'Deadly Class' Trailer: The Brutal And Brilliant Comic Becomes A Syfy TV Series

It would be easy to describe Deadly Class as "Harry Potter with assassins," but that's just scratching the surface. Sure, this is a series set at a secret academy that trains teenagers how to be expert killers, but the comparisons really end there. If Syfy's upcoming television adaptation of the Image Comics series by writer Rick Remender and artist Wes Craig is anything like the source material, it will be the kind of entertainment that leaves you a bit bruised and beaten and wanting more.

And you can watch a new trailer for the series right now.

I've been reading Deadly Class since the first issue dropped back in 2014 and despite the usual hills and valleys you'd expect from any longrunning comic series, it's always kept me coming back. Set at the underground (literally) King's Dominion Atelier of the Deadly Arts in San Francisco during the late '80s, the story follows Marcus, an unstable and damaged young man who finds himself recruited to receive training in the art of murder. Of course, the only thing more frightening than classes involving poisoning and bladed weapons is, you know, navigating high school and being an angst-ridden teenager. What could have been something goofy is lent weight by Remender's unsettling, raw storytelling and Craig's bold, splashy and gruesome art.

But what about the TV show?

Okay, that's not how I imagined Deadly Class TV show looking in my mind's eye, but that's okay! Either Syfy is burying the comics' dark, unrelenting tone beneath a poppy soundtrack and a more traditional trailer or they've contorted it a bit for wider appeal. In either case, I'd be okay! Deadly Class is the kind of comic where every issue feels like a full meal, and one that doesn't always sit well with you by design. If the team bringing this series to life (including Remender himself, acting as one of the showrunners) felt the need to lighten things up a bit, I wouldn't blame them.

Or the actual show is a barrage of violence, misery, and literal and metaphorical brutality. In either case, I can't wait.

Here's the official synopsis for the series:

Set in a dark, heightened world against the backdrop of late '80s counterculture, Deadly Class follows the story of Marcus (Benjamin Wadsworth), a teen living on the streets who is recruited into Kings Dominion, an elite private academy where the world's top crime families send their next generations. Maintaining his moral code while surviving a ruthless curriculum, vicious social cliques and his own adolescent uncertainties soon proves to be vital. Based on the best-selling 2014 Image Comics graphic novel by Rick Remender and Wes Craig, Deadly Class is a coming-of-age journey full of ancient mystery and teen angst.

Deadly Class stars stars Benjamin Wadsworth, Benedict Wong, Lana Condor, María Gabriela de Faría, Luke Tennie, Liam James, and Michel Duval. The series will debut on Syfy on January 16, 2019.