I’m on the fence for this well-executed Fagin tale. Deadly Class tells the origin story of Marcus Lopez, an orphan with anger issues living on the street after the death of his parents. It’s a period piece set in a very specific version of the late 1980’s. I lived in San Francisco in 1987, which made me view this first issue of Deadly Class a bit more critically than I otherwise might have.
Although this issue deals solely with Marcus and his internal conflicts about society, the book itself apparently leads into a school for gifted young assassins led by a mysterious figure. I can’t decide if it’s going to be exploitative and derivative or diversely wonderful. Most of issue one is fairly standard boy fantasy, right up to the beautiful girl who inexplicably believes in him enough to kill a few cops. I think Rick Remender might be going somewhere interesting enough that I’m going to pick up the trade paperback and give this beautifully composed series a shot. 
Issue one is a freebie on ComiXology as I write this. If you haven’t got an account, this link will kick you a $5 credit and knock the same back to me. I prefer to purchase my comics in paper, but the low cost / free samples at ComiXology are how I kill time when I don’t feel like cracking open a book.
