properly, "naturalistic") modes of oral storytelling (to pick a senseless and cliched example which is probably just demonstrating my white privelege--god it's late).

i'm yet waiting for ellis to make any points in 'doktor sleepless' that are actually worth pondering, though.

There was some bit in a stray preview about Reinhardt's soul-searching abroad -- typical Batman sheningans, being rich and fabulous and using the money to go brain-suck other people's wisdom because the "Man on the Mountain" has more philosophical credibility -- and the man in the jungle being an asshole and potentially/realistically a complete liar eskewing the whole guru concept. That looked interesting, certainly, though Ellis can't be trusted to run in the proper direction with an idea.

07:24 / 26.09.07

I think the whole false guru thing could be interesting but it could just end up being some sort of lame test before he reveals himself to be a some sort of great guru.

The pace does seem a bit comatose on this one but I quite like the set up so I'm hoping it's going to go to interesting places.

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

09:50 / 26.09.07

I don't know, a book about how the keys to a "science-fiction" future are all around these people, but instead they're whiniging about their missing jetpacks, and using technologies that could change interaction exclusive for Facebook-esque IM apps seems pretty relevant to me.

But then again, I'm one of those types who thinks these technologies are actually important outside of their gadget-y potential. Different ways of managing the information clouds we carry with us, different ways of networking with others, different ways of interpreting the envelope between I and You? These things seem pretty key (or at least laden with potential) to changing the way people can interact with each other, thus presenting new solutions to all sorts of sundry problems.

That's a lot of what Doktor Sleepless looks to be touching on to me.

14:38 / 26.09.07

[quote Papers for Data Storage] [...] tension between the technoid hipster [...] world and the low-fi world of people who can't afford all those accoutrements would be a more interesting tack to take with something like Doktor Sleepless, and really amp up that tension and explore how the two "worlds" / "modes" fit together or fight against each other - that's what I want to be reading. [/quote]

yes, that's exactly the sort of thing that i am waiting for in 'doktor sleepless'. or at least that ellis would turn it entirely cyper-punk and not only use cyber-punk aesthetics and premises, but rather explore who can tap into this technologies and how this differentiates them from those that can't or won't. yeah, so, exactly what you suggested.

[but don't get me started on 'persepolis'. i reviewed it for the monthly magazine i'm doing comic reviews for in my free time and gave it a very favorable review, too, but i think that satrapi is absolutely overrated by the press.]

[quote Imaginary Mongoose Solutions] [...] a book about how the keys to a "science-fiction" future are all around these people, but instead they're whiniging about their missing jetpacks, and using technologies that could change interaction exclusive for Facebook-esque IM apps seems pretty relevant to me. [/quote]

that's what ellis supposedly is trying to work out with the series, at least according to his own statements, but do you think that's actually coming through in the comic book? is it really being worked that way?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:21 / 26.09.07

Persopolis might not be the best example, but it's what popped out at me at midnight as an alternative narrative to the slacker sci-fi technoid story.

that's what ellis supposedly is trying to work out with the series, at least according to his own statements, but do you think that's actually coming through in the comic book? is it really being worked that way?

Keeping in mind that I did not get very far into the series before giving up, the only overt whinging or discussion of the "absence of future" seems to have been the presence of some grafitti and then the answering of Reinhardt/Herr Doktor's admonishing radio broadcast. It didn't feel like there was any real depth to that tension, though, no matter how much it might feel as though its based on reality. Maybe Ellis was depending on us jumping there automatically? Certainly there's a particular level of ennui among the grinders, but they read as fairly blandly cyberpunk and "fauxcore" that I just couldn't be bothered to care about that ennui.

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

22:43 / 26.09.07

but do you think that's actually coming through in the comic book? is it really being worked that way?

In the two issues I read? Absolutely.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

00:00 / 28.09.07

I just read the first two issues and I don't care for it at all.

It reads like Ellis' LJ with pictures, all pretty punk/goth girls and New Scientist regurgitation.

I'll give it a couple more issues to see if any plot develops though, as I felt the same way about Desolation Jones for the first issues.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

04:55 / 16.04.08

Is anyone still reading this? I've made it this far (issue six just arrived the other day), but the pace is driving me crazy. Soooo slooooow. Interesting developments this issue but I'm not sure I'll make it much further.

06:06 / 16.04.08

I just caught up with it (having stopped paying for the privilege around issue three), and yeah, I'd dig this in a giant supercheap trade, but as individual issues... I would have stopped bothering entirely, except the bits where the Doktor's not catching on, and the balance between him acting cartoony and inhuman and perhaps actually being an inhuman cartoon is intriguing.

And I might be the only person on the planet who really likes the art. I like that it's stilted. It's a stilted world.

18:38 / 17.04.08

It's coming together nicely, although I hope the series doesn't go too farther off schedule (it's fairly on target). I think the opening 8 issues are one story, from there the gud Doktor's plans and experiments may come to fruition/expolosion/revolution, etc. The newest issue really focused in on the protag, his plans, his "true" persona 9if he still has one). All told, a worthwhile, engaging book.

The art has certainly grown on me by leaps and bounds.

Baroness von Lenska

05:07 / 27.04.08

Does anyone know if this series was planned to run for a specific number of issues, or if it's more of a Vertigo "end it when it feels right which is usually 60 or 70 issues" project? I'm still unsure if Ellis' calling this his "new Transmetropolitan" is meant to indicate a new book about socially, sciencey futurey stuff or a new longer work or possibly both. And I do likes me my shorter, self contained stories.

Also, I'm not going to feel stupid when I inevitably hunt all over the covers for a little "X of Y" tag, am I? Because they hide from me. They really do.

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

03:08 / 28.04.08

I think it's 3 or 4 acts of about 9-12 issues a-piece. I can't recall off the top of my head.

Me, I like it, although I'm strangely convinced that sleepless is the antagonist.

06:56 / 28.04.08

I seem to recall it being deliberately open-ended, actually. Something with a path, but deliberately looe enough and long enough Ellis could plug use it to talk about whatever interested him at the moment, like Transmet (and The Invisibles and Preacher) served not too long ago.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

22:59 / 30.06.08

Having seen reference to a collection coming out in the not-too-distant-future, a question for those that hung on: is it worth picking it up for the whole thing? Does it improve past the first issue?

02:42 / 01.07.08

The series kept growing on me and now I look FWD to it every month or so. Anna Mercury is also pretty cool as is GRAVEL, much to my surprise (he opined, somewhat jadedly).

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

05:50 / 01.07.08

Ellis just screams "wait for the trade," as much as I like some of his stuff when he's not over-indulging. He's too in love with decompression. ANNA MERCURY looks interesting, at the very least.

09:55 / 01.07.08

i breathed in (deeply) and stuck with it so far. it's getting really good now. seems that ellis needed to introduce some elements, but wanted to avoid the usual exposition stuff - that's probably why it took some issues to really gather momentum in terms of plot and such.

but it's really interesting right now.
(but i don't care at all for the artwork. it blows. think this is more suited to darrow or ryp kind of aesthetics.)