You know that anxious feeling you get when you send an important text message or email? As you anxiously await a response, whether it be the one you wanted or bad news, your stomach slowly becomes the inside of a washing machine on spin cycle. Your chest gets tighter the longer you sit and assume the worst is on its way back to you.
Then all of a sudden, a response is waiting in your inbox. You’re so happy you got it that you don’t even want to open it right away. Waiting a little prolongs the wave of relief you feel that your time waiting is now over. No matter what you’re about to open, at least the wait is over, you can absorb it’s contents and carry it with you as you move forward in life.
That pretty much sums up the experience that takes place in between issues of Deadly Class. It’s so goddamned good.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
Writer Rick Remender puts readers through an emotional adventure that continues to pay off the deeper into the series you get. Deadly Class #28 is a monumental payoff for fans with any semblance of a soul. Killing off the main cast almost entirely and replacing them with a new crop of freshman was bold, initially striking a harsher blow to readers than a well executed katana strike by Saya.
This dynamic creative duo shares the long-term chemistry that Marvel and DC are desperate for in the age of revolving creative teams.
This series started off simple enough, but the concept sucks you in right out of the gate and doesn’t let go. By the end of the first arc, Remender has readers eating out of the palm of his hand. Every relationship feels real, every conversation felt familiar, every action scene burned into your brain like a gruesome horror movie sequence you’ll never forget.
Artist Wes Craig deserves just as much credit, he breathes life into these characters. Even if you didn’t grow up in the 80s, these books serve as memories of your youth in an era you’ve only experienced through movies and stories from older folk. Taking the fondest years of your life and drenching them in glorious teenage assassin chaos. Every expression, environment, and movement in these panels deserves another moment of admiration before turning the page.
This dynamic creative duo shares the long-term chemistry that Marvel and DC are desperate for in the age of revolving creative teams. Deadly Class is a comic like no other, yet somehow feels like home from the very first issue. Not because we’ve been here before, but because this is an amalgamation of everything you want in an ongoing comic book.
In Deadly Class #28, we catch up with our favorite assassin couple that we long thought dead. Marcus and Maria are alive and well on a beach far from the school. Saya saved them, but finds herself in a deadly situation. She’s been betrayed and now finds herself held captive by her power hungry brother in Tokyo. Meanwhile at Kings Dominion, Shabnam and Grogda (our least favorite assassin couple) are meeting some resistance within the student council. Shab and Grog put the two “asses” in “assassin”.
Marcus is the most relatable teenage punk to ever grace the world of comic books for any reader who grew up in a tough spot. Remender made us think we had lost him, then once we’re all settled in to this new crop of kids he throws Marcus and Maria back into the mix. That’s a big pile of positivity and a healthy serving of joyous relief. Things are about to get complicated, the pulse of this book is picking back up in a hurry.
Willie also makes a comeback appearance as Marcus is apparently seeing him in his head. Another layer of juicy complexity wrapped around this already intricate character. Remender has also managed to completely redeem Saya, who was previously the ultimate betrayer.
This cast of characters is so well crafted that any and all growth they experience cannot simply be analyzed only during one’s time reading the issue. Dramatic narrative shifts warrant excessive diagnosis that takes place after having closed the issue.
Even the moment where Remender is clearly taking a shot at Marvel earns a reader smile and nod and not an eye roll. The man can do no wrong, it’s news to no one that he is one of the most brilliant writers in modern comic books.
Deadly Class is the kind of book that we all deserve, you just need to do yourself a favor and dive in. This creative team (Jordan Boyd’s colors as well) is firing on all cylinders in every issue.
Everything you could want in a series is present and so much more. As the series approaches 30 issues, let’s hope there’s no end in sight. Keep this book alive and share it with your friends. The comic book community deserves it.
Are you reading Deadly Class? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
