On paper, “Deadly Class” sounds a bit like fellow Image comic “Five Weapons” – misfit youths going to assassin school and finding a place where their talents are needed. But where Jimmie Robinson’s comic is bright and surreal and family-friendly, “Deadly Class” is grit, grit, grit all the way through, starting things off grim and getting more desperate from there. It also works on a slower burn, saving the assassin school for the end of the issue and immersing us in the life of our protagonist.
Written by Rick Remender
Illustrated by Wesley CraigIt’s 1987. Marcus Lopez hates school. His grades suck. He has no money. The jocks are hassling his friends. He can’t focus in class, thanks to his mind constantly drifting to the stunning girl in the front row and the Dag Nasty show he has tickets to. But the jocks are the children of Joseph Stalin’s top assassin, the teachers are members of an ancient league of assassins, the class he’s failing is “Dismemberment 101,” and his crush, a member of the most notorious crime syndicate in Japan, has a double-digit body count.
Welcome to the most brutal high school on Earth, where the world’s top crime families send the next generation of assassins to be trained. Murder is an art. Killing is a craft. At King’s Dominion High School for the Deadly Arts, the dagger in your back isn’t always metaphorical, nor is your fellow classmates’ poison.
Join writer RICK REMENDER with rising star WESLEY CRAIG (Batman) and legendary colorist LEE LOUGHRIDGE (Fear Agent) to reminisce about the mid-1980s underground through the eyes of the most damaged and dangerous teenagers on Earth.
Let’s move back a bit. Marcus Lopez is young and homeless, and has a pretty dark past. He’s also being watched by someone – someone who wants him to have a better life. But it’s going to take a deadly shoot-out for all the pieces to come together, and even then, Marcus has a big decision to make.
It’s all narrated in the first person by Marcus himself, and he’s got an interesting voice – about as cynical as you’d expect, but also quite thoughtful, even spiritual. He’s trying to make the best of an intolerable situation, and a couple of times in the narrative he mentions that he can change his feelings about what’s happening to him, if not what’s actually happening. It’s a limited sphere of agency, and he doesn’t adhere to it exclusively, but it stands in contrast to the way of being he confronts at the assassin’s school, and looks to be a potent source of conflict in future issues.
Plotwise, matters do escalate a bit suddenly; we move from a rough, realistic world to a gothic, carnivalesque one in the space of a few pages, and while it’s by no means an unpleasant turn, it is a little jarring. We’re going to need a little bit more context about the assassin’s school for this shift to feel complete, but the strength of Marcus’s narrating voice is keeping things engaging for the time being.
Wesley Craig’s art is too cool for school, balancing a sketchy drawing style against well-thought-out panel layouts and dynamic camera angles. The focus is on the scene-setting little details; whether it’s the intricacy of some full-sleeve tattoos or the squalor of a homeless shelter, you really feel the sense of place and time. Lee Loughridge’s colours step it all up a notch, establishing a new, limited palette every half-page or so and always keeping you on your toes.
And while things aren’t crystal-clear all the way through – every now and then a panel won’t scan correctly, and will take a couple passes to understand properly – most elements are right on the money. The climactic action scene in particular is a show-stopper, appreciably chaotic and messy and getting across the speed and danger of the events with finesse.
The more gothic elements are a solid contrast to all the grittiness, as well as delightful unto themselves. There’s nothing quite like a Day of the Dead scene done right, and Craig draws the hell out of this one, capturing a dancer’s poses in a stark, almost woodcut-like, manner. The architecture of the assassin’s school is also impressive, brooding straight off the page and making it hard not look forward to more scenes in this locale.
This is an intricate, dynamic first issue, never quite following the expected trajectory but getting us home in the end. The premise isn’t quite cooked yet, but the mood is definitely established, and we’ve got every reason to want to know what happens to Marcus next. Between the surprising story and the lively art, this is one class you won’t want to skip.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – Buy
