ADVANCE REVIEW: LADY KILLER 2 #1

Working for yourself can be hard work.  I mean, ok, you have no-one to blame but yourself if things aren’t done right and yes, you can’t delegate the jobs you hate to others and yes taking holidays can be problematic if you want to maintain a presence within your circle of business.

Still, it seems that both Joelle Jones and her creation, Josie Schuller are unafraid of a little bit of hard work.  As Joelle steps up to write as well as produce her usual excellently stylised art work, we find Josie up to her stocking tops in a merry-go-round of murder, mayhem and motherhood.

The step up to writer may not be as pronounced for Joelle as she was involved in the previous volumes plots.  But it’s one thing to thing of a cool plot device or situation and another to realise these with witty tongue in cheek banter.  With that in mind, it is startling how easy Joelle makes all this seem.  The situations that Josie finds herself in are still a mix of dark comedy and almost slapstick violence.  The dialogue reads well with the various confrontations having an impact on Josie, with the most difficult one being the mother-in-law.

As good as the writing is, Joelle artwork remains her strong suit.  As with the previous run, the angular line work is back.  However, there is also a softer look on show, with Joelle mixing her styles well with each one emphasising some part of Josie’s life.  As such there is a subtle visual difference between Tupperware parties and hammering an old to death.  Joelle is ably helped out by colorist Michelle Madsen who gives the book a great 1950’s context.

A large part of Lady Killers success was the fact that it was fun eclectic mix of humour, satire and dark violence.  The challenge ahead for Joelle is to keep the book fresh.  Too much of a good thing can be bad for you.  Here, the format of publisher Dark Horse Comics