Sleepless is an American comic book created by writer Sarah Vaughn and artist Leila del Duca.

It was initially serialized in eleven issues published by Image Comics between December 2017 and January 2019, then reprinted in two paperback collections.

Set in a medieval kingdom, the fantasy story is about Lady "Poppy" Pyppenia, the illegitimate daughter of the recently deceased king.

Prior to working on Sleepless, writer Sarah Vaughn had previously created the webcomic Sparkshooter and co-wrote the fifteen-issue Image comic series Alex + Ada with Jonathan Luna from 2013 to 2015.

[3] The publisher liked it and the series was officially announced on March 2 at the Image Expo segment of the 2017 Emerald City Comic Con.

[1] Image assigned the comic a "young adult" rating instead of the more common "mature" label, but the creators did not intentionally tone down elements to achieve it.

[13] When the series returned to monthly installments after its hiatus, estimated sales had fallen another 300 units, or ten percent.

The conclusion had been planned from the beginning, as Vaughn prefers to write stories that are complete and definite rather than being serialized without end.

[19] Following the death of her father, the king, Poppy is uncertain of her place in the royal court and wishes to travel to her country estate or her mother's homeland.

She makes a formal request to King Surno at his coronation, but that night an assassin attacks her and Cyrenic in the castle.

To gain the favor of Surno and Rellen, Poppy grants her chooses Lord Helder as her champion in the competition.

Rellen reveals she has a bracelet that tells her when people are lying to her, then admits that her concerns about Poppy had been fed by Helder.

Rellen admits Helder's careful denials are true, but the king ignores her when she requests to ask more direct questions.

Frustrated by these developments and worried he will be unable to protect Poppy if his wakefulness spell falters and he falls asleep, Cyrenic plans to murder Helder.

Guards loyal to Otrano capture them and he explains that her country estate used to belong to his fiancé and be part of another kingdom.

Otrano has wanted revenge ever since, and he has been behind all the assassination attempts on Poppy's life, including the one years ago that led to Cyrenic guarding her.

King Surno is called to witness their executions, but Cyrenic reminds him of his prize from the tournament and demands they take their walk before he is put to death.

[25] The amount of exposition divided critics, with Comics Beat believing it was well-handled while Bleeding Cool thought there was too much.

[28][29] The issue lacked a cliffhanger or unexpected twist, which led Comic Book Resources to conclude the story might read better in longer installments.

[32] The romance between her and Cyrenic was well executed according to Comics Beat,[28] but Bleeding Cool compared it to Jane Austen novels and called it "common and dull".

[29] In a later review, Comic Bastards acknowledged the cliché elements, but argued the world the team has built was fascinating enough to overcome that weakness.

[12][28] Many important story elements are nonverbal, and Comic Bastards felt del Duca's layouts did an excellent job of guiding a reader's eye to prevent those points from being overlooked.

[20] Bleeding Cool agreed with this sentiment, adding that illustrating emotion appears to be del Duca's specialty.