After a record-breaking 12 million viewers tuned into the final episode of the latest series of his police drama Line of Duty earlier this year, series creator Jed Mercurio has been busy finding something else to flex his creative muscles.
His latest project is a new sci-fi thriller graphic novel titled Sleeper – here’s how you can get your hands on a copy.
Set in the 24th century, the story features a biologically enhanced deep-space law enforcement marshal named DS-5 who is being decommissioned after decades of service.
“He returns to a solar system finally rising out of a devastating climate war following the discovery of a miraculous new energy source: Titan Green,” the official description reads.
His pod crashes on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and, following a mysterious explosion at a space station, he is deployed on his final mission. As he investigates the mass murder, his discoveries become entwined with a geologist’s quest for her missing father.
“But as DS-5’s ageing tech begins to fail, human faculties and memories resurface, forcing him to confront the dark provenance of his recruitment.”
Making an appearance in the story are also a greedy corporation, “carbon wars” and themes of human frailty.
Sleeper was written by Mercurio and actor Prasanna Puwanarajah, who starred in Mercurio’s 2018 medical drama Critical as well as in an episode of season 6 of Line of Duty and in the upcoming UK remake of Call My agent.
Illustrating their story is comic book artist Coke Navarro.