Review - Deadly Class #2

Review by Paul Fiander
If you grew up in the eighties you know John Hughes. You may not know it but if you had a television and watched films you must have seen at least one of his movies. From classics like 16 Candles, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off to the ultimate eighties high school film (at least in my opinion) The Breakfast Club. I could go on but these 3 will suffice for now.

While reading the second episode of Deadly class I cannot help but be reminded of these films. This issue sees Marcus begin to find out what life in school for Assassins is really about. From the outset it feels very reminiscent of the schools that feature so prominently in almost every High School film, form John Hughes films above to Mean Girls or even High School Musical (yes I have watched both). However you cannot help but be on the edge of your seat when you realise most kids are all talk but these kids are being trained to act on their words. This for me is the great pull towards this story you really do not know what’s coming next.

Marcus does have one advantage/disadvantage coming into the school, everyone seems to know his name. This is a step into the unknown for a new boy to enter a school with a reputation to live up to. There are some familiar points from a far afield as Ancient Sparta that do crop up in the issue but the direction is disguised and the way the narrative is playing out you cannot help but feel this will be a long story before it hits its conclusion.

The artwork again feels very refreshing. The colouring of the panels along with the blankness of the backgrounds help the central players to stand out, Wes Craig and Lee Loughridge seem to have a perfect balance in telling the visual story. I’m not sure I’m enjoying the very stereotypical character models but I suppose they do work well in identifying the clicks that people belong to. A Speaking of which we do get a well-crafted intro in to all the social groups that operate within the school. It’s a nice page and I hope the variety of cultural backgrounds are taken advantage of in the interplay of the school’s dynamics.

This was a strong second issue there was no real action to speak of but from this point the scene has been set. The way the first issue compliments this second outing worked really well to hook you in and explain the setting. I do though strongly suggest you start with issue 1 which we reviewed here.
The Comic is available in both print and digital from Image comics. Follow this link for more details.

To contrast with the Remender work above and to get you enrolled in the Deadly Class

Black science #1

Remenders space odyssey is really picking up including this weeks release of issue #4. But this iis where it all began.
Deadly Class #1

School is about to be in session as Rick Remender et al take us back to the eighties in this original comic.
Images courtesy of Image Comics
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