Having recently finished Seven to Eternity, I figured I would look into Rick Remender’s other big comic series. Deadly Class began publication by Image comics in 2014 and ran for a total of fifty-six issues which concluded just last year. The series was created and written by Remender and features artwork from co-creator Wes Craig.

The first story arc covers issues 1-6 and takes place in the year 1987. Our protagonist is a homeless boy by the name of Marcus who is recruited into the Kings Dominion School of the Deadly Arts. As you can guess from the name the school focuses on training the next generation of assassins, most of whom come from highly connected families within the criminal underground.

Remender created this series as a reflection on his troubled high school years living in and around Phoenix Arizona. He states in the afterword “I wanted to explore the idea of that meanness and that drama and that feeling of being ostracized and disconnected with some real-life danger, a magnification of what it was for me growing up.”

This certainly captures the core themes of Deadly Class. It paints an honest picture of youthful excess and cruelty magnified to the absolute extremes. Our central characters are problem children trapped within cycles of violence that they can’t help but perpetuate. I think everyone can read this book and see someone they knew in high school who always went too far.

The first couple of issues are particularly well crafted in my eyes. Remender’s prose is brutal, harsh, and poetic all at the same time. Combine that with great action set pieces and some fantastically composed panels and you get a nearly perfect debut. However, from here the story does dip a little.

Our main group eventually goes on a road trip that takes them away from the more compelling school setting. Additionally, while I believe Marcus is a well-fleshed-out protagonist, the side characters came off as somewhat inconsistent. This might be intentional seeing as how high schooler personalities tend to trend towards the hypocritical and impulsive. For my personal taste, I would have preferred something a little more cohesive.

The overall tone is exceedingly grim, much more than Seven To Eternity given its setting is within our own world. This could definitely be a detractor for some readers. If you just want a fun comic book adventure I don’t think this is the story for you since there are some very mature situations and topics within this first book alone.

With that being said, nothing is handled with disrespect. Characters don’t commit violent acts without rhyme or reason. Instead, they do so usually out of a twisted sense of justice, self-defense, mental instability, or external pressure. These are often how violence appears within our own society, and this lends a level of believability to this fictional school setting.

One clear standout for me with this book was the artwork. Wes Craig draws some of the clearest action I have ever seen in a comic. It has an almost cinematic quality due to the creative panel layout. Craig uses small micro-panels combined with larger spreads in order to emphasize individual fight beats. This exceptional paneling isn’t exclusive to action scenes either.

Issues five and six see Marcus under the influence of some psychedelic drugs, which allows for some truly wacky panels that are combined with drastic art style changes. Sometimes small panels come together to create larger pictures or emphasize intense emotions. It all comes together for a truly memorable reading experience. After coming to the end of this first collection, I wanted to continue reading. The story (while imperfect) certainly has the potential to evolve into something truly fantastic. I enjoy the setting of the school and the characters are compelling to watch spiral into self-destructive paths.

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Deadly Class

9.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Great art and action
• Creative Paneling
• School setting

Cons

• Characters can be inconsistent
• Road trip arc wasn't super compelling