In SLEEP SISTER SLEEP VOL. 1, available now on Gumroad from Foreign Press Comics, a young woman named Harper falls down a well as she flees from the police. In the darkness, she encounters terrifying and disturbed characters who might help her or destroy her, depending on the mood they’re in.
The Details
- Written By: Ian van der Walt
- Art By: Ian van der Walt
- Letters By: Ian van der Walt
- Cover Price: $1
- Release Date: Available now
Was It Good?
Provisionally, yes. The art is super rough, and the lettering was hard to read in several panels, but the core of the story as a dark and twisted fable is intriguing.
In many ways, this reads like a modern, goth-punk version of Alice In Wonderland. If that sounds like your cup of tea (or treacle), then read on.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin the tale with Harper running through the woods, fleeing the police. This is a black and white comic, but there is an occasional dash of color that informs the story. Van der Walt makes a clever choice by coloring the sound effects to tell you the police are coming without showing you the police are coming.
Harper trips in the darkness and lands on the precipice of a deep, dark hole. Deciding the darkness is better than getting caught, she climbs down.
Immediately, Harper is lost in an underground maze shrouded in pitch black with only her matches to light the way. Feeling her way through one turn or another, Harper hears a voice addressing her from the shadows.
The artist makes an interesting choice with the lettering by using rough scribbles for the antagonist. It works to elevate the creep factor, but it was frequently hard to read as the font got smaller in the more compact panels.
Suddenly, Harper is knocked out. She wakes up inside a padded cell. Her jailer, and the owner of the voice, enters and introduces himself as McDouglas Mugless McDouglas. He’s a terrifying ogre of a man without any flesh on his face, only a grotesque skull with tubes attached.
Mugless speaks in deranged riddles and rhymes, but he makes his intentions plain. When he finds his lost scissors, he means to take Harper’s face.
What follows is a disorienting game of cat and mouse where Harper placates Mugless to keep him calm while she secretly, desperately searches for a way to escape. Eventually, Harper figures out what Mugless wants most is the tool for her escape.
When Harper finds her way out of Mugless’s lair, she discovers she was not the first guest of Mugless McDouglas but she’s certainly the luckiest.
Back into the maze, Harper finds this place has a name — Nilsville — and she encounters more characters in her blind search to find a way out. Some of those characters may be much more dangerous than Mugless McDouglas.
How Does It End?
Harper is thrown a lifeline. Don would kill for a smoke. The one-armed man finds a blood-covered book.
Final Thoughts
SLEEP SISTER SLEEP VOL. 1, available now on Gumroad from Foreign Press Comics, is the darker, scarier, Cronenberg-iest version of Alice In Wonderland you didn’t know existed. Despite some rough art and much rougher lettering, the diamond of a story is there.
Score: 7/10
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