Deadly Class No. 36: A hefty vision of how to play the game
The latest issue of Deadly Class cuts deep.
Unless you live like a hermit, under a rock or in a cave on a mountain, you’ve heard about Deadly Class. A story about teenagers attending assassin high school, it recently got the green light to be made into a television show, which premiered on Wednesday, on SyFy. This author got to watch and review the pilot, and it’s awesome. Like, super awesome.
It calls back to the comic very well, and with writer Rick Remender heading the production of the show, it really mirrors the adventures the kids have in the original issues. Writer Remender, artist Wes Craig, Colorist Jordan Boyd, and letterer Rus Wooton have given us another smashing issue, wherein Marcus deals with his inner turmoil, and things are felt which most people feel.
Image Comics
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Deadly Class is about angst, and how we deal with it. Maybe.
Last issue, the gang escaped certain death, losing some friends on the way. They made it to Tosahwi’s family land, where Marcus and crew eat peyote by a fire. Practically the whole issue is a giant trip, where Marcus confronts his innermost fears and desires. Every few pages we’re treated to an artistic shift in style, as Marcus wishes he had companions who weren’t dead, wishes he wasn’t a fool parroting the latest slogans, and comes to terms with all his dead friends.
One page shows all his passed on friends climbing into a coffin, one after another. Another page shows him and Maria, his current love, wandering through a post-apocalyptic setting, talking about their future. On another page, Marcus is terrorized by his friend Helmut, whose girlfriend Petra died because of Marcus’ hatred for her past actions. Deadly Class really puts Marcus through the wringer in this issue.
Image Comics
Deadly Class is headed back to school
Towards the end, envisaged in some seriously gorgeous art, Zenzele, an “angel possessed by a demon”, assumes angelic form and comes to take Maria’s corpse away from a still-tripping Marcus, telling him to let go of his insecurities. He has another vision, of himself as a child, with his parents, who tell him he’s a failure, as Ronald Reagan taunts him. Deadly Class is set in the mid-Eighties, by the way.
The next pages are a discussion between Marcus and Master Lin, where Marcus learns that his rage was intended to be focused on a target more attainable that assassinating Reagan. Finally, the trip winds down as Marcus is found by Tosahwi. Having wandered off, leaving the whole group concerned, Marcus saves Tosahwi from a snake, and upon returning to the fire, tells Maria he loves her, and then tells everyone they have to go back to Kings Dominion if they ever want to stop running.
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This issue was all about Wes Craig’s art. It seriously was inspiring. It served as a good catch-up for those who might just be getting into Deadly Class, and if you didn’t think this comic was good enough to hook you, make sure to watch the premiere! Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.