Next Level: One Shot #1 Review

 

Next Level: One Shot #1 Review

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Artist & Cover Artist: Fernando Blanco

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Buddy Beaudoin

Variant Cover Artists: Mark Spears; Jorge Corona & Sarah Stern; Carmine Di Giandomenico; Mario Foccillo & Pressy

Editors: Kathleen Wisneski & Paul Kaminski

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $5.99 US/Variant $6.99 US (Card Stock)

Release Date: August 26, 2026

 

As mercenaries pursue Deadshot across the rooftops, he blames Rick Flag for putting him in this situation. Worse, Deadshot suspects his old colleague won’t pay him for tonight's op. Then Deadshot sees something he cannot explain. Either it confirms Rick's suspicions, or he's getting as paranoid as Rick Flag.

 

Has serving on Task Force X helped Deadshot and Rick Flag notice things everyone else has overlooked? And in a world where everything is changing, is someone plotting to build a new world order? Let’s leap into Next Level: One Shot #1 and see!

 

Story

Darkseid tried to take over reality. As the Earth slowly transformed into Apokolips, the Justice League organized a mass exodus. Then, after the Omega Tournament, everything seemed to return to normal. What was destroyed was rebuilt. And Earth's heroes brought its inhabitants back to their planet.

 

Still, things have not reverted to how they were before. Villains accompany heroes on missions of mercy and call the Justice League Watchtower home. Other hero teams endure similar shakeups. And Rick Flag and Deadshot's former boss, Amanda Waller, has disappeared. Amid so much change, Rick Flag notes worrying differences between the world he knew and his new reality. Then, he makes a list of people who are potentially victims or villains in disguise.

 

In Next Level: One Shot #1, Deadshot is on a mission to discover what's happening. Like Rick Flag, he's seen things he cannot explain. Deadshot is a hardened mercenary. Yet the aberrations sicken him. Someone has built a chamber of horrors. Then, they've released their creations upon the world.

 

Gerry Duggan tells his story solely from Deadshot's perspective. In this fast-paced story, Deadshot investigates Rick Flag's suspicions. Despite his expertise in fighting and killing, Deadshot avoids some places because he knows he'll face a battle. He's died and returned to life. He wouldn't mind making the situation permanent. But if that happens, he'll do it on his terms. So, Deadshot must get to the bottom of this silent invasion before it makes the world crazier than it already is. And despite his motto, this problem won't be resolved with a single bullet in Next Level: One Shot #1.

 

Art

Instead of studying his victims and ending their lives from a distance, groups of villains pursue him tonight. And no matter how many Deadshot kills, they keep coming. As he runs across rooftops, Fernando Blanco intersperses time-lapse images of Deadshot amid snapshots from his bionic eye. But whether fleeing pursuers or meeting an associate on the beach, Deadshot wears his white mask, gloves, and uniform. Unlike Deadshot, Rick Flag openly wears shoulder holsters over a t-shirt. But when soldiers appear, one look is enough to realize they aren’t Human.

 

Jordie Bellaire adorns Deadshot’s battles and investigations with a limited palette in Next Level: One Shot #1. Deadshot races along, filling the gray rooftops with bodies and staining them scarlet, while black buildings invade the red night sky. His yellow, red, and white uniform brightens the night, as a white spotlight pairs with a glowing vehicle. The red sky gradually turns to blue amid Deadshot's hunt for answers. Yet, green invades a yellow sky as Rick Flag says the world is going crazy.

 

Buddy Beaudoin places black uppercase letters in white balloons. Deadshot's white uppercase thoughts fill black narrative boxes. Yellow boxes locate us in time and host off-camera dialogue. Sound effects heighten the fighting, gunshots, surging electricity, and impacts, while showing that Deadshot is not alone. This upside-down world is making other people sick too. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

Deadshot kills people for money. Or if pressed, he kills to gain his freedom from people like Amanda Waller. But like the villains who have joined the Justice League, Deadshot has reasons to keep the world spinning. So, he's risking his life for free to safeguard Humanity in Next Level: One Shot #1.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To look inside see Next Level: One Shot #1 Preview. 

 

For another series featuring Deadshot, see Deathstroke: The Terminator #1 Preview.