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High Level #1
High Level (2019-) #1
Hundreds of years after the world ended and human society was rebuilt from scratch, a self-interested smuggler is forced to traverse a new continent of danger and mystery to deliver a child messiah to High Level, a mythical city at the top of the world from which no one has ever returned. Don’t miss the start of a new series from writer Rob Sheridan, co-creator of Nine Inch Nails’ groundbreaking Year Zero alternate-reality game!
25 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2019
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Rob Sheridan
14 books14 followersrob sheridan is an art director, writer, designer, illustrator, photographer, director, and editor, among other things. he currently resides in the pacific northwest, but is often journeying in an rv with his wife and dog.
he is the writer/creator of high level, an original sci-fi adventure comic book on dc vertigo.
he was the creative director for nine inch nails and trent reznor for 15 years, defining the band's distinct visual identity and creating award winning package designs, stage productions, media campaigns, music videos, and more.
he co-created the extensive dystopian mythology of year zero, an award-winning immersive alternate reality game experience that was picked up by hbo for a miniseries produced by bbc america and bender brown productions.
he was nominated for two grammy awards for special edition album package design for nine inch nails' ghosts and the girl with the dragon tattoo.
he designed visuals, videos, and stage production for the band how to destroy angels, and performed with them in their live shows.
he was creative director at beats music streaming music service, which later became apple music, and is an inventor of multiple apple-owned software patents.
he has the dubious honor of being credited as creating the first meme, the Dancing Baby.
he is currently developing several tba writing and visual projects.
his client list includes: Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, How to Destroy Angels, DC Comics, Beats Music, HBO, BBC America, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, Interscope Records, Universal Music, Capitol Records, Vevo, The Grammys, 42 Entertainment, Cloak and Dagger, Spaceland, Peter Murphy, Puscifer, Phantagram, L7, Zedd, The Black Queen, The New Regime, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club & more.
he is the writer/creator of high level, an original sci-fi adventure comic book on dc vertigo.
he was the creative director for nine inch nails and trent reznor for 15 years, defining the band's distinct visual identity and creating award winning package designs, stage productions, media campaigns, music videos, and more.
he co-created the extensive dystopian mythology of year zero, an award-winning immersive alternate reality game experience that was picked up by hbo for a miniseries produced by bbc america and bender brown productions.
he was nominated for two grammy awards for special edition album package design for nine inch nails' ghosts and the girl with the dragon tattoo.
he designed visuals, videos, and stage production for the band how to destroy angels, and performed with them in their live shows.
he was creative director at beats music streaming music service, which later became apple music, and is an inventor of multiple apple-owned software patents.
he has the dubious honor of being credited as creating the first meme, the Dancing Baby.
he is currently developing several tba writing and visual projects.
his client list includes: Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, How to Destroy Angels, DC Comics, Beats Music, HBO, BBC America, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, Interscope Records, Universal Music, Capitol Records, Vevo, The Grammys, 42 Entertainment, Cloak and Dagger, Spaceland, Peter Murphy, Puscifer, Phantagram, L7, Zedd, The Black Queen, The New Regime, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club & more.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 20, 2019
*Mild spoilers, read at your own discretion.*
*All pictures have been edited to suit the purposes of the review and to avoid spoilers.*
This issue was a mixture of “what is going on???” and “wow, great hair!”. So in other words: confusion and great art.
The Characters:
Only 4 characters really stood out:
1. Thirteen
She’s the beautiful and sassy protagonist. Just look at her sassiness:
Her beautifulness with blue hair:
Her beautifulness with purple hair:
I’m not really sure it was necessary to show her dying her hair or even to have her dye it at all (it looked great blue) but I’m glad they did because wow her HAIR.
2. Jasper
How relevant was this character to the whole story arc? I can’t say. Perhaps he will pop up later.
If not, then he was only significant in showing the reader how two different characters viewed High Level because he believed it was an awesome place and Em didn’t. It’s to create that intrigue and mystery.
3. Em
I couldn’t tell if she was in a relationship with Thirteen or they’re just super friendly friends. Either way this character was simply in the story to give Thirteen a reason to go to so she could eventually meet , as far as I could tell.
4. Akan
Aah, the ex-boyfriend. This was perhaps the most significant of the supporting characters. What he had to say to Thirteen was veeerry interesting. Also, his hair. Man, his HAIR!
The Plot:
A lot of the concepts weren’t properly explained so I was a bit confused but by the end I was able to figure out that 1. High Level was a place and 2. Black Helix were like the Army.
I actually spent so much time being confused by what High Level was that when I reached the end of the issue and saw this very helpful map that clearly explained what High Level was and the places in the North that characters kept mentioning, I was annoyed they hadn’t put it at the beginning of the issue:
The first page that showed seemed very random but I think the relevance of the scene might become clearer in a few issues time (hopefully).
There were several pages wasted with some monster/man/robot/thing with a rotor arm talking absolute nonsense and using way too many metaphors to make sense. Thirteen even voiced my own thoughts on this:
That scene seemed like such an escalation; I was so confused by it.
It’s relevance became clear with the entrance of , though. Even then it did seem like a waste of a few pages that could've been spent explaining High Level in a more effective way.
The ending was the only bit that really piqued my interest. This was the part that had me go: “Oooh ok, I get what is going to happen now”. Just look at the beautiful art, too:
All in all, this issue was just a precursor to what is to come. A haphazard attempt at world-building that becomes a head-dive into confusion, irrelevant characters thrown in with relevant ones, and only lovely art and a glimpse of the future can save this issue from being a waste of time.
See the next step in the journey... Check out my review for issue #2!!
*All pictures have been edited to suit the purposes of the review and to avoid spoilers.*
This issue was a mixture of “what is going on???” and “wow, great hair!”. So in other words: confusion and great art.
The Characters:
Only 4 characters really stood out:
1. Thirteen
She’s the beautiful and sassy protagonist. Just look at her sassiness:
Her beautifulness with blue hair:
Her beautifulness with purple hair:
I’m not really sure it was necessary to show her dying her hair or even to have her dye it at all (it looked great blue) but I’m glad they did because wow her HAIR.
2. Jasper
How relevant was this character to the whole story arc? I can’t say. Perhaps he will pop up later.
If not, then he was only significant in showing the reader how two different characters viewed High Level because he believed it was an awesome place and Em didn’t. It’s to create that intrigue and mystery.
3. Em
I couldn’t tell if she was in a relationship with Thirteen or they’re just super friendly friends. Either way this character was simply in the story to give Thirteen a reason to go to so she could eventually meet , as far as I could tell.
4. Akan
Aah, the ex-boyfriend. This was perhaps the most significant of the supporting characters. What he had to say to Thirteen was veeerry interesting. Also, his hair. Man, his HAIR!
The Plot:
A lot of the concepts weren’t properly explained so I was a bit confused but by the end I was able to figure out that 1. High Level was a place and 2. Black Helix were like the Army.
I actually spent so much time being confused by what High Level was that when I reached the end of the issue and saw this very helpful map that clearly explained what High Level was and the places in the North that characters kept mentioning, I was annoyed they hadn’t put it at the beginning of the issue:
The first page that showed seemed very random but I think the relevance of the scene might become clearer in a few issues time (hopefully).
There were several pages wasted with some monster/man/robot/thing with a rotor arm talking absolute nonsense and using way too many metaphors to make sense. Thirteen even voiced my own thoughts on this:
That scene seemed like such an escalation; I was so confused by it.
It’s relevance became clear with the entrance of , though. Even then it did seem like a waste of a few pages that could've been spent explaining High Level in a more effective way.
The ending was the only bit that really piqued my interest. This was the part that had me go: “Oooh ok, I get what is going to happen now”. Just look at the beautiful art, too:
All in all, this issue was just a precursor to what is to come. A haphazard attempt at world-building that becomes a head-dive into confusion, irrelevant characters thrown in with relevant ones, and only lovely art and a glimpse of the future can save this issue from being a waste of time.
See the next step in the journey... Check out my review for issue #2!!
March 3, 2019
I like what we have going here. We have a kick ass smuggler type named Thirteen somewhere down the future, maybe planet Earth, maybe not. Either way she is piecing things together here and there, trying to make a living while not getting herself killed with all the conflict surrounding the dangerous region she makes her nest in. But events roll through that present a more treacherous mission by the end of this first issue that are bound to make her reanalyze her role in the greater good.
Without giving too much away, there is a general plot direction here that we have seen lots of times before. But I really dug Thirteen from the giddyup, she's ultracool and quick to stab you in the throat just as fast as she will deliver a zinger barb to hurt your confidence. Lotta dope art from Barnaby Bagenda and Romulo Fajardo Jr. along a universe crafted by Rob Sheridan. Give me some more and let's see what's cooking.
Without giving too much away, there is a general plot direction here that we have seen lots of times before. But I really dug Thirteen from the giddyup, she's ultracool and quick to stab you in the throat just as fast as she will deliver a zinger barb to hurt your confidence. Lotta dope art from Barnaby Bagenda and Romulo Fajardo Jr. along a universe crafted by Rob Sheridan. Give me some more and let's see what's cooking.
February 27, 2019
This was an interesting start to a new series. It reminds me of something…but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what. Most likely it’s just the tone or a combination of different things. That’s not a bad thing by any mean, so it’s not putting me off from the series.
I like the tone and the setup so far, but I’ll have to see where things go in the long run before I can really say how I feel about this series. I do think that it has a lot of potential though. I could use another ‘epic quest’ sort of series to read.
I like the tone and the setup so far, but I’ll have to see where things go in the long run before I can really say how I feel about this series. I do think that it has a lot of potential though. I could use another ‘epic quest’ sort of series to read.
February 23, 2019
El arte es increíble.
La trama por otro lado... siento que ya está muy vista, pero el final sí deja un poco de intriga. Honestamente, seguiré leyendo la serie por apoyar a Rob Sheridan pero espero se ponga más interesante :) pero el arte es bellísimo <3
La trama por otro lado... siento que ya está muy vista, pero el final sí deja un poco de intriga. Honestamente, seguiré leyendo la serie por apoyar a Rob Sheridan pero espero se ponga más interesante :) pero el arte es bellísimo <3
February 25, 2019
Its was a good start. A lot of unanswered questions, but I'm intrigued and if I can find the next issues I'll probably continue on.
June 23, 2019
Promising start to a cool new series.
July 25, 2020
My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU75O...
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU75O...
Enjoy!
July 26, 2025
Interesting Premise
Read this after procrastinating for a very long time. The first issue has done a good job setting up the story. Excited for what’s to come next
Read this after procrastinating for a very long time. The first issue has done a good job setting up the story. Excited for what’s to come next
November 5, 2022
Read my full review at Vocal.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews