Review - Deadly Class #3

Review by Paul Fiander
Marcus is back on the streets after his first few days at his new school, I say streets but we actually open with two boys in the midst of a dick measuring contest. The task at hand is to jump between rooftop ala Batman and the boy wonder. The art for the whole scene is played out over a number of panels including a splash page. As you can see from the preview art there is very little colour involved but he kids faces really do set the scene. We also get a chance to see Wes Craig’s creative process for the scene within the back matter. This is a great look at how complex a single panel can sometimes be, with my limited knowledge of the creative process I try as hard to soak up this type of thing but I can see it may not be for all.  

This is a character building issue as we find out a lot out about Marcus’s personality. Remender does a great job of describing a boy who has had to grow up fast and this comes through in the dialogue. Some may say it sounds a little too smart for a young lad and insight the Juno effect; basically it’s an older person writing a young person’s dialogue. But if you try to put yourself into the shoes of a young boy who has lost everything and had to survive on his own then that grown up manner he displays seems very well crafted. There are also a number of pop references thrown into the mix and these may be lost on a younger audience but I think they are mainstream enough so not to lose everyone. Just do yourself a favour if you do not know who the Smiths are do a little research and have a listen.

From great beginnings Deadly Class continues to deliver a strong narrative, this book is more about the dynamics of a new kid in school then the actual assassinations but ultimately that does not detract from the issue. I’m sure when stuff goes down it will be measured and well thought out instead of being a generalised slug fest but we will have to wait and see if and when that happens!

Issue Rating 4/5
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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