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Lady Killer #3
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Written by: Joelle Jones and Jamie S. Rich
Illustrated by: Joelle Jones
Released on: March 4th, 2015.
Coming into this series for the first time? Get caught up here!
This third issue starts off at a party - people are drinking, men are putting their hands on women when they shouldn't be, and women are making catty comments to one another. Amidst all of this merrymaking, Josie Schuller tries to play hostess while getting her kids off to bed. With the kids tucked away she heads to the kitchen where she's startled to find Mother Schuller awake, not because the party is too loud but because she's concerned as to why Josie disappears for long stretches of time leaving her with the kids. She's convinced Josie is having an affair and threatens to tell her son but Josie tells her straight up she's wrong. She grabs the maraschino cherries she was looking for and heads back to her wifely duties.
Meanwhile, at the office, Peck is meeting with Stenholm about recent difficulties involving Josie. Peck stands up for her but is told in no uncertain terms that once Josie finishes her current assignment, she will need to be removed. She's too much of a potential threat to everyone involved in the business. Stenholm wants Peck to take care of this. Josie, however, is back to work - she lets herself into the home of her target and proceeds to take care of business… sort of. We won't spoil any of that in this review.
A lot of what makes this series so interesting is the odd little details that somehow become important. A good example of this is the scene with Peck and Stenholm. When Peck sits down he goes to eat an apple on Stenholm's disc, only to have the elder man take it out of his hand and put it back. Throughout their conversation this apple sits there and when Peck is dismissed, Stenholm doesn't eat it, but instead throws it in the garbage. What can we read into this? He doesn't necessarily want it for himself, but he doesn't want anyone else to have it - which is essentially how he feels about Josie. This scene, as well as the rest of the issue really, is illustrated perfectly by Joelle Jones who continues to do a fantastic job with some impressively creative panel layout and design work. Laura Allred's coloring matches the art really nicely and the script, co-written by Jones and Jamie S. Rich, continues the series' mix of action and humor and this time out really does a fine job of ramping up the suspense.
We're past the half way point now, things are going to get worse for Josie before they get better, if they even can get better. All signs point to a pretty intense ride ahead. Let's see how the creative team brings this one home.
