Graphic Novel Review – Deadly Class Vol 1: Reagan Youth by Rick Remender, Wesley Craig, Lee Loughridge (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Mystery
Length: 160 pages
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 16, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1632150035
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Deadly Class series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“It’s 1987. Marcus Lopez hates school. His grades suck. The jocks are hassling his friends. He can’t focus in class. But the jocks are the children of Joseph Stalin’s top assassin, the teachers are members of an ancient league of assassins, the class he’s failing is “Dismemberment 101,” and his crush has a double-digit body count. Welcome to the most brutal high school on earth, where the world’s top crime families send the next generation of assassins to be trained. Murder is an art. Killing is a craft. At Kings Dominion School for the Deadly Arts, the dagger in your back isn’t always metaphorical.”

This is the first volume in the Deadly Class graphic novel series. There are eight volumes released in this series right now. The illustration is well done and the story is easy to follow. However, this really wasn’t my thing and I struggled to see where the story was going.

Marcus has escaped from his boys’ home and is trying to survive on the streets. Then he’s made an offer he can’t pass up…he’s given an opportunity to join Kings Dominion School for Deadly Arts. At first he is reluctant, then intrigued, and then he finds out this school sucks just as much as any other high school…even if the classes are more interesting.

I enjoyed the first part of this book. While the idea of a high school for assassins isn’t unique, it’s done in a very tongue-in-cheek style in this book. The 1980’s setting is endearing too.

Unfortunately this book lost me in the second half. The story is mostly about high school cults and angst. Then there is a prolonged acid trip in which Marcus gets in trouble with another man’s girl. I really didn’t understand the point and found my attention wandering despite the graphic violence and edgy characters.

This is for adults only. There is graphic violence, loads of drug use, and sex. While these things don’t bother me as part of a story, I feel like the level of violence and drug use in the second half of the book was mostly gratuitous and didn’t understand where the story was going.

Overall this was okay. The illustration is well done and the concept is interesting, if not completely unique. The second half of this book really went down hill and really turned me off this series. I guess I would recommend if you really like reading about violence and drug use without much purpose behind them.