Issue #1 of Zander Cannon’s new horror series, Sleep, is a masterclass in the value of the slow burn. This debut issue promises shocking revelations through its concise writing and highly detailed visual storytelling. But that detail doesn’t come from dense backgrounds or hyper-realism. Sleep opts for a cartoonish simplicity that belies the horror creeping beneath the surface. The real intricacy emerges through Cannon’s use of a mostly black-and-white palette, punctuated by sterile bursts of red that highlight clues and (seemingly) random objects. The subtlety and foreshadowing demand a second read, which the even pacing allows with ease.
The comic opens with Jonathan, a boy whose unassuming nature is a sure red herring. He goes to church, has a few friends, and seems to be well liked by the people in his small town. So why does it seem like Jonathan is the violent killer that has the townsfolk looking over their shoulders?
Jonathan wakes to find his front door wide open, late to meet his friend, and, to make matters worse, his cat has gone missing. Seems like a bad morning, but how much of it is his fault? Cannon wants us to think that Jonathan is the monster, and that when he sleeps, he turns into something else, bringing violence and certain death to animals and humans alike. But that can’t be all. Other questions arise: why is this happening now? And what does the new guy in town have to do with it?
This issue of Sleep is very much like a whodunit mystery story. At first glance, the reader might not think they have a lot to go on, and will be eagerly awaiting another clue in the next issue. But reading this issue again, and with an eye towards the elusive, you’ll find a trail of red crumbs that leads us to question our assumptions.
The first bit of red we see is Jonathan’s glasses. At first, this feels like a stylistic choice to simply set him apart from the other characters. Then it’s a bracelet on someone’s wrist. Then an earring. Before long, there are undecipherable symbols in red stalking their way to the foreground. It’s so subtle that my first thought was that not enough had happened in this opening issue, which isn’t a criticism. Just don’t expect this comic to blow you down with shocking imagery.
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If the other issues follow suit with this one, we won’t be seeing a ton of the violence up close. Instead, we’ll be seeing the bloody red aftermath, the confusion, and the daylight-drenched days of horror that are falling upon this small town.
Cannon’s script is clean and restrained, leaving readers plenty of room to feel their way through the central characters’ personalities and motivations. The characters often comment on how things have changed and how surprised they are to see so-and-so as a police officer now, or a business owner instead of a teacher, or a rambling drifter instead of the sheriff’s kid. It feels like Cannon is going to show us the dark underside of this town in a way that’s reminiscent of David Lynch, by showing us how the past continues to live, no matter how far down you try to bury it.
Murder mysteries often err by giving away too much or too little when introducing suspects. But Sleep doesn’t want us asking who did it—it wants us asking why, and what darker forces might be pushing these horrors along.
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