Image Comics Review: Deadly Class #44

Review: Deadly Class #44

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Rick Remender

Artist: Jordan Boyd and Wes Craig

Letters: Rus Wooton

Colors: Jordan Boyd

Reviewed by: Carl Bryan

Summary

“Willie doesn’t  get to grow up. And you don’t ever get to feel better about it ” – Saya

Positives

This reviewer is coming to the party a bit late with Deadly Class.  As I turned the pages of this comic, I felt like this was part Umbrella Academy, part Professor Xavier’s X-Men Academy gone mad, and a brutality academy possibly led by Lady Shiva and the Black Widow.

Again, for someone late to the party, this comic plunges you right into violence among the classmates.  And honestly, it appears that Game of Thrones has nothing on the students with these skill sets.

No character feels safe as the class finds themselves fighting against many enemies and as well as themselves.

Rick Remender doesn’t provide any long soliloquies from his characters when they battle.  However, each fight provides a revelation about the character or the history of each character. 

Positives (more…)

Wes Craig provides a comic artistry akin to Michael Avon Oeming’s work in The United States of Murder, Inc.  He provides action-heavy sequential art in a way that is both creative and smooth.

Jordan Boyd contributes in harmony with some brass pencils. Boyd does a fine job of ensuring that the colors do much more than simply add depth to the action.

Rus Wooton provides the final piece in lettering that is easy to read and does so much more than a cartoon bubble!

Negatives

This issue is not the issue to begin your school year with the Deadly Class.  You need to do your research and pick up prior issues.  This issue is a pivot rather than an end of arc issue.  

Therefore, the reader is not really getting a conclusion to a story arc, but rather another layer to add to the history of Deadly Class.

Verdict

I’m seeing parallels in this issue as I mentioned earlier.  This is not Archie and who is the most popular in the class.  This is Hunger Games in high school.  And I’m pretty much hooked at this point.  I just need to go back and hunt down the previous issues to be a well read Deadly Class fan!