Lots to do, but quick update: Just finished the first 9 issues of DOKTOR SLEEPLESS, have to say… didn’t love it. First let me say I think Warren Ellis is a great writer. Since the 90s he’s been pushing the medium to grow up. To be more than the ghetto, if you will, of Superhero comics. And he has done much to walk the talk. Hell I own more graphic novels (Graphic novels, not comic books, but books, graphic novels, trades, things that can sit on your bookshelf) by Warren Ellis than any other Comic Creator, with the exceptions of Moore, Miller, Ross, and Neal Adams. So I’m not a Warren Ellis basher, do a search to the right and you’ll even find an overview I did on him. So was looking forward to the series, given the hype. But I have to say the series for the first eight issues, seems largely to be Warren Ellis treading water. The whole supposed eight issue story, could really have been told quite adequately in the first issue or two. And collected together the first eight issues, a satisfying or even compelling story… does not make. Much of it is very familiar Ellis, which is perhaps my only complaint with Ellis’ work; that his protagonists are typically always the same character. The snotty but acidly witty, cynical Brit tinged character, with their cigarette jokes, etc. From Spider Jerusalem to Jenny Sparks to Snow, all his characters… looks aside, could be very much the same character. The exception I felt was with the series that is now on hiatus (TEMPLESMITH GET BACK TO DRAWING FELL!— oops did i say that)… FELL. I think FELL is the best thing either Ellis or Templesmith has done in a while, and unfortunately DOKTOR SLEEPLESS doesn’t come close to it. Also DOKTOR SLEEPLESS 1st story arc, wasn’t helped by the art. Ivan Rodriguez’s work in the first seven issues coming off as very 90s Image, very stilted and stiff. So all that adds up to a first story-arc, that while replete with ideas, is short on both actual story and arc. So for me the first eight issues, the first trade, is a pass. That said, the art from Ivan Rodriguez has undergone a great improvement with issue #8, It’s a phenomenal difference, more fluid, more engaging, at times it even hints at Cassaday and JH Williams III (two phenomenal artists who have worked with Ellis previously). And issue #9 is even better. And the story with #9 looks like Ellis is actually prepared to knuckle down and commit to this series. And no offense is intended to Ellis, with his staggering output somethings are going to suffer. And it just so happens that DOKTOR SLEEPLESS was the victim. But Like I said, #9 looks like a great jumping on point, and hopefully the beginning of a strong story arc. And I would be remiss if I didn’t applaud artist Raulo Caceres, for his sublime wraparound covers for the series. Channeling Charles Burns meets Geof Darrow, Caceres (whose interior work for books such as Ellis’ CRECY did not hint at this level of craft) creates covers that are so beautiful they are worth the price of admission. And that is something I seldom say. So here’s hoping the upcoming issues of DOKTOR SLEEPLESS are worthy of the Caceres’ covers that wrap them. Overall series grade: C-.