Welcome to Double Take, a column dedicated to highlighting different comics and each’s merits through a discussion between two veterans of the comic site space. One is yours truly, the person behind the Eisner Award-losing SKTCHD, David Harper. The other is friend of the site and the Eisner Award-winning comics critic Oliver Sava.

I’m very much on the record as being a fan of Zander Cannon’s Sleep.

I touted it as one of my five favorite comics of 2025, and it deservedly earned one of my completely real, absolutely not made up awards in The SKTCHD AWRDS for a good reason. But that likely comes as to no surprise to any long-time readers and/or listeners of what I do, because complimenting Cannon’s work has been a constant since SKTCHD was created back in 2015. It’s to the point where some might wonder if he pays me to do that 5 or if I’m betting on some sort of ill-advised futures on Polymarket related to his projects. 6 It isn’t either of those things. It’s just that I genuinely believe that no one makes comics like Cannon, and there are very few people who make them better than he does.

But I’m just one person, and anyone can have an opinion. That doesn’t make it right. It’s just an opinion. That’s why with the collection of Sleep coming out — one that assembles all eight issues of this series about a man named Jonathan Reason who unwittingly becomes a monster that terrorizes his town whenever he goes to sleep, and the mystery behind that curse — I thought it’d be good to take a look at this series in Double Take. I’m all in on Cannon’s work on the series, but would Oliver be?

It was a good question, and one that, like Sleep itself, filled me with dread. That’s what we’re looking at this month, as we take a deep dive into that series and the work Cannon brings to it. Are we in agreement on Sleep? Or does this discussion review mark the breaking of our fellowship? You can find out below, but beware, as the latter half of this chat does dig into spoiler territory. Unless you’ve read it, which, very clearly, I believe you should do.

Oliver Sava: Let’s start at the beginning, and by that I mean the concept of beginnings in monthly serialized comics. You have the start of the first issue, but you also have the start of each of the subsequent chapters, which will generally have a one-month gap between them for single-issue readers. A strong opening sequence reorients the reader in the story and sets the stage for what’s to come, and Zander Cannon’s Sleep is a masterclass in how to hook your audience over and over again. 

Sleep opens with a young man, Jonathan, waking up to find a cow’s head and entrails scattered across the entrance to his house. As the story continues, each chapter opens with Jonathan waking up in an even more disastrous situation that he doesn’t remember getting into. The structure provides a fresh boost of momentum at the start of every issue, reenergizing the plot for Wednesday warriors while creating a very addictive binge-read for trade-waiters.

If you can’t tell, I’m really fascinated by Cannon’s pacing for this book. What he chooses to show and how he shows it. The big action set pieces happen off the page and instead we spend time with Jonathan navigating through a town that transforms with each new overnight attack. Early on, Cannon incorporates short sequences breaking down Jonathan’s daily routines, which ground the fantastic circumstances in a recognizable reality. Cannon has such a strong handle on what to highlight to build tension, and Sleep is a book that is steeped in dread from the first page. 

I know you’re a huge fan of this book, David. I’d love to hear what aspect of Cannon’s craft grabs you the most because there is a ton of it on display here. 

David Harper: I love that you led with pacing here, because Sleep is an exquisite showcase of how to somehow make each issue feel like a unique individual chapter while still building the overall narrative in sometimes obvious and other times subtle ways. It’s an excellent point by you, and it’s one of a great many strengths of Zander Cannon and Sleep itself. It works well in any form you put it in.

I’m going to go a different direction to start my barrage of compliments for this book, though, and it connects to something that might have stood out the most after rereading it in collected form after originally buying it as it was released in single issues. It’s not as craft oriented as you might prefer here, but it’s just as crucial: Cannon makes you care so much about Sleep’s rapidly deteriorating lead in Jonathan Reason.