Deadly Class #40
Helmut is out for revenge in Deadly Class #40, by writer Rick Remender, artist Wes Craig, colorist Jordan Boyd, and letterer Rus Wooton. Helmut finds out precisely what kind of hell his dead ex-girlfriend Petra escaped from and makes a fateful choice about his future. Add to that the return of Saya and this issue sets up the new story arc nicely.
As Saya and Maria reunite, they and Zenzelle are attacked by more of Saya’s brother’s assassins. The girls triumph, but Master Lin and several teachers from King’s Dominion show up and order Maria and Zenzelle to kill Saya. Maria outthinks Lin and protects Saya at the same time. Back at the school, Helmut sneaks out of his and Tosahwi’s room to find Petra’s father. Tosahwi meets him at his van, though, and the two of them go on a road trip to find Petra’s father’s church. What they find there is a twisted death cult, and the situation devolves into a bloody brawl, the aftermath of which will have repercussions for all involved.
Remender frames the story using a letter written by Zenzelle to her parents. It’s a novel approach since it really only gives her version of what’s going on and it’s set after the events of the story. It sets things up rather well, and there’s a sense of knowing omniscience behind it that gives the story a sense of impending doom. It’s a nice way to start a new story arc, setting the tone right away. At the end of the issue, in a paragraph written on the letters page, Remender says this issue is setting up lots of “bad chaos” for the cast and the way this issue is written definitely gives that sense.
Maria outsmarting Lin is a great touch. One of the big rules of King’s Dominion is that students aren’t allowed to kill each other (outside of special circumstances, like the yearly “rat hunt”). Saya is technically no longer a student of the school, though, and Maria thinks quickly, making Saya her pledge. It earns her a powerful enemy, though, and it remains to be seen how Lin will react to her using his own rules against him. The scenes in Petra’s father’s death cult are a lot of twisted fun. The 80s were the time of the “Satanic Panic,” and this cult plays into that. There’s irony in that it’s heavy metal-loving Helmut who is set against them, seeing as how at the time, he would have been considered just as “evil” as the cult itself to contemporary eyes. He and Tosahwi survive, but does their friendship? Remender does a lot of intriguing set-up in this one.
Wes Craig’s art is very good in most places. There are two big action numbers in this book- one with the Yakuza assassins and one with Tosahwi and Helmut against the cult. His artwork has always shined on scenes like this, and this issue is no exception. The opening action scene is the better of the two, but the second one is very good as well. Par for the course in his latter-day art on this book. There are a few places where his detail gets a little sketchy, but overall, it’s better than it’s been in some of the previous issues.
Deadly Class #40 kicks off the new story arc in an action-packed issue that balances the carnage with a smart set-up. Remender and Craig work together to present a chapter that flows from one point to the next, sweeping the reader along and tantalizing them with what could be on the horizon. It’s not anything groundbreaking or next level, but it does everything it needs to do in an inimitable fashion.