Lady Killer #1

Lady Killer #1
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: January 7th, 2015.

In 2014, writer Jamie S. Rich brought you Madame Frankenstein through Image Comics. If you didn't read that series, shame on you. It was really very good and it featured some seriously awesome covers by an artist named Joelle Jones. A new year sees the launch of their latest effort, this time through Dark Horse Comics, in the form of Lady Killer #1 - where Ms. Jones not only handles the cover art but handles the interior pages as well, co-writing with Rich, and that's a very good thing indeed.

The first issue of this new five issue mini-series takes place in what we'll guess is the 1950's, and it introduces us to Ms. Anderson. She's selling Avon at the door of a cranky older lady named 'Ms. Roman' more interested in her yipping ensemble of fashion accessory toy breed dogs than anything else. Anderson basically lets herself into the house, in hopes of getting the woman to take some time out for beauty. One dog related coffee spill later and the truth comes out - someone has paid Anderson quite well to take 'Ms. Roman' out of the picture. The old bag isn't going to do down without a fight, or without making a big ol' mess…

From there we cut to Josie Schuller's fairly happy home life - a woman that sure does look an awful lot like 'Ms. Anderson.' Sure her mother-in-law hangs out and speaks in German, a language that she doesn't understand, but her husband, Gene, seems like a decent guy and her two daughters give her plenty of happiness. Just as she's putting dinner out, she gets a call from a man named Peck who offers her another job but Gene is around, she can't just take this call like a normal call so she dodges it. Later, Peck shows up on her doorstep, and while he husband is ignorant to this, her mother-in-law is not. Peck needs a female operative this time around, and Josie's his only one…

This new project is off to a great start, the art suits the story and the story suits the art. Jones and Rich write female characters well, Madame Frankenstein was evidence of that and Lady Killer is just more proof. There's a fairly wicked sense of humor behind everything that happens here, not just in the opening 'hit' but in the way that Josie is so easily able to get her husband (the bread winner) off her scent but maybe not her old German mother-in-law. It will be interesting to see how that part of the story plays out. There are a few good hooks tossed out in this debut issue that should keep readers interested and wanting to stick with the story to see how it ends - Jones and Rich are in fine form here. There's a lot of wit and weird creativity but at the same time it feels 'right' for the era in which it is set, what with some sexism on the part of the few male characters that have appeared so far.

Jones' art fits the tone of the story pretty much perfectly. There's a lot of detail here in the style of dress on display, the backgrounds that appear in each panel (the kitchen in particular has a great retro vibe to it - it looks like a fifties era kitchen, just as it should!) and the coloring by Laura Allred does a great job of highlighting a lot of that same period detail. Everything from the outfits to the hairstyles to the colors on display to the furniture in the background - it's all in keeping with the fashions of the day. The facial expressions and periodically quirky angles accentuate the black comedy in the script while the murder set piece is done with enough blood, gore and nastiness that we know our 'heroine' is not one to be trifled with.

This first issue is a blast, bring on #2…