Deadly Class (Image Comics)

Just finished volume 5 of this ongoing series from Image, and I'm already looking forward to volume 6. I bought the first volume as a physical TPB, and took ages to getting around to reading it. After I did I got the next 4 volumes on that Comixology thing. Yes, digital comics. Comics that light up from behind, and move from panel to panel, adding a dimension of movement that often enhances the dynamics of the page. I much prefer physical comics, but there's only so much space in the house, and many modern comics work really well on an iPad.

Deadly Class is simple enough in its concept; it's Hogwarts with murder, instead of magic. Sons and daughters of the Mafia, Yakuza, KGB, CIA, Triads, et al are sent here to carry on the family business of assassination, betrayal, torture and manipulation. Just like the School for Wizards, the pupils are a mix of those from a 'killing' background, and others who have come from bad homes or have been victim to a series of unfortunate events. Just like any other high school story, there are cliques, which read out like a homicidal Breakfast Club: The Preps (CIA/FBI), Dixie Mob (Southern racists), Soto Vatus (South American drug cartels), Jersey Kings (New Jersey Atlantic City gangs), Final World Order (South Central LA gangbangers),  and the Koroki Syndicate (Yakuza). There are also those who don't fit in, and they form an unlikely and unstable alliance. Thing is, you can't trust anyone. Just like normal school.

The action is set in San Fran in the late 80s, and the main character is Marcus Lopez Arguello, a Nicaraguan refugee who was orphaned when his parents were killed by a suicidal woman jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Living on the streets, drifting in and out of petty crime, he is eventually pulled into the world of Kings Dominion, School of the Deadly Arts. This school of death was founded in 1637, and is hidden deep beneath the streets of the city; its motto In vivat mortem (Long Live Death). Classes include Assassin Psychology, Poison, Hand-to-hand Combat and so on. You get the picture.

The concept is simple, but what makes Deadly Class really work is the things that make any good comic work. Good dialogue, good art, good characters and a good story. The story never stops throwing curve balls, some of them the size of Halley's Comet. There's plenty of great characters here, mostly drawn with a broad, cinematic brush; from Samurai-sword wielding tattooed punk Saya, to the deformed redneck Chester, who loves dogs a little too much; from the sinister Master Lin, who runs the school like a Yoda from the Dark Side, to Goth princess Petra, an expert in DIY chemical weapons, whose parents joined a death cult. Rick Remender and Wes Craig pull in every violent pulp movie culture trope going, and then make up a few of their own. The story is a catalogue of betrayal, mayhem, murder, and just 'getting through high school.' Wes Craig's art is superb, both detailed and dynamic, full of movement and action, as well as grace and drama.

Deadly Class is great comics, and maybe it'll make great TV, if the people making it ever get done.