Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context ComicBook / DeadlyClass

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dc_com_0.jpg]]
2
3''Deadly Class'' is a comic co-created by Rick Remender, of ''ComicBook/XForce'' fame and Wes Craig. Lee Loughridge acts as the Colorist and Rus Wooton as the letterer.
4
5Marcus Lopez is a homeless Nicaraguan teenager living on the streets of San Francisco. His [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan parents are dead]] and he's being hunted by the local police force. That is until he's saved by [[FemmeFatale Saya]] and her plucky band of [[ChildSoldiers assassins]]. Marcus is then given the option of staying on the streets and eventually dying or joining [[AcademyOfEvil Kings Dominion High School for the Deadly Arts]] and learning to become an assassin.
6
7Deadly Class is a 2014 series published by Creator/ImageComics and is published in a monthly format, concluding in 2022. It ran for 56 issues, collected into 12 graphic novels. The humor is off the wall and dark, the characters are interesting and the violence is gratuitous.
8
9Creator/{{Syfy}} adapted the comic as a series called ''Series/DeadlyClass'' starring Creator/BenedictWong and Creator/LanaCondor. It was previewed online on December 20, 2018, and on Syfy on December 30, 2018, ahead of its official premiere on January 16, 2019. After one season, it was cancelled in June of 2019.
10
11Now features a Characters Page that could use some love.
12
13
14----
15!!This comic contains examples of:
16* TheEighties: The series begins in 1987.
17* AcademyOfEvil: Poison, decapitation, ritual murder, and lockpicking are all in the curriculum.
18* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Since they're the most talented and well-connected killers in the school, they wield of a lot of power.
19* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: [[spoiler:Almost the entire original main cast is dead or incapacitated by the end the first school year. "New" Deadly Class kicks off with Saya and a new group of freshmen students.]]
20* AnyoneCanDie: Several prominent and even main characters die, including [[spoiler:Lex, Billy, Willie, and Petra.]] Major villains also die surprisingly quickly too, including [[spoiler:Chico and Chester.]]
21* ArrowCatch: Pulled off by Saya, naturally.
22* AssholeVictim: Oh, so many...
23* AxCrazy: Averted. Most of the characters are not fond of killing at all. [[spoiler:Then played straight during the Freshman Finals where people are killing off their own classmates for credit regardless if they are in their clique or their significant other.]]
24* BadassAdorable:
25** Averted with Willie, who people assume was able to kill his dad's attackers as a child. [[spoiler: Turns out his uncle killed the assailants that struck his father and made it appear that Willie was the hero]].
26** Maria was a cute assassin when she was a little girl.
27** Subverted in-universe as most other characters still assume that he is a badass.
28* BadGuyBar: {{Yakuza}} clubs show up from time to time, and they all feature a lot of Yakuza thugs hanging out and getting drunk.
29* BestialityIsDepraved: Fuckface really loves animals.
30* BigDamnHeroes: The Gang are cornered by Yakuza when shots from a bell tower take their assailants down, fired by [[spoiler:Viktor]] of all people, who tells them to run while he covers them.
31* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Shabnam seemed like an okay person if a little needy but as it turns out he is a ManipulativeBastard who digs dirt on other students and play TheChessmaster during the Freshmen Finals]]
32* BlindAlley: Averted. There are more pursuers checking the alleys.
33* BreakingSpeech: Shabnam gives a devastating one to Kendal the prep, describing in detail the proof he has of Kendal’s relationship with Stephen, and how he has people on the outside waiting to send that proof to Kendal’s CIA father unless Kendal does what he wants and murder his own boyfriend so Shabnam gets the credit.
34* BringMyBrownPants: Marcus’s attempt to fart on an annoying co-worker at the comic store after eating a bad burrito goes ''horribly'' wrong…
35* CliqueTour: Willie gives Marcus one as she introduces him to the assassins' school. The cliques in this case composed of the children of violent groups. The "Dixie Mob" are redneck neo-Nazis, the "Preps" are rich CIA/FBI, the "Jersey Kings" are East Coast mobsters, the "Soto Vatos" are [[TheCartel drug cartel kids]], the "Kuroki Syndicate" is {{Yakuza}}, and the "Final World Order" are LA gang bangers.
36* CloudCuckooLander: [[spoiler: Marcus after taking six tabs of acid.]]
37%%* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: Introduction of Saya as a biker.
38%%* DecoyProtagonist: Played with.
39* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Marcus spills the beans that Willie never killed anyone to Gabe, another guy in their class. Gabe, furious, goes to confront Willie. Shortly afterwards, Gabe is found impaled on a flag pole, and the classmates can all tell someone is sending a message.
40* DecapitationPresentation: An unwitting case. Marcus and Maria grab Chico’s head to dispose of it so no one can trace his death back to them, and walk smack into his father, presenting him with proof that his son is dead.
41* TheDogBitesBack: Literally! Marcus opens a cage for one of Chester’s abused dogs and it immediately tears him to pieces.
42* DreamSequence: Marcus remembering the death of his parents is portrayed as this.
43%%* DrivenToSuicide: Marcus
44%%** InterruptedSuicide: Thanks to Saya.
45* EvilIsPetty: Shabnam’s rise to the top is motivated largely because Marcus slept with the girl he liked and didn’t invite him to parties.
46%%* GallowsHumor
47* GenreDeconstruction: What happens when a selection of fundamentally decent kids with no combat training go to a school full of violent brutes who were trained in murder since their youth? In a conventional story, the inexperienced and decent kids would somehow rally and defeat their tormentors. In this one, almost all of the kids who don't want to kill people or who just lack experience die. [[spoiler:By issue 37, of all the initial 'rats' who showed up without experience, only Marcus and Stephen are still alive.]]
