Deadly Class, Vol. 1: Reagan Youth, by Rick Remender and Wes Craig (Image Comics) | review by Stephen Theaker

Despite the skeletons on the cover, not a fantasy or horror book. A homeless young man is given a place at a school for assassins. His classmates are the scions of murderers, gangsters and intelligence operatives, and he makes friends with some, enemies of others. The rules are strict and the penalties for not obeying them are terminal. It looks very good and moves at a fair old lick, and it’s hard not to be moved when the writer talks in an afterword about how it reflects his miserable time at high school. Stephen Theaker ***