Writer, Artist, Colorist & Letterer: Zander Cannon
Cover Artists: Zander Cannon & Ryane Browne
Publisher: Image
Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 21, 2025
When the ringing phone awakens Jonathan, he drags himself off the couch and walks over to the wall to pick up the receiver. His friend missed meeting him for coffee before church. She asks if he is okay. When Tabby wonders about the uproar last night, Jonathan professes ignorance. Then Jonathan notices that his door is open, and his cat is missing. What disturbed this sleepy little town last night? And how did he sleep through the police sirens? Let’s grab a coffee, leap into Sleep #1, and find out!
Story
An animal attack has the police in an uproar. Jonathan gets a sense of that from Tabby. But when he opens his front door and sees a cow's severed head and entrails in his front yard, the enormity sinks in. After a fruitless search for Mittens, Jonathan heads for church. He arrives toward the end of Pastor Stephen’s sermon. Then he gets a pleasant surprise. His old pal Hippocrates Nicoli is back in town. And he’s singing a song to affirm Pastor Stephen’s argument that one sinful person can drive many people into hell.
In Sleep #1, Jonathan’s life is in a holding pattern. He lives alone, yet he sleeps on the couch. The plant in the living room looks wilted. While he readily embraces Hipp, Jonathan and Tabitha seem like close friends who can't commit to more. Jonathan is kind and patient, yet his boss doesn't respect him. But then, something haunts this small town. Despite the purity Pastor Stephen urges, everyone’s life seems broken in one way or another.
As Zander Cannon’s mystery begins, we learn more about Jonathan, Tabby, and his school friend Hipp. Zander peppers this story with intriguing names, such as the association of Jonathan's friend Tabby and his cat Mittens. While the Greek physician Hippocrates left his mark on the medical sciences, Jonathan's friend smokes like a pipe. Then, there's the name of the coffee shop where Jonathan works, which seems linked to strange graffiti that keeps popping up. Pastor Stephen may praise the virtues of a small town that Hippocrates sought to escape. Still, something is very wrong in Jonathan's life and his community.
Art
Zander Cannon's cartoony art evokes Wil Eisner or Charles M Schulz in Sleep #1. Religious imagery hangs on the walls of a living room filled with a vacuum tube TV, a wooden magazine rack, a woven oval rug, a rocking chair, and a broken lamp beside an overturned table. As the police car rushes past his open front door, the front compresses while the tires leave a trail of smoke in their wake.
Jonathan dresses for church in a polo shirt and slacks. Tabby, with her Minnie Mouse hairdo, dresses primly in her dress and jacket. Jonathan takes the stage in an old shirt and patched jeans in Sleep #1. He carries his guitar on his back as he lights up after the service. Mr Edison is a cheery figure, if a bit old-fashioned, as he shows up at the coffee shop with suspenders and a bowtie. But Myrna Miller, with her immense bug-shaped glasses, seems a harsher voice of disapproval than Pastor Stephen's.
Shades of gray tone down the bovine violence in Sleep #1. The Black and White art showcases the sun's harsh glare, the enthusiastic smoke from Hipp’s cigarettes, and the residents who walk the streets when darkness falls. Red accents, such as Jonathan's glasses, Hipp's bracelet, and the writing on Mr Edison's check, precede an emblem of the evil Pastor Stephen fears. Zander Cannon’s handwritten letters and sound effects, replete with music notes, are generously sized and never shrink. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
The specter of death hangs over a man stuck in a rut and mourning the loss of his mother as a series of bizarre animal slayings rock a small town in Sleep #1.
Rating 9.5/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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