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So, a couple of months ago I ran across a series called “Doktor Sleepless” by Warren Ellis, who, as everyone knows, has written Transmetropolitan, as well as Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. and is current writing Astonishing X-Men after Whedon left the roll.

I was intrigued by this series because Ellis tends to have a very distinctive style in what he does. When he isn’t explicitly writing superhero stories, most of the stuff I’ve come across by him tends to be in the vein of cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk. I’m sure that’s not all he’s ever written, but it seems to be the easiest to come into contact with, and it’s really some of my favorite stuff. Especially Transmetropolitan and, now, this book, Doktor Sleepless.

As of this writing, it’s just gone through nine issues, and eight of them (I believe) are currently available in trade paperback and hardcover collections for those people who don’t feel like hunting down each and every individual issue.

Because of, I assume, the scope of the comic, as well as some of the more intricate details that have been mentioned by Ellis himself in an effort to help give an understanding to the story, Ellis and others have made a wiki located at DoktorSleepless.com which I haven’t really looked at but for a little bit. It’s maintained by several people, so I’m sure the information will be accurate within it, as well as any future information that might come about in later issues.

But let’s talk about the story, instead of performing fellatio on Ellis and his writing ability.

The story is focused around a man who is all but insane named John Reinhardt– or so the man says, and others tend to believe– who has decided he’s boring and becomes a “cartoon mad scientist” named Doktor Sleepless with a scantily clad nurse he refers to as “Nurse Igor” to help him and protect him in case people decide it would be in their best interest to attack him.

The problem with this man being Reinhardt is that there’s already supposed to be a man named John Reinhardt who is locked away in a jail in the city this all takes place in– Heavenside– so who the fuck is this “Doktor Sleepless”?

While this is going on John’s ex-girlfriend is trying to come to terms with him being a complete and utter nutjob while trying to maintain a store and attempting to figure out just what the hell is going on and why he’s come back to Heavenside after two years.

The story, like all of Ellis’s techno-stuff is filled with things that I can’t even begin to comprehend, yet seem surprisingly possible given the proper timeframe. One of them is a type of contact lens that functions as a means to locate various friends and people through a large network system– the majority of this created by Reinhardt.

There are multiple subcultures within Heavenside: The Grinders– who are people filled with various levels of technological body modifications, and The Shrieky Girls– who use their own system of modifications to create a kind of technological unity within themselves. If a person touches one of the girls, all of the others will feel the same sensation through their modifications and the transmission of it all over the network.

It’s really quite impressive.

The story is rather early within itself, so I can’t begin to do it proper justice in this. However, speaking as a fan of this kind of story (or, at least, Warren Ellis’ particular telling of these kinds of stories. I’m unfamiliar with others.) I would have to say that this is definitely a story that will really only get better as it progresses on. Ellis definitely knows where he’s going with this, at least, that’s the assumption I’m making.

This isn’t like Transmetropolitan. The Doktor isn’t some kind of journalist out to reveal the Truth to a jaded and uninterested city while popping anti-cancer pills and smoking cigarettes while looking through glasses that are fucked up because the machine making them was high. No, he’s a man with a message, but he’s also completely fucking insane and seems to be bent on fucking the system of Heavenside up as much as possible.

There’s also no bowel disruptor, and that makes me kind of sad.

This feels like a limited series, though, like there’s a definite end and it’s within at least 20 issues. I may be mistaken, and probably am. But I’m looking forward to every subsequent issue.

This is one of the first comics I’ve read in a long time that I’m constantly looking forward to the next issues.