Deadly Class vol. 9: Bone Machine

It only took creators Rick Remender and Wes Craig nine volumes to get around to it, but they’ve finally embraced the most 80’s of film genres with this volume:  The slasher movie.  Remember how Helmut’s dead girlfriend Petra was raised by a murder cult?  They’re who the metalhead, along with Toshawi, is going to kill at the start of the volume, only to find out that he may have bitten off more than he can chew by doing so.  Which is a rather quaint amount of trouble compared to what Saya has on her hands after returning to King’s Dominion.  From Master Lin, the school at large, and a very resentful Marcus who continues to stew in a pot of angst of his own making as he tries to figure out how to blow everything up.  Hey, maybe going along with the rest of the class to Stefano’s mountain cabin will prove to be a welcome distraction from all this drama.

Or it could wind up being the staging ground for the death cult to get some revenge on the school that took one of their own from them.  Maybe even both!

All of this is to say that much of this volume continues on as “Deadly Class” always has:  mining the trials and tribulations of teenagers, while giving them the power to act on any murderous impulses they may have.  This time, they’re up against some characters who deserve to be murdered, with Remender and Craig delivering on that promise in style.  They also take the time to clear the board a little, re-establish Shabnam as a proper antagonist and twist the knife into the Marcus/Maria relationship a little more.  Most of this is done well, with the last item being handicapped by a cliffhanger that I don’t think anyone who has been reading this series (or any of Remender’s other creator-owned work) will be able to take seriously.  Saya faces as she’s chained next to a burning building is a much better one and something that actually stands a chance of keeping me up at night as I wait for vol. 10.