Comic Review: High Level #1

High Level #1

Vertigo

Writer: Rob Sheridan

Artists: Barnaby Bagenda & Romulo Fajardo Jr.

This week we got to take a look at what Rob Sheridan, former art director for Nine Inch Nails, had to offer for the comic industry. I must say, despite not knowing any of his previous works I’m confident Sheridan has a great read prepared for us.

In this issue, we meet Thirteen, a freelance smuggler who is happy and satisfied with her lifestyle in a world rebuilt after an apocalypse while her friends insist on seeking a better life. Thirteen is a brave and witty woman who is shown to have trouble with the law, represented in this issue by the so-called Black Helix Squad. She ends up being hired by Akan, who is implied to be a former lover, to take a young girl, Minnow, to the titular mythical city of High Level so that she can end the war, which we know nothing about just yet.

Rob Sheridan presents himself as a talented writer with maybe a little problem to his pacing but that maybe only for this introductory issue. I mention that, because, even though the story doesn’t progress as much as it is set up, we get a lot of information in this single chapter. We get to know Thirteen and her behavior, how she reacts to emergency situations, her friends, her home and a lot more. But, despite that overload, I’m obligated to say that there’s little actual exposition present in the writing. When it is present, it happens through dialogues that come naturally between Thirteen and her friends about the mysterious High Level, mostly informing the reader what is believed about the city rather than how it really is.

The artwork for this comic is already quite promising. Every character has its own unique design and is unmistakable among the others. Although it takes place on a futuristic Earth, Bagenda took liberty to create a freaky design, with spider legs and rotating saw arms, for a religious leader that appears to preach full transition to a mechanical body as freedom of a sinful life. Another strong-point for the art are the backgrounds. The establishing panels look a lot like concept arts we see normally for video games, and I mean that in a good way, because I usually love those. Every single panel is rich with detail, Barnaby even took advantage of some narrating to expose the image that some characters had of High Level and it looks incredibly beautiful. The only downside for the art maybe the facial expressions that do not do justice to the characters’ dialogue most of the times, but I bet that can be easily corrected.

The coloring complements the pencils wonderfully as every character has a rich color pallet aiming for a lively, yet opaque, environment in Thirteen’s home town reflecting instantly her satisfaction with her current lifestyle. Another neat detail noticeable for this issue, is the lettering for Thirteen’s narration as it changes color to match her hair dye giving the comic an extra bit of style it didn’t actually need, but it sure is welcome.

High Level comes in its first issue with a lot of information, but every single piece of it makes the reader excited to learn more about this world as it comes accompanied with magnificent artwork and through tremendously talented storytelling.