Writer: Sarah Vaughn /Artists:Leila del Duca, Alissa Sallah /Image Comics
The tournament has officially ended and the feast begins in celebration. Cyrenic has won and it starts ripples on the pond. His victory brings him under closer scrutiny and makes him a bit of celebrity for his prowess on the field. There are forces that want to separate our Poppy and Cyrenic from each other. In this cut throat environment where you have to watch your words and mind your steps, we see both of them trying their best to keep up and keep out of the spotlight.
There’s several lingering gazes on their part toward each other and panels that make you want to burst at the seams with a ‘Who dunn it’ and ‘are they a part of shady doings’? I do appreciate the air of mystery surrounding court life as our duo is attempting to figure out who wants Poppy dead while navigating all the niceties and glares. You see Rellen. You see the King. You see lesser important women and men chatting and living their best lives. Just who do you trust?
Something that I’ll probably harp on for the rest of the series but 8OH WHALE*, I love the attention to detail in this book. The bruising under Cyrenic’s eye–a tell tale sign of his Sleepless Knight vows–is a great example. Bini’s, Pop’s little fox-cat pet, curiosity displayed across the pages at dinner which sparks Poppy’s suspicion is another. Facial expressions and body language continue to mark points in each issue that hint at greater emotional distress and joy. When walking down a certain hallway where she once met with an attempted assassin previously, we see just how triggered Poppy becomes and how awful it is to relive it briefly. It was the pages of the celebratory dinner and dancing that caught my eye the most. I’m in awe of the detailed page with the one below.
There are some spicy pages of teasing between our two kids late in this issue which left me intrigued. The exchange ends on a note where we’re unclear of what’s happening to our favorite Sleepless Knight. Dire measures are for dire times and perhaps these two need each other more than I thought. With some very fine lettering throughout this issue, but especially towards the end, Sleepless continues to be a comic that is as much eye candy as it is good fodder to suck you into its story. Till next issue.
8.2 Good Sleeps out of 10
Read all of our Sleepless comic reviews collected in one place.
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