Deadly Class #55
As Marcus and Maria weather out the pandemic, Saya has a decision to make in Deadly Class #55, by writer Rick Remender, artist Wes Craig, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Rus Wooton. The penultimate issue of the book gets a little preachy at first, but it has an explosive ending.
It’s 2020, and Marcus, Maria, and their children are riding out the pandemic in Hawaii. Marcus being Marcus, he’s depressed and negative. Maria points out why he shouldn’t be, and the two of them watch their children as they learn how to surf, a beautiful moment. In Japan, Saya is running her Yakuza family and learns that Brandy and Shabnam have sent assassins after Marcus and Maria and that she could stop it. She chooses to do nothing and goes to her club, where she drowns her guilt in sex and drugs. She goes home the next morning and gets a surprise.
So, for everyone waiting for the moment when Remender breaks out his Gen X cynicism that’s healed by the love of family gets it in this issue. Setting this chapter in 2020 gives Remender the chance to use Marcus as his mouthpiece for a moment. It’s sometimes very cringey how on the nose the complaints are, with Marcus just reciting the problems with the world in 2020. However, that’s who Marcus is. His negativity and cynicism have always been cringey, and it’s easier to see it now, when he’s at the height of his life, than it was when he was a teenager in the ‘80s. It’s a good scene, but Remender did a better job of this same thing in the last issue of Black Science.
The Saya pages are the best part of the book. Saya has taken her place at the top of her Yakuza family, which is different from where readers last saw her. However, saying she changed is wrong. She’s still a drug addict, still a criminal, still bitter that Marcus chose Maria over her. Of all of the surviving classmates, she’s the one who never changed; in fact, she got worse. It’s a painfully painted picture, and Remender sells it perfectly. There’s a daydream that Saya has while high on heroin, of her in Hawaii with Marcus, having kids, being happy. It’s heartbreaking, and it makes the end that much more painful for fans who have watched her character develop over the course of the series.
Craig and Loughridge are in rare form for this issue. The art is pretty much perfect. The line work never suffers, the detail is brilliant, and the character acting is on point. Craig is definitely knocking it into overdrive for the end of the series. It’s especially apparent in the Saya scenes. So much of them depend on character acting, and Craig nails it. Loughridge’s colors are beautiful, but that’s to be expected. They work especially well in the Hawaii scenes, which are lush and gorgeous and feel like Hawaii should.
Deadly Class #55 is a great penultimate chapter. Remender gets a little preachy in the beginning, but it works for the characters. The second half of the book is where it shines. Craig and Loughridge are perfect, really selling the script. This issue expertly gets everyone ready for the book’s ending.