July 2019

Sam Humphries doesn’t waste any time with how this story is paced. We get a good escalation of tension over these issues as we learn more about the The Thunderbolt Club and get background on The Operator and the main antagonist, Mr. Thunder. I am very interested in the idea of The Thunderbolt Club, people who have all wielded the H-Dial previously and now desperately want to use it again. Anyone that Miguel encounters could be a Thunderbolt Club member.  

There is so much potential to the world of High Level. I feel like this was pitched as one of the new tent-pole Vertigo titles that would last five years and hit that 60 issue mark. With the dissolution of the Vertigo imprint, it feels like we are not going to get that run and it’s all going to be wrapped up in a much faster manner.

We find Bruce waking up in Arkham Asylum, finding out that he never has been Batman, that he is still very young, and yet he knows that all that doesn’t feel right. We find out that Bruce is in a future where everything has been devastated and he failed. There are interesting revelations on how the end came about, the collateral damage done, and ultimately the path that Bruce decided to embark upon. 

Let's cut to the hot takes right away: Frank Miller doesn't know what he is doing with Superman. DC doesn't know what it's doing calling this a “Year One” book. The team of John Romita Jr (JR Jr), Danny Mikki, and Alex Sinclair are putting out some great work that is getting bogged down by poor script execution. That out of the way, let's dive a little bit more into it. 

This is the third outing for Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo. Their prior takes on Lex Luthor and The Joker were widely heralded for their unique vision.