Deadly Class #56
As Brandy and Shabnam contemplate their final victory, the past catches up to them in spectacular fashion in Deadly Class #56, by writer Rick Remender, artist Wes Craig, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Rus Wooton. This issue closes out Deadly Class in pitch-perfect fashion.
Brandy is running for president on the Republican ticket of racism. She and Shabnam have it in the bag and make their way home from a rally. As Brandy gets ready for bed, her closet door opens, and Maria attacks her, knocking her out. She and Shabnam wake up tied to chairs, with Marcus and Maria telling them they won’t kill them. However, Marcus throws them a knife and tells them that only one of them gets to walk out. After a brief fracas, Brandy walks out covered in blood. At that moment, the FBI attack her house, as the news revealed not only her assassinations but her plan to overthrow the US government. Marcus and Maria go home, ready to live their lives again in peace. A flashback to the ‘80s shows the gang all together, going to dinner for Petra’s birthday and having a rare happy day.
Deadly Class has been a lot of things over its run. It started out as a fun crime comic full of violence and great storytelling. At times, it was shockingly nihilistic, but that worked to its advantage. Remender and company kept the hits coming, changing the story, setting up new plots, and killing off characters. There was a bit of a rocky stretch when Marcus and Maria returned to the school, as the book had been better without that stuff for a while, but it came roaring back. Now that it’s at an end, one can see the series’s throughline; that it’s always been about overcoming the trauma of life. Life is a brutal mistress, one that can destroy you before you even get to the good parts. That’s Deadly Class.
Remender gives readers a bang-up issue for the end. “A Fond Farewell” has killed off everyone left that readers love, and getting the catharsis of the ending with Brandy and Shabnam has been a long time coming. It’s played wonderfully; Marcus and Maria know they don’t have to kill someone like Brandy themselves. They just need to let her eat whatever is in front of her, which is her nature. Seeing her punished instead of just being killed is a nice touch. The discussion between Marcus and Maria is a little “end a comic” cliche, but it also sets up the flashback and why it works so well. The end sequence gives readers that fond farewell they were hoping for. It’s a happy ending for characters we know won’t get one, which makes it a beautiful way to close out the series. We can pretend their stories end on a perfect night in the ‘80s. Nothing that we’ve seen happened. They’re just kids going to Denny’s forever. It’s not true, of course, but it’s there. That’s life, and that’s Deadly Class.
Craig and Loughridge do an excellent job. From the rabid crowds at Brandy’s rally to capturing little human moments from the character who has been the book’s big bad the whole time to her wild ending, Craig’s pencils do an amazing job of getting across the feeling of every scene. His line work is strong, something that hasn’t been true of him with every issue in the last couple of years. The flashback is a masterwork, capturing the old feel of the comic. Loughridge’s colors are a huge reason for not only why that scene works but why every scene works. He does the color wash thing in the present sections, something he’s always used well to set scenes. However, the last bit is colored more traditionally, and it really plays into the idealized, nostalgic feel. That said, it’s just heavy enough on the dark colors to make readers remember: most of these people are dead, and the scene is as funerary as any other.
Finally, letterer Rus Wooton has been with the book for ages, giving it a smooth, easy-to-read font that can turn into something ugly in a second. He’s been a godsend for the dialogue, as it’s often went from zero to sixty. Good lettering sets a scene emotionally as well as anything else, and Wooton’s does that. Without his letters, this comic would have a very different feel.
Deadly Class #56 sticks the landing with an issue that is cathartic and emotional. Remender, Craig, Loughridge, and Wooton have done a remarkable job with this final storyline, and this ending is the best way imaginable to end this book.