Deadly Class #41
More complications arise at King’s Dominion in Deadly Class #41, by writer Rick Remender, artist Wes Craig, colorist Jordan Boyd, and letterer Rus Wooton. There’s something vaguely mystifying about this issue. It feels dense, yet very little happens.
The return of Saya has Marcus in turmoil. Master Lin brands her a rat in front of the entire class of ‘91. Marcus starts to feel distant from everyone, playing the popularity game at the school, and disconnecting from Maria, who has a new friend- Stefano, the son of East Coast mob bosses. She asks Marcus if he’s like to go out with them, but Marcus has a test with Jayla and his new group of friends. Saya finds him at a diner before his assignment, and they talk. She tells him to leave the school like he had promised when she had spared his life, but he blows her off and goes to meet up with his group. Maria and Stefano discuss why Lin made them roommates at the club. The test takes Marcus and company to a carnival, where a philandering senator is being interviewed, and Jayla has some private time with him.
Marcus’ inner monologue has always been rather ponderous and depressing, but this issue takes the cake with it. The problem is that it feels like a rehash of things he’s thought before. The first half of the book is mostly just his monologue, and it kind of drags because of how familiar it is. Deadly Class has always been a depressing book in a lot of ways, but this issue really doubles down on it in some places. This usually wouldn’t be a problem because Remender has used this technique in the book before to great effect, but here it is because nothing really happens.
This is the second part of a new story arc, and it feels like some of the more exciting things set up in the last issue aren’t built on or don’t have much place. Remender spends too much page space in Marcus’ head and not enough developing the plot or making anything that happens in this issue interesting. The whole chapter feels kind of pointless. It’s hard to even pinpoint the critical parts. Is Marcus playing the popularity game going anywhere? Does it matter? What will come of Maria and Stefano? Saya is back as a pledge, what does that mean for her? Is Jayla killing a senator going to be touched on again, or is it just a plot point in this issue? Nothing stands out about this issue at all.
Wes Craig’s art is uneven, but that’s kind of par for the course for him. His linework is very indistinct in some places. The coloring doesn’t help very much either. Jordan Boyd’s colors give the pencils a muddiness sometimes that destroys some of the pencils’ detail. The best art in the book is in the club scene with Maria and Stefano, but that’s because it’s reminiscent of the way the book used to look before Boyd took over on colors, using a lot of color tones to light scenes. These tones help differentiate Craig’s linework from the backgrounds, making it more distinct.
Deadly Class #41 is ponderous and a bit slow, with very little going on. Remender uses too much page real estate to get inside Marcus’ head than to set up an exciting story for the issue. While getting into a character’s head isn’t a bad thing, it is when it just feels like a rehash of what readers have gotten from the character before. The art by Wes Craig and Jordan Boyd doesn’t do the book any favors, either. It’s muddy and indistinct in most places, with only one scene really working. Hopefully, the next issue will have something happen, because this one is dead in the water.