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 in Sleeper (Comic Book) include:
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Supervillains often get groupies who are “young girls who need to be close to bad for a few hours at a time.”
  • Ancient Conspiracy: Mostly made up of Corrupt Corporate Executives. In TAO’s Backstory, he tracks them down and, disappointed with their venality, completely screws them over by becoming a Treacherous Advisor.
  • A Party - Also Known as an Orgy
  • Bad Boss: Lynch and TAO
  • Bad Guy Bar: The Tird Street Arms and the Alter Ego, with such trappings as Hero-faced dartboards, masked strippers and portraits of “Old-School” villains like Dr. Mind, The Undertaker and Hugo Lark on the walls.
  • Bad Powers, Bad People: Several characters but Miss Misery is especially notable. There is ‘’no’’ good way to use her particular talents.
    • There sort of is, but you have to convince her it’s a totally reprehensible thing to do.
  • Betty and Veronica: Veronica St James and Miss Misery. In that order, actually.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Holden rescues Grifter at the end of Point Blank.
  • Black and Gray Morality: Borders on Evil Versus Evil:

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.” }}

    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.