DEADLY CLASS VOLUME 7 review

(Review by Melody Werner)
Deadly Class is an ongoing comic series that began in 2014 written by Rick Remender (of Uncanny X-Force fame), penciled by Wes Craig, colored by Jordan Boyd, and published by Image Comics/Remender's outfit Giant Generator. It's a crime thriller/romance series about a high school for assassins set in the 80's and inspired by the real life experiences of Remender and co. (though not a true story by any means). It's become one of Image's killer series, with a strong readership and a TV adaptation from SyFy in the works (at time of writing). As you may remember, last year I read and reviewed the first five volumes as well as the sixth earlier this year, since I'm a fan of pulpy crime comics and wanted to see for myself if I'd like it. Back then, with both reviews, I absolutely loved it. With the seventh volume having come out a few months ago, I binged it yesterday and believe that it's actually magnified my adoration for this title.

Craig's art is great. Not only are his covers iconic because of how stylized and unique they are, his interior work is on fire. He especially makes the action sequences in this series really pop. They're so dynamic and fast-paced, and Craig cleverly plays around with the panels to great effect. In fact, the panel layouts have never been more magnificent in the series than here. The visuals are so bombastic and they leap off the page in spectacular fashion. Lee Loughridge did a phenomenal job on the first few volumes, but Jordan Boyd does stellar stepping up to the plate in Lee's stead. Like Loughridge, Boyd makes this 80's pulp crime series really work, using flats rather than fully rendering the colors--a sort of minimalist approach which hearkens back to old comics of the era this particular series is set--but don't mistake it--this is an incredibly vibrant looking series with LOADS of color. There are some pages which experiment with other styles of coloring, and there's no other word to describe them than "brilliant". The story may be grim and tense, but the art easily pulls you into its world in a way which cannot be fully explained purely through words. The reading flow is smooth, though in some later volumes the layout can be a bit over the place and somewhat hard to track. Things like the lettering by Rus Wooten and general presentation are absolutely stellar.

Deadly Class is a series which I think is a perfect melding between visuals and writing. Each could stand up in the other's place, but the series itself is all the stronger when the two elements are together. The narrative in Deadly Class is one of the greatest on shelves now, hands down. It's so twisted and tense, no character is ever safe, and there are some moments, some character deaths, which will leave your jaw hanging on the floor. This series pulls no punches and always catches you off-guard. This particular volume continues the story with a great direction. It doesn't necessarily have too many of its own twists and turns, but it's a fantastic intermediary arc nevertheless and spells for some big gut-punches in the next arc. Deadly Class remains a title where you're not going to read it and get bored over the story not progressing, as it's always doing just that and changing the game. The style of these covers have become certifiably iconic to me--they're simple, yet so visually striking and unique. When I look at these covers, I don't need to see the title of the comic to know without a doubt that it is Deadly Class.

None of the characters are one-dimensional, with tons of complexity, motivations, secrets, personality, and fundamental character flaws which play into the story in a natural way. This is like Brubaker in that you will not like any of the characters completely, they're all a bit broken and fucked up, and any who isn't either will end up like that or they'll probably end up dead. It's grim, but that's part of the charm in it. It's necessary for the story. In terms of the romance, I would say that this isn't really a romance, it's more of an "unromance" story. Romantic interests play a huge part in the story, but it flips the usual ideas of them on their head. There's a lot more conflict when it comes to the romance than sappy garbage. And I never felt that it got in the way of the rest of the story, it actually plays into the overall tale quite organically. And I usually hate romance in comics because they're almost always underdeveloped and get in the way of the story, so kudos to Remender and crew for creating romances which don't make me want to tear my skin off. The dialogue and narration with this 7th chapter are discernibly more poetic and anarchic this time around, really driving home the volume's penultimate vibe. As always, they add to the series's atmosphere, which is already strong. I found one bit of narration to be a bit clunky, but that doesn't detract much from my massive enjoyment of this book.

Deadly Class is yet another Image series that is incredibly addictive. Like Chew and Saga and Criminal and Wayward, it's a series which constantly leaves me wanting more. Wanting to see where the next part of the story goes, and what happens to the characters, and what twisted mindfucks Remender can come up with. Deadly Class still isn't for everyone--if you are not a fan of the Brubaker way of doing things, then you will probably find yourself not being too into Deadly Class either. But if you are, I think you'll find yourself completely absorbed in this story and this setting and this dialogue. Until Criminal's triumphant return in 2019, Deadly Class valiantly fills that gap which Criminal had left open in the market (at time of writing) for a hard-boiled crime tale with great aplomb. I don't think it's necessarily on par with Criminal, but it's so, so damn close. The seventh volume of Deadly Class gets a 10/10 from me.

Master-class

Summary:
Yet another fantastic installment of a damn brilliant series which inherits all of the strengths of previous volumes and places them in sharper focus. The comic's general weaknesses aren't so noticeable here. This very well may be as good as Deadly Class gets. Things heat up a ton with this arc, in a way which flows naturally from the previous arc which was a momentary overture.

(originally posted: 5/6/2018)