Infinity Wars Sleepwalker #1 (of 4) Review

Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims

Artist: Todd Nauck

Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham

Published by: Marvel Comics

Infinity Wars at Marvel seems to have been going on for a long time already, and with its oversized price tag and monthly schedule, I’ve been almost reluctant to buy the issues month-to-month.

To borrow fellow reviewer Charles Martin’s rating system, I’ll give the Infinity Wars tie-ins either a Buy It or Skip It rating, since there aren’t that many, but there are enough.

This month sees the debut of the Sleepwalker tie-in to Infinity Wars and right off the bat, I was sold. I have always been a fan of the lesser-known heroes in comics and I really enjoy when they get to see the light of day once more. It’s the reason why I picked up the Darkhawk tie-in from Infinity Countdown and why Sleepwalker was added to my pull list right away, without caring whether or not it ties-in properly with the event.

Sleepwalker is a pretty interesting hero in his own right, and especially so because of how he appears: his host, Rick Sheridan, has to fall asleep to allow Sleepwalker to materialize in the waking world. He was a fun creation of 90s Marvel and was often linked to other heroes of the time and that is where the story begins. Bowers and Sims begin the issue with a narrated monologue by Silhouette (anyone remember her?) as she describes how in New York, for every A-list superhero, there are three more that the world has not heard about. It’s a quick bit of dialogue, but it’s a fun nod to the reader that there are superheroes beyond just the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four.  

From there, the story shifts to fully integrate itself within the Infinity Wars event by having Sleepwalker witness the events of Infinity Wars #3 and have him explain/witness the fallout. From there, Sleepwalker, having now realized that Rick is no longer part of this world due to Requiem’s actions, seeks help from the Council of Dreams (I’ve given them this name since they are only referred to as the council) to set things right.

The best part of this issue is the fact that it not only ties-in really well to the main event, but that it has a logical progression from point A to point B to point C throughout. The actions of Requiem lead Sleepwalker on his quest and we, as the reader, get to explore a world not often explored within the Marvel universe and get to see some of these Warps (the amalgamated characters) without having their origins are spelled out for us.

Todd Nauck has always been one of my favourite artists and he continues his stellar work throughout this issue. I’ve always enjoyed the fact that he has a pretty unique style among his contemporaries in the North American comic book market and because of this, his issues always stand out. Even though Sleepwalker doesn’t have the most intricate of designs, Nauck still brings him to life. Combine that with Rosenberg’s excellent use of colours and you have a very pretty book to look at.

This gets a definite Buy It from me. Not only does it bring back a long lost character to the Marvel Universe, it also ties-in to the main event in a logical fashion. Great work!