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.  

The Flash #33 Review

 

The Flash #33 Review

Writer: Ryan North

Artist: Gavin Guidry

Colorist: Adriano Lucas

Letterer: Buddy Beaudoin

Cover Artists: Gavin Guidry & Adriano Lucas

Variant Cover Artists: Juni Ba & John Timms

DC x Sonic Variant Cover Artist: Dan Hipp

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99 Card Stock

Release Date: May 27, 2026

 

While competitors in the Omega Tournament receive visions of tasks they must complete, Wally West also receives glimpses of the future. But instead of learning how to prepare for Darkseid's return, Wally sees people falling to their deaths.

 

With the website www.easymoneyina.flash awarding $10,000 each day for videos of fantastic saves, these Flashes of Insight keep Wally occupied. But while Wally rescues people from danger, he can't save everyone, and it takes a villain to tell Wally that someone has played him. How did the uranium thieves send Wally his Flashes of Insight? And can Wally and Captain Cold locate the thermonuclear bomb before it detonates? Let's leap into The Flash #33 and see!

 

Story

When Wally West and Captain Cold reached a private airport hangar outside Central City, they discovered that the thieves had already constructed their bomb and departed. As Wally searched through the building, he discovered the timer. Realizing that he only had twenty minutes until his city vanished in a mushroom cloud, Wally raced back and frantically searched Central City. But after fifteen minutes elapse, Wally realizes he needs to take a different approach to finding the bomb.

 

In The Flash #33, Wally’s thoughts race as fast as his feet. He ponders the ethics of his revised approach to finding the bomb. But just as his desire to save people led more people to endanger themselves for money, Wally remains uneasy about searching businesses and residences. Family is everything for Wally. He dislikes intruding on other people's turf. But if he can't find the bomb in time, the consequences will be infinitely worse than for the boy standing before an oncoming train whom Wally failed to notice.

 

In Ryan North’s story, Wally thinks increasingly like a detective. When the bomb proves elusive, he wonders who might construct it and why. His wife, Linda Park-West, draws on her journalistic skills to lend a hand. And just as the Justice League is relying on villains to prepare for Darkseid’s return, Wally looks to Captain Cold for help. But as the timer ticks down to zero, it’s up to Wally to determine why a villain might set off a bomb, and what might inspire their actions in The Flash #33.

 

Art

Wally's body starts to blur as he races through traffic on a splash page. He runs through circles laid atop a double-page overview of Central City. When Wally reaches the office that coordinated the contest, he finds it empty of people and equipment. Red-yellow lines trace along streets and into buildings from overhead. Thicker yellow-red bands of light follow Wally and wander through interiors like ribbons. Captain Cold stands still, his expression frozen, as Wally approaches. But when Wally halts behind him, the villain's body and face burst with life and energy.

 

As Gavin Guidry packs pages with horizontal panels separated by white space, interspersing them with occasional square or vertical ones, Adriano Lucas paints The Flash #33 with a palette of pastels. While yellow links Flash with the glowing windows of buildings, the blue interiors have more in common with Captain Cold. When Wally makes a crucial deduction, he arrives in a room filled with yellow. And when he gets the Flash of Insight he awaited, Wally sees himself in a scene colored yellow and red.

 

Buddy Beaudoin fills white dialogue balloons with black uppercase letters, while Wally's small white lowercase thoughts fill red narrative boxes. Words grow bold with intonation and shrink for lowered voices, while emotional intensity deforms balloons. Sound effects enhance Captain Cold employing his powers for good, Wally confronting a villain, and capitalizing on an unexpected insight. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

Fiction can inspire us to help or hurt people. As Wally seeks one villain's aid to protect the public, he discovers how a great story has prompted another to harm them in The Flash #33.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

To look inside, see my preview of The Flash #33.

 

For what happened last time, see my preview of The Flash #32.

For how this story arc started, see my preview of The Flash #31.