What I’ve Been Reading: Doktor Sleepless vol. 1: The Engines of Desire

I had heard two things about Warren Ellis’ newest series prior to reading it. The first was that it felt VERY MUCH like his defining series “Transmetropolitan.” The second was that it didn’t really start to differentiate itself and become interesting in its own right until issue eight, the last one collected in this volume. Now that I’ve read through it I can say that one of these is right.

And now that you’ve clicked on the link to read the rest of my review, let me say right off that the series really doesn’t feel much like “Transmet” at all. Yes, it has a violently anti-social hero in John Reinheardt, the titular Doktor, who has come back from a long absence to terrorize his old stomping grounds of the city of Havenside, lots of talk about weird and compelling sci-fi concepts, and even a “filthy assistant” in the form of the ex-black ops woman who serves as Reinhardt’s nurse/bodyguard. It all looks the same on the surface, but once you start reading you’ll see that things are quite different in the “Doktor’s” world.

For starters, Reinhardt hasn’t come back to bring the truth to the masses or due to some long-overdue publishing commitments. Instead, he’s reinvented himself as the cartoonish mad scientist “Doktor Sleepless” whose only goal is to spread his subversive ideas to the city populace by ranting about them over the airwaves and staging public stunts. These include shocking a heart attack victim back to life, shutting the city’s power grid down for a brief period, and distributing facemasks that mask the electronic ID signals that each person has.

Why is he doing this? The reason he gives in the beginning is because the future sucks. The past promised us jetpacks and flying cars, and if the best we can do for ourselves is bluetooth then it’s time to bring it all crashing down. From there we get a long and leisurely tour of the city of Havenside and introductions to the book’s supporting cast. And when I say “long and leisurely” I mean that most of what happens next pretty much meanders along without any real urgency, where Ellis dishes out more interesting sci-fi concepts, sets up ideas and plot points to be explored later, all without a real sense of urgency or drama.

To be honest, most of the middle section of this volume veers dangerously close to boredom because a lot of it is spent having the cast angst about their histories with John before he became the Doktor, and the Doktor jabbering on about his cryptic plans to bring about the end of the world and how the future sucks. Part of me wants to say that this will all be far more interesting to people who haven’t read any of Ellis’ work before, but even then I think their patience will be tried despite the occasional bit of ultraviolence and witty dialogue to liven things up.

Speaking of the dialogue, even I have to admit that a lot of what’s here feels like stock “Warren Ellis Dialogue.” If you’ve read any of his work before, then a lot of what you read here will have a very familiar ring to it. Lines like, “Don’t ‘My-lad’ me. I’m six weeks younger than you, you crooked-ass bastard,” and “When I was a kid, I’d go to the cemetery, the big Havenside necropolis, and lay my ear on my parents grave,” sound like they could’ve come from any of his other works, and most of what’s here isn’t even as witty as that. The familiarity of the dialogue here breeds contempt, is what I’m saying.

While I’m on the subject of the book’s faults (can’t interrupt a good roll here), let’s talk about the art. Based on what I’ve seen here, Ivan Rodriguez is a competent artist… and not much more. He’s got enough skill to tell the story well enough, but there’s not a lot of action or pizzazz to really bring things to life. Granted, he’s having to draw just talking heads for a lot of the story, and not everyone can be Steve Dillon (“Preacher”) or Darick Robertson (“Transmetropolitan,” and yes, he’s sorely missed here) who have a particular knack for making those kinds of scenes visually interesting. I’m under the impression that this is his first major comics work, and in that regard, it’s a good first start, but for the sake of the series I hope he starts learning new tricks fast.

That’s because for all that I’ve been harping on for the last few paragraphs, the series does get much more interesting in the final issue. After the Doktor meets up with Sing and starts hashing out the plot with her, we find out just what his game is. To put it in mildly spoilery terms, he’s planning to bring about the end of the world in literal, not metaphorical, terms. The actual “Why?” of his plans is actually quite ingenious (cthulu fans should get a kick out of it) and best of all, it causes the reader to go back and re-examine everything that’s happened in this volume in a new light. It’s a great accomplishment on Ellis’ part, though I wish he’d gotten to the point just a little quicker.

So if you’re a fan of Ellis’ work this is worth picking up. Even with the cover gallery and “wiki” excerpts in the back, the book is still farily pricey at $27, but you can get it for less at most online retailers. If you’ve never read any of his work before, I’d still say that “Transmet” is a better introduction to his work and worldview. Though it has its faults, I’m still very interested in seeing where “Doktor Sleepless” goes from here. Hopefully it will be to some place that has better pacing and improved art, but I’m willing to give it a chance.