It was a continuation of the narratives he’d set up in his limited series Point Blank and his work on the long-running screwball superpowered teen drama Gen13, while also incorporating characters created by comics legend Alan Moore. It’s no secret as to why Brubaker might take the use of his series title as a slight: Sleeper in many ways represented a certain crescendo for Brubaker’s time scribing the Wildstorm universe.

Related: 10 Comics You'll Love If Breaking Bad Is Your Favorite ShowĬoming quick on the heels of this release of Mercurio’s book, Brubaker issued a heartfelt and scathing condemnation of the alleged infringement on his blog “ From the desk of Ed Brubaker.” While claiming that he was previously a fan of Mercurio, Brubaker said this act “ shows a complete lack of knowledge of comics.” Brubaker passionately denounced the release in a clear condemnation of his work’s intellectual property saying “ for my part, I’m just pissed about it.” Proposed as the first of a series of graphic novels, this series also happens to have the same name as Brubaker’s mid-2000s pair of limited series Sleeper (featuring art by Sean Phillips), published by Wildstorm. Brubaker's series ran 24 issues total between 2003-2005 and told the cerebral story of a rogue agent named Holden Carver, and his struggle to choose between crime and justice in the midst of an undercover assignment in a super-powered crime syndicate. Published August 5, Mercurio’s Sleeper, co-written by Prasanna Puwanarajah with art by Coke Navarro, features a science-fiction thriller in the vein of cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson, showcasing a tale of suspense, corporate intrigue and action.

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