Sleeping Beauties #1

Writer:  Rio Youers

Artist:  Alison Sampson

Cover Art: Annie Wu

A new series from IDW came out today based on a novel by Stephen King and Owen King entitled Sleeping Beauties.

A strange sleeping sickness, with sticky, web-like substance coming out of the faces of the victims, which was only women.  The sickness is being called Aurora (named after the Sleeping Beauty princess) and it has a remarkable relevance in the world of COVID-19.

I have become a fan of the independent comics scene very rapidly over the last several months, and, because of that, I am more willing to give a number one from Image or Dynamite or IDW a chance.  This is a great start to the ten-issue adaptation.

One of the best parts of the story is that Rio Youers takes the source material and shows you the world and the people of the book in great specifics without dropping a lot of exposition.  In fact, there are pages of the book that has a limited amount of words on it, relying on the images of the art to tell the story.

Speaking of the art, I really enjoyed the work of Alison Sampson in these pages.  It not only sets the tone of the story, but it presents information in beautiful panels throughout the book.  The coloring by Triona Tree Farrell is remarkably distinctive as well, using the different colors schemes to highlight the artwork and the characters.

The story does not waste time explaining and that creates a pacing that is easy and fun to read.  It raises a ton of questions and makes the reader want to see where it goes.

This is another independent book that shows amazing work in creating an engaging and entertaining read.