High Level # 3 Review

Writer: Rob Sheridan  / Artist: Barnaby Bagenda / Vertigo (DC) “Borders are Death Sentences” The road to “High Level” is paved with deceptions, distractions, and false promises. Low-rent data smuggler and sewage cleaner Thirteen took on what she thought would be a job easy job for some quick cash.  Everything changed, however, as she realized her cargo was a young girl with a mysterious and powerful connection to the transcendent elites. For any answers and the rest of her payment, she must survive the Mad Max anarchic society before her while pursued by a rogue High-Level military faction known as Black Helix. As their travels slowly forge a bond between them, Thirteen’s distance form Minnow softens just as they are intercepted by a figure from her past. Just as previous installments of the series, the issue opens with a prologue digging deeper into the overarching society and history of the world. This time, a propaganda-tinged commercial introduces the illusion that is “High Level” – a protected and privileged region in the sky, accessible only to those who are “grateful and work hard.” During their trek from the Outlands, they come upon a buried relic from the war one hundred years before. In a sudden display of power and intuition, Minnow raises the relic from the ground, revealing a complex filled with weapons. In her past, the young girl reveals she was used in a similar fashion during the war and loathes the idea of being involved with more death.

Thirteen, however, …