Helmut gets a special job as Marcus does his first book signing in Deadly Class #53, by writer Rick Remender, artist Wes Craig, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Rus Wooton. This issue is a heartbreaker for multiple reasons but a hell of a read.

In Berlin, Helmut is given a job, the one he’s been waiting for- Shabnam. Back in San Francisco, Maria talks to a fellow nanny about her rheumatoid arthritis and how she can’t get a doctor. The nanny gives her some pills she got from a pharmacy rep- oxycontin. Back at the apartment, Maria is too messed up to go with Marcus to his signing. The signing itself is a bleak affair. Meanwhile, Shabnam and Bambi have been watching Marcus and Maria for ages. Helmut goes in for the kill but is surprised when Shabnam and Bambi are ready for him.

Remender gives readers an excellent bait and switch with the beginning and ending sequences of the book. Seeing Helmut again is nice, with his family and wonderful life. Revealing Shabnam is his target is the perfect way to get readers to pay attention, and it gets their hopes up. The end is the perfect way to bring the reader right down. It’s a heartbreaker, but it’s also so well written that it’s enthralling to watch Helmut meet his fate.

The rest of the issue feels like misery porn. It’s well-written misery porn, though, which makes all the difference. Maria getting oxycontin feels like a moment where if there was music, it would be ominous. Marcus’s pathetic book signing starts out cringe, and it just intensifies. The sequences with Marcus and Maria are hard for fans of both of them, but it’s necessary to the story being told. The only problem with this issue is that the end game of the book, a final confrontation between Shabnam and Bambi and Marcus and Maria or some combination of the four, is apparent.

Craig and Loughridge do a good job with this issue. There aren’t really any action set pieces, but there’s a lot of character acting, and Craig nails it. As an artist, Craig’s always been great at that. A real highlight of the issue is Bambi. Craig draws her as the most evil thing imaginable. Every time her face appears on the page, it’s the rictus grin of a demon. The last sequence lives and dies by Loughridge’s colors, which are their usual phenomenal throughout the book but especially good at the end.

Deadly Class #53 hurts. It hurts a lot, but that also shows just how good the creative team is and has been. Readers care about these characters, and Remender tears them down expertly. Craig and Loughridge do a fabulous job on the art, bringing all that pain to life.

Grade: B