48* GothGirlsKnowMagic: Subverted: while not magic, Petra is very good at making poison, contrasted with the other kids who are all guns and blades.
49* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: At one point Marcus takes peyote, and during his ensuing hallucinations he finally determines what it is he truly wants in his heart.
50* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Marcus's main motivation: he will do anything to keep from being alone.
51* InstantlyProvenWrong: When Shabnam corners him, Marcus emphatically denies having had sex with Grogda. Naturally, she picks that exact moment to walk in and accuse Marcus of getting her pregnant.
52* KatanasAreJustBetter: Saya is very skilled with one.
53* LetsSplitUpGang: One member of Willie’s old crew suggest this while hunting him down, but the others immediately shoot this down.
54-->“Split up? What are you, some dumb bitch in a horror movie? We stick together, you dumb motherfucker.”
55* LoserProtagonist: Marcus starts the series off as a very troubled orphan boy, homeless and eating garbage to survive. Needless to say, he goes through quite the transformation over the course of the comics.
56* MushroomSamba: Believing a dealer is trying to sell them fake acid, Marcus licks an entire wad of blotter paper. The dealer runs off in horror, and Marcus proceeds to lose his goddamn mind.
57* MostWritersAreAdults: Marcus' penchant for philosophical monologues is more akin to that of a thirty-five year old screenwriter than a recently-turned fourteen year old.
58* OrificeInvasion: During the fight with Chester’s gang, Maria drives a pitchfork into one their mouths.
59* OrphanageOfFear: Marcus lived in one of these before the story began, complete with an EvilOrphanageLady who scarred his face. His flashback reveals it was little more than a sweatshop. He eventually fought back, seriously injuring her and her cronies, and Chester burned the place down in the chaos.
60* ParentalAbandonment: Implied with Saya.
61* PleaseWakeUp: After [[spoiler: Willie]] is shot by Viktor, Marcus drags him into cover and begs his lifeless body to get up.
62* ReallyGetsAround: Marcus, in the first few volumes, sleeps with Maria, Saya, Grogda and Petra.
63* RememberTheNewGuy: Parodied mercilessly during Freshman Finals. Marcus, Petra and Billy are looking for a way to escape their murderous classmates when a kid named Pauly runs up to join them. None of them have a clue who he is, beyond the fact he’s literally wearing a RedShirt, but Viktor, who has a clear shot, lowers his weapon and refuses to shoot Pauly.
64* RhymesOnADime: The Dixie Mob, as a bunch of psycho cheerleaders, do this as they attack their classmates.
65* SelfMadeOrphan: Billy gets Marcus to help him kill his father. [[spoiler:Turns out Willie also killed his father, albeit accidentally, and Zenzele killed both her parents for using her as a bargaining chip.]]
66* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: This is TheEighties after all, the characters engage in a lot of it.
67* SoftGlass: Subverted. Jumping foot-first onto a moving car is actually a plausible way to break it.
68* StepfordSmiler: Petra becomes one of these after finals.
69* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Invoked by Chico’s father in the flashback to when he killed Maria’s family, although he was evil well before this anyway.
70-->”Behind my back, you, my neighbours, call me ‘El Alma Del Diablo.’ Time to live up to it.”
71* TheseHandsHaveKilled
72** Implied to be Saya's response after killing the officer in #1.
73** Averted with Marcus [[spoiler: and then played straight in # 4-5 when he thinks that he's going to jail]].
74* TeensAreMonsters: The series focuses on kids training to be assassins, after all.
75* TimeSkip: After the massacre at Stefano’s cabin, the series skips ahead periodically to 1991, 1997 and 2001.
76* TraitorShot: During the Freshman Finals, Shabnam gets a phone call from some he calls “a desperate rat”, and he guarantees their safety. [[spoiler: The scene cuts to Marcus, Petra and Billy holed up in Chester’s old place, and as Marcus finds Billy in a darkened room, there is a large panel focusing ominously on a phone in there. ]]
77* TroubledTeen: Essentially every non-adult character in the series.
78* TykeBomb: This is a series about teenagers going to school for assassins.
79* VisionQuest: After [[spoiler:escaping Mexico]], Marcus takes some peyote and hallucinates his way through one of these.
80* VivaLasVegas: The first real arc is this. However, the plot focuses on [[spoiler: Marcus trying to survive two killers who are out for him]].
81* WellDoneSonGuy: Viktor’s father is as abusive as half the cast’s (that is to say, very), but rather than try to become a SelfMadeOrphan like them, he strives to gain his father’s respect and atone for his failure to protect his mother and sisters.
82* WhyWontYouDie: Marcus yells this at [[spoiler: Viktor]] after plowing into him with a VW Beetle. [[spoiler: Viktor]] clings to the car with one hand, wields an assault rifle in the other, and screams that nothing can kill him.
83* WithFriendsLikeThese: Marcus recalls going to a party full of the preps and jocks, and how they would all talk and laugh like true friends, but the moment one of them left the room, the others would immediately tear them down behind their backs. It makes him miss his real friends.
84* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: When Marcus, Petra and Billy are on the run, Marcus, still hurting from his falling out with Saya and Willie, gives an over-the-top thank you to Billy for being such a good friend. [[spoiler:Since it’s implied Billy has sold them out to Shabnam, Billy is very uncomfortable. ]]

Top