There are a lot of comics out there, but some just stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we look at the teen assassins of “Deadly Class” from Image Comics.
Who is this by?
“Deadly Class” is the brain child of Rick Remender, the writer of such creator-owned projects as “Strange Girl,” “Fear Agent,” “Black Science,” “Low,” “Tokyo Ghost,” and the newly-launched “Death or Glory.” He’s also written a heap ton of stuff for a little company called Marvel. The guy has been pretty prolific over the past decade. Wes Craig, the series’s penciller for every issue to date has his own creator-owned book for which he serves as the writer, “The Gravediggers Union.” Jordan Boyd and Lee Loughridge have contributed colors during the series run, and Rus Wooten has lettered each of the 33 issues.
What’s it all about?
“Deadly Class” is a mature readers title about a group of teenagers who attend a secret prep school for assassins in San Francisco. So far, the series has chronicled the exploits of two incoming freshmen classes at King’s Dominion School of the Deadly Arts. Many of the students are sent to the school by their parents, members of prominent crime families. Some, like Marcus, the student at the center of “Deadly Class,” simply have no place else to go.
What makes it so great?
In last month’s Wrapping Wednesday micro review of issue #33, I stated that it can sometimes be easy to overlook the consistent excellence of books like “Deadly Class,” particularly when new creator-owned projects launch every month. With the SyFy television show adaptation on the horizon, I doubt that that this dark, violent, and angsty teen drama will be unknown to a wider audience or taken for granted for much longer.
When I say the book is violent, I really mean it. It’s not for the squeamish. When characters in this series die, they stay dead (although a few have proven especially difficult to kill), so don’t get too attached to them. On the surface, that doesn’t seem like a very tall order, to withhold sympathy for young killers in training, but a big testament to “Deadly Class” is how the creators make you feel for these lil’ monsters. Every character has depth, and many are given heartbreaking backstories that even turn that sympathy to empathy.
“Deadly Class” is also set in the 1980s, and who doesn’t love the decade of excess? Unlike some stories about far stranger (ahem) things that hit you over the head with ’80s touchstones, “Deadly Class” underplays the nostalgia angle. Sure, there are boxy cars, no cell phones, and a pastel color palette straight out of the ’80s, but the series could easily been unfolding in the present day. However, it’s clear that Remender wanted to use part of his own youth (and music tastes) to inform the story. Remender’s own experiences as a teenager, as exhibited by letters reproduced in each issue’s back matter, have struck a chord with readers young and old. As over-the-top as “Deadly Class” can be, Remender has tapped into commonalities that we have all shared: feelings of youthful alienation, misplaced anger, and the scariest of all, the first signs of maturity.
But even if you miss all of that, Wes Craig is worth the price of admission. That man can design a comic book page, and he has a line that is all his own. Working in conjunction with the flat colors of first Lee Loughridge and now Jordan Boyd, Craig has been quietly creating a fearless comic book vocabulary of blacks and whites. He is doing such good work on “Deadly Class” that he is making it look easy. It’s not. Readers of mainstream super hero books may find the art and page composition style a bit disarming, but think of it like a music album: All good albums require skill and emotion, but some are produced in studios and some are produced in garages. Guess which type of album “Deadly Class” is?
Continued below“Deadly Class” is also a deceptively dense and layered book that with a huge cast of characters that does not suffer short attention spans and is infinitely rewarding upon rereads to discover how it has developed into something more than a book that at first seemed content with ratcheting up ordinary teenaged drama to violently absurd levels. Sure, the book is still violent, but as it has progressed, the violence feels less like plot manipulation and more like an extension of these kids’ tortured souls. I’m a bit jealous that people who decide to pick up the series for the first time will have so many issues to read. The consistent quality of this book warrants more readers, and if it takes the Russo Brothers and SyFy to make that happen, so be it. It’s time for one of the comic book industries’ best kept secrets to become common knowledge.
How can you read it?
Oh, so many ways! Issue #34 is out today, but don’t even think about starting there. Comixology and Image frequently run sales on digital back issues. One such sale timed to coincide with the official announcement of the SyFy series just ended on April 23, but I can almost guarantee there will be another this year. The first trade is available as part of Comixology Unlimited. If you prefer a physical version, there have been six trade paperbacks covering the first 31 issues with the seventh volume set to arrive in August that will contain the current arc. For hardcover fans, an oversized deluxe hardcover edition is also available. Volume one contains issues 1-16, and volume two will be released in October and contain issues 17-31.
