Hello @ObscurityofDCClub and the rest of the DC Community! Welcome to the seventh week of Obscurity of DC’s Obscure Book Club! The next character we’ll be focusing on is…
Number of Issues: 6 (We’re only reading issues 1-6 this week!)
Holden Carver (AKA Sleeper AKA Conductor) is just your typical guy – NOT! He works for a criminal organization called The Syndicate, led by an all-around baddie, Tao. This organization commits several major crimes, like murder, torture, robbery, and conspiracy. But don’t worry, the government’s on The Syndicate’s tail. More specifically, a group called International Operations (IO), led by a man named John Lynch. That being said, Lynch has a man on the inside. Yup – Sleeper is double-crossing Tao. How will it end? What crimes will The Syndicate commit? Which will the government thwart? Find out next week, because we aren’t finishing this week!
Here are a few discussion questions:
What do you think about Holden and Miss Misery’s relationship? Do you think it’s genuine, or just a ploy?
What role do you think Veronica will take when it comes to Holden’s focus, job, and/or life?
Do you think Holden genuinely likes the people he spends time with? Explain.
Why do you think Triple X-Ray is allowed to be in Tao’s organization if he doesn’t like violence or action?
Why do you think nobody calls Holden by his codenames?
Do you have an interest in exploring the unknown? Do you like discussing comics? Do you like pineapple on pizza? If so, The Obscurity of DC Club is the club for you! Join HERE if you’re interested!
Glad to see this won out. This is a book I’ve been wanting to try for a while since I’ve enjoyed a lot of Brubaker and Phillips’ modern books like Criminal and Fatale.
This was a fun read. Definitely had a very 90s “boobs and cussin’ 'cause we can!” vibe to it (even though I know it was a few years later) but the story got stronger as you get past that. The first couple of issues had a real noir feel to them, and I honestly would have expected it to take place in the 20s or 60s if it weren’t for the near immediate references to Tao and Lynch.
I’m assuming everyone is playing everyone. They genuinely enjoy each other’s company and sexy bits, but I think Misery is using it as a way to test Tao’s apparent omniscience and lack of emotion. I don’t think Holden has an angle other than a chance to forget the deep mess he’s in for a while - which is part of why he confides in Genocide.
She’s presumably seeing validation of what Lynch told her, but has to have noticed Holden saving her life, and will have whatever version of the rescue story her partner/husband tells her. With Lynch in a coma, she’s got no one to ask why he would do these things other than Holden, so with her new assignment putting her in his line of sight, she’s got to be planning a way to talk to him privately. And with him desperate for a new handler, he’s got to be willing to make the attempt. But I’m expecting several pages of inner monologue of him wondering whether he should trust her, because if she doesn’t believe him he’ll have to kill her.
Absolutely not. He’s bored to hell with life and the more he learns of this world the more disgusted he is with humanity and his inability to die. He pals with Genocide simply because the guy just wants to drink and hit people. He isn’t insightful enough to notice when Holden is behaving a bit off, nor bright enough to ask probing questions.
His power set provides a necessary asset. I’m assuming there are many like him among the work-for-hire Quislings. Also, not everyone in a criminal organization is a thug. Mobsters still need accountants.
I kind of get the vibe that we’re seeing the practical side of the crew. These aren’t the guys who dress up in spandex, capes, and masks that we see in the background of the bar all the time; they’re the more classic criminals that just happen to have powers. They don’t care about headlines, which is the only place their codenames would be relevant; they’re just getting the job done.
What do you think about Holden and Miss Misery’s relationship? Do you think it’s genuine, or just a ploy?
I guess it depends on the meaning of “genuine.” It certainly isn’t romantic on either end, but it’s each of them fulfilling a need they both have. I very much doubt she would go along with Holden if she found out he’s a sleeper agent.
What role do you think Veronica will take when it comes to Holden’s focus, job, and/or life?
Somehow I doubt that the whole kidnapped husband thing is going to stop Veronica from going after Holden. She’s only going to go after him harder, and he’s probably going to struggle with keeping his cover and trying to keep her alive.
Do you think Holden genuinely likes the people he spends time with? Explain.
I think if he were asked by someone who knows what’s going on, he’d say that he’s making the best out of the situation he’s in. Like it or not, he’s embedded with this group of super-villains and he can’t just be by himself – it would make him suspicious, and he’d go crazy. So he befriends them, mostly out of proximity and necessity than any genuine affection.
That said, I think subconsciously, he recognizes that the supervillains he is around has more in common than the spy agencies he was part of before his cover started. The closest he gets to admitting that is when he thinks about how Lynch would be trying to do the same thing Tao is doing with the Elites.
Why do you think Triple X-Ray is allowed to be in Tao’s organization if he doesn’t like violence or action?
Because he has just enough power to be useful, but not enough power or strength to get in Tao’s way.
Why do you think nobody calls Holden by his codenames?
Part of it I think is simply writer’s intent – I get the feeling that Brubaker wanted to tell a spy story more than a superhero one, and the codenames is something he begrudgingly uses the barest minimum of.
But mostly it’s because Holden really isn’t in a supervillain thing – he’s the enforcer and hand of a criminal organization. Codenames are kind of…beneath him.
Here’s my question – when they get back from the Elite’s meeting and talked about how the chaos sparked armed conflicts and financial upheavals, did anyone else look at the current world situation and were like:
That bit hits DIFFERENT in 2022, is what I’m saying.
What do you think about Holden and Miss Misery’s relationship? Do you think it’s genuine, or just a ploy?
Forbidden fruit and self destructive behavior all the way, it’s wrong so for Misery it powers her up.
What role do you think Veronica will take when it comes to Holden’s focus, job, and/or life?
Possibly a major distraction and his only way out of this shot show.
Do you think Holden genuinely likes the people he spends time with? Explain.
I think he does to some extent, because otherwise he would be going nuts.
Why do you think Triple X-Ray is allowed to be in Tao’s organization if he doesn’t like violence or action?
Why do you think nobody calls Holden by his 1. What do you think about Holden and Miss Misery’s relationship? Do you think it’s genuine, or just a ploy?
What role do you think Veronica will take when it comes to Holden’s focus, job, and/or life?
Do you think Holden genuinely likes the people he spends time with? Explain.
Why do you think Triple X-Ray is allowed to be in Tao’s organization if he doesn’t like violence or action?
His ability is useful
Why do you think nobody calls Holden by his codenames?codenames?
Not sure they know it, and because they are a bit scared of him and if he wants to be called Priscilla , Priscilla he is.
