Deadly Class #51
Star-crossed lovers reunite in Deadly Class #51, by writer Rick Remender, artist Wes Craig, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Rus Wooton. This issue is an action-packed little number that sees Marcus reunite with the one character he hasn’t yet.
Marcus, followed by Master Lin’s voice in his head, fights his way through a house to kill someone, taking out the guards before shouting his target, Velasco, in the head but leaving the girl he’s with alive. She starts screaming, and then things get crazy. He’s able to escape to a nearby house as an army of thugs shows up and there meets the person who hired him- Maria. The target was her husband, and she yells at him for not killing the woman, and then the two make their escape, fighting their way out together, the perfect team again.
Throughout these last two story arcs, Marcus has reconnected with everyone… everyone but Maria. This issue sees that reunion, and it’s a doozy. The issue is basically just a long action scene, beginning with Marcus’s infiltration and going from there. This is one of the things that historically Deadly Class has been the best at- Remender, Craig, and Loughridge giving readers balls to the wall action scenes.
Craig and Loughridge are in rare form for this one, working together wonderfully as the stakes get higher and higher. Of course, things pick up when Marcus and Maria finally get together, with Craig nailing their expressions and giving the scene some emotional bite. From there, the scenes of them fighting their way to the beach are expertly laid out, with two pages mirroring the other’s panel layout. They are such an amazing art team, and that’s all there is to it.
Remender revealing that Lin still haunts Marcus, even though he’s long dead, is an interesting little tidbit that says a lot about who Marcus is. He’s a person who can’t let go of anything, a relic of the formative tragedies that sent him to Kings Dominion all those years ago. He’s fundamentally breaking, beating himself up for not following the rules he was taught and using the voice of his tormentor to do it. Beyond that, Remender plays the reunion between Marcus and Maria very well. Their relationship was always contentious but fell back into things just like old lovers would.
Deadly Class #51 continues this book’s farewell victory lap with yet another action-packed banger. Remender, Craig, Loughridge, and Wooton are in rare form for this one, and it shows on every page.
