Lady Killer 2 #1
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Joelle Jones
Artist: Joelle Jones
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Cover: Joelle Jones
Josie Schuller is the ideal 50’s woman. On the surface she’s the perfect picture of homemaker, wife and mother, managing it all with flourish and a smile. Underneath that perfect smile however, lurks the mind of an efficiently ruthless assassin.
Moving her family to a new town and leaving the employ of the agency Josie has decided to strike out on her own and build an enterprise as a freelance assassin. However, she’s quickly finding out what it’s like to have to work without backup and juggle new family issues which include a mother-in-law that knows her secret!
The first book in the volume 2 quickly thrusts the reader into Josie’s newest contract and wastes no time in reminding the reader that she’s a stone cold murderess. Josie still seems as eager as ever to complete her contracts but is forced to acknowledge the lack of assistance that was once provided by her agency. She uses this experience to refine her skills and adopt new ones to make up for the fact that all the needs of her job are no longer being provided for her.
Once again Joelle Jones’ artwork fires on all cylinders. Joelle’s work on Josie’s facial expressions continue to seamlessly convey her thoughts and play well on the sympathies of the reader. When Josie is smiling or maintaining her cover it is exceedingly difficult to see her as a bad guy…until a subtle turn of her lips and a darkening of the color tone indicate the shift to murderous thoughts. The retro pop art feeling to Jones’ style is gorgeous and works well to play to not only the time period and setting and the heavily blacked lines used on the blood spatter enhance the brutal nature of Josie’s work when the knives come out. The assassinations take on the feeling of an old school slasher film as the panels shoot between flashes of the weapon, blood splatter, fearful eyes, and Josie’s rapturous smile in a style reminiscent to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”.
I first found out about Lady Killer Vol. 1 while walking around my local comic shop a year or so ago. The first thing that popped out at me was the cover of the All American Housewife mopping up blood with a smirk on her face. I didn’t know what to think and I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. With the beginning of Vol. 2 of Lady Killer Josie’s story is only getting more interesting with the new set of issues that the beautiful assassin finds herself in. Personally, I’m dying to see what she does about her pesky mother-in-law.
Eric Snell
esnell@comicattack.net
