Deadly Class #2 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Wes Craig (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist)

The Story: Marcus gets acquainted with life at his new school as he somehow make friends and enemies.

The Review: There is a saying that pretend that all stories have already been told, that everything is a constant reutilization of the same concepts yet with different names and interpretations. While it is a bold statement that can be verified at length in multiple levels of fiction, there is a certainty in saying that many stories and ideas look very similar to each other. With this theory in mind, it comes to the writer to make things fresh and twist things up to make use of an established formula to make it so readers still care about what’s on the page, screen or whichever media is used.

It seems, in many ways, that this is what Rick Remender must had in mind when he created this story. Set in a school that trains assassins, the story focus on Marcus, a young Nicaraguan teen who got a bad start in life. Presenting his story in an overly classical architecture of how school are portrayed in many medias, Remender tries to make it so his concept bring in many comparisons and contrasts for the illusion of normalcy to work in favour of his comic.

It’s a sound approach, yet not one that is really working well in this issue. While there are some neat ideas shown with the classes and their teachers, there isn’t much else working in favour to this storytelling technique. Marcus is still the rebel kid, there is a bully (who is of Russian nationality to boot), there is a fat and nerdy kid and everyone is talking about the new kid in school. There are some tidbits which are interesting, yet for a rather big concepts, Remender does not go far enough to provide enough shock or material for contrast in themes and approach.
Still, despite this, Remender does deserve some credits in the fact that he builds up a whole world, a cast and a setting quite well in the span of a little less than 30 pages. Presenting some clear personalities, cliques and a certain way that the school function, there is a lot of material for development and surprises here that can fuel the series for a while.

Deadly Class #1 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Wes Craig (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist)

The Story: Living on the street kind of sucks, but being put in a rather nebulous situations with killers and cops is somewhat worse.

The Review: It’s been a really bright period of time for Image lately. With a few high-profile creators publishing their work through them, they have gained a reputation for being the place to be for many writers and artists, much to the readers delight. For those who want something new and decidedly different, it’s really a golden age of opportunities as the likes of East of West, Saga, Black Science, Lazarus, Sex Criminals and a multitude of others are still on the shelves for people to enjoy.

It’s with these kind of thoughts that I went on to buy this new series by Fear Agent and Uncanny X-Force writer Rick Remender and one of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s many artist, Wes Craig. With a certain pedigree from both creators, there was definitely something about this that I had to try. However, a nice creative team does not necessarily equate to an interesting book, as there needs to be a message, a direction and certainly a hook for readers to return for the inevitable second issue. How does this first issue manage, though?

As the opening to a series, it’s fairly solid, with a bit of a drag as far as its premise and ideas are concerned. There is a solid amount of action and a general depth to the setting that helps situate the themes and the tone of the story very well, with a certain weird vibe that brings the characters and many of the quirks fairly well on the page. The actual hook is mainly delivered in the final pages, though, so the actual feeling of the series might not actually be representative of what is shown here.