On the surface, you could say you’ve read or seen stories told that remind you of Rick Remender and Wes Craig’s “Deadly Class.” Even just at Image Comics, its publisher, there’s “Five Weapons”, a comic that is about a school of assassins just like “Deadly Class.” But the stories you can likely think of are only like this book in theory, not in actual application. In fact, “Deadly Class” – which has its first volume drop 7/16, collecting issues one through six – in its delivery and execution is unlike anything I’ve ever read, and after six issues it has become not only one of my most anticipated books whenever it’s released, but one of the absolute finest comics being released today.
Before we get into the reasons why, here’s a quick 10,000 foot view of what this book is all about. It’s 1987, and for teenager Marcus Lopez, life is hell. When a solution to his troubles comes in the form of Kings Dominion School of the Deadly Arts – a school for assassins – Marcus finds a new home, a new group, and a whole new set of problems. It’s the type of story you might feel like you’ve experienced before, as I said, but honestly, whatever your expectations are, get rid of them. This comic is a chameleon, and an agile one at that, ably switching tone and styles with the greatest of ease.
A huge reason for its nimble nature is artist Wes Craig, an artist whom I had only limited experience with before, but has now risen to the tops of my personal creator charts, and someone who gives the book much of its dynamic sense of urgency that permeates throughout.
A big part of that is the perpetual motion Craig brings to the page. Look at the two pages above from issue number one, which finds Marcus and eventual classmate Saya attempting to escape from the police. Whether the ideas from this comes entirely or partially from Remender’s script is uncertain, but the way Craig delivers it is what makes this scene work so well. The panels and page design all slant from left to right, top to bottom, pushing the reader’s eye along the page with a pulsing beat, finding the panels weaving together to paint the whole picture of the situation.
The bottom four panels on the left page find Marcus and Saya’s every move captured, and they show off the enemy in pursuit as well. Could the story have been delivered with just one panel showing the police car behind the motorcycle? Sure. But the way Craig depicts it gives it that driving rhythm that makes the scene soar. You can see another great example on the right page, as Saya balletically makes her move to aid their escape. In these two pages, we’re given brutal, visceral evidence of Saya’s capability as a character almost entirely through visuals, and it speaks to the master class Craig is teaching in this book on visual storytelling that it works so well.
Moving outside of how he tells the story, Craig’s a gifted cartoonist in his ability to really convey the emotions and power of a scene, and how fluid he is stylistically plays a huge part in that. Take the panel above from issue #4 that finds Saya and Maria embracing each other post cocaine rush. Taken in isolation, this isn’t necessarily a good example of how Craig would normally depict them, but with the drugs kicking in, Craig utilizes an almost Bruce Timm animation style look to the two of them to underline the unrepressed passion they have in the moment. He can shift the look and feel of his art depending on what the situation requires, but no matter what, his abilities as a storyteller stay consistent. That type of gift only makes him briefly talking about using a manga-ish approach for Saya’s back story all the more appealing.
When I interviewed Craig for our Artist Alley feature, I asked about working with Remender and colorist Lee Loughridge, and he had this to say: “There was some working out the kinks in the beginning to try and figure out exactly what this book was going to be, but now that we have it, it’s really exciting.”
Continued belowWhile it’s hard to tell that there were any kinks at all to be worked out, as the series goes along in its first six issues, it becomes stunningly obvious that this is a book that’s only getting better and better thanks to its team working even more in lockstep.
Remender, Craig and Loughridge’s efforts are all palpable, as Chico shows off his capability and heartlessness in one 3/4 section of a page. If you gave 100 different artists the same page of script, they’d come up with 100 different ways to deliver it, but with Craig, I believe he found not only the simplest solution (in a way), but the most powerful one as well, showing off an all encompassing view of the chaos Chico was bringing in the large panel, but bringing us up close to the pain with his usage of inset panels. Loughridge’s colors throughout this series are spectacular, but little choices like making the actual blood splatter from the clerk’s head white and the space surrounding it red make a moment like that engage us all the more.
Remender as a writer is someone whom I’ve looked to for bombastic, epic storytelling, as the guy has told two of my absolute favorite stories in comics in “Fear Agent” and The Dark Angel Saga in “Uncanny X-Force”, and both of them fit into that mold. This story, though, is something else entirely, and something I honestly didn’t expect from him in how deeply personal it really is. In fact, one of the moments that really made this book connect for good with me wasn’t even technically part of the comic, but an intro to the fifth issue’s letters column. When he walks readers through how part of the events that Marcus was going through weren’t just the natural continuation of a Hunter S. Thompson story gone wrong (well, more wrong), but something he went through, I realized why this world feels as lived in as it does: because it was.
From the unhappy sentiments with Ronald Reagan and the style to the music and the deep seeded fear throughout, this is a book that features an unseen character in every issue, and that’s the 1980’s. This is a microcosm of one man’s memories and thoughts and feelings on a time, told through a high concept that acts as a delivery device of all the pain that was felt along the fringes during that era. Sure, the idea is an oddly attractive one – who doesn’t want to at least look into a world like this? – but this is not an appealing path as life literally and figuratively beats up a forgotten kid from 1987.
There are Mr. T references and the characters are very much of the time period in obvious ways, but make no mistake: this is not a book set in the 1980’s for kitschy reasons, but because it’s the only time it could have taken place.
Remender’s avoided the cookie cutter, giving us characters who defy expectations created by appearance and moments that shock through brutality or sheer madness. If you’re looking for someone to pull punches, you won’t find it here, as Remender takes Marcus from a place where he was surrounded by nothing and puts him in a place where he only finds death. You’d think from that, you’d find a dour, humorless book when you open it, but it’s a book that surprises with its very real understanding of what it’s like to be young, and the unexpected humor that can come from the decisions related to that. I will go ahead and say that parts of the fourth issue – which finds Marcus and some of his classmates off on a Vegas road trip – made me laugh about as much as anything I’ve read in a comic this year, and while it’s a book that is often deathly serious, it knows that without some good you won’t feel the bad nearly as much.
This is a book that finds a collective of creatives – Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Lee Loughridge, Rus Wooton and Sebastian Girner – at the absolute peak of their powers, and they’ve found a tale worth telling that capitalizes on everything they have as storytellers. It’s a beauteous, powerful, unique and endlessly thrilling read that had me hooked from day one, but with each passing issue, it only has me more and more convinced that we’re witnessing a book for the ages.
“Deadly Class” Volume One, titled “Reagan Youth”, arrives two Wednesdays from today – for only $9.99 – in local comic book shops. If you missed it in issue form, I highly recommend you picking this book up. I can’t say enough about it, and it’s a must read for fans of grade A comic book storytelling. This is a book that should be in every pull list, and I pity the fool who doesn’t pick up “Deadly Class”.
