[Comic Book Review] Image Comics' DEADLY CLASS #37

PopCultHQ received an advanced review copy of DEADLY CLASS #37 from Image Comics. Available March 6th, 2019, the creative team for this issue features writing from Rick Remender, art from Wes Craig, colors from Jordan Boyd, and lettering from Rus Wooton.

Here’s PopCultHQ’s Spoiler-Free Review of…

DEADLY CLASS #37

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Wes Craig
Colorist: Jordan Boyd
Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cover Artists:
Cover A: Wes Craig
Cover B: Daniel Warren Johnson

In Shops: Mar 06, 2019

SRP: $3.99
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“NEVER GO BACK,” Part Two (of Five)

Get ready for the wildest night in Tokyo as Saya gets one chance to escape the clutches of her psycho Yakuza brother Kenji.

PopCultHQ’s Comic Book Review:
DEADLY CLASS #37

Held captive and broken in every conceivable way by evil upstart Kenji, turncoat Quan and brave Saya must find some way to escape before it’s too late for everyone.

Writing:

It’s a wonderous thing to follow a creator into their own properties and hear them speak with an undistilled voice. For them to weave in and out of each of their characters with such vision and clarity. To finish one heart-stopping, epic tale after another and circle back to remind you this is a fully functioning world with a story packed into every corner. To give a sense of scale to something as intimate as a personal betrayal. To lay it amongst the backdrop of high stakes adventure.

Rick Remender’s work bears the scars of his influences but in the best possible way. It’s pure indie comic books from a time when the underground was nascent and bubbling. It’s a thank you to Frank Miller’s ninja-clad, steam-infested urban nightmare. It’s a tip of the hat to Claremont, Louise Simonson, and Ann Nocenti’s New Mutants.

A writer so capable of this, Black Science, and mainstream fan-favorites like Uncanny X-Force, Uncanny Avengers, and Venom is a special thing. One who can not only capture from the zeitgeist, but have a hand in steering it. It is always a violent pleasure to read what Rick Remender is saying with Deadly Class.

Art:

Should it be possible to capture the essence of Frank Miller without aping his style? Can an artist convey the spirit of a Bill Sienkiewicz without looking anything like it at all? Is this testament to the strength of the connection between artist and writer? Can you stand arm-in-arm with the sensibilities of a creator like Paul Pope without bowing your head? Can you blend it all in with a Cyber Punk Anime melody?

Wes Craig is as vital to this book as Remender. You couldn’t split the two without sacrificing too much. On The Walking Dead, at times, it feels the book may benefit from a change in visual style. Grant Morrison has a great creative relationship with Frank Quitely, but he has turned out stellar work with a diverse range of artists. Remender and Craig are the perfect pair.

Craig understands the call for a visual melting pot of cultures in every storyline. Japanese Yakuza culture, 80’s punk scene, Latino street gangs. Setting stories by the docks, in the streets, at a school, Mexico. Things like this encourage virtuoso performances from only the artists who are talented enough for the task at hand. Craig is one such talent. His emotional range is only outdone by his action drenched in urgency. A pure storyteller invested in the stakes of each panel as much as the character themselves. Wes Craig is what they mean when saying an artist “breathes life” into the page.

Colors:

The synergy between all involved extends to the colorist on this book. Without the washed palette of Jordan Boyd, this book would also lose something crucial. The mastery over mood and the energy and character the color work bestows upon the story are from another plane entirely. It manages to capture the exact time period the comic is set while also looking like nothing you’ve seen. Boyd is capable of so much with work on superhero books like Winter Soldier and Ant-Man, cosmic fare like Star Wars legacy, and mystic work like Books of Magic. But it’s the stripped down, selective, yet detailed, color choices of Deadly Class that is his definitive work. If you ever need the perfect explanation of what the colorist adds to the book, why not just anyone can do it, Boyd’s work is all you need.

Letters:

Rus Wooton brings a lengthy list of experience to every issue of Deadly Class. Not only prolific within the Image brand (he also letters Outcast, The Walking Dead, Invincible, and East of West, to name a few) but also on seminal Fantastic Four and New X-Men runs. Wooton’s smash-mouth style employed in this issue really drives the indie comic sensibility of the work. It gives the action scenes an extra gear and illuminates finer actions like a crowd reacting or a finger snap. Completing the set, it really feels as though this book would lose something significant if the lettering was taken out of the perfect equation this title constantly delivers.

PopCultHQ’s Overall Assessment:

This is a title that will never take its foot off your throat. Even after achieving mainstream success and recognition and winding down its last epic Love Like Blood storyline. Like a tried and true hip-hop cliché, it’s on to the next one. The desperation of this issue seeps from the ink on every page. The genuine interaction and attention to detail between Saya, Quan, and the nefarious Kenji are a delicious feast of crime storytelling. There is heart and humour spread throughout too, just to show you how capable it is of twisting your emotions into controlled submission. If you’re looking for a strong issue of such a tightly-created comic book, issue 37 certainly is it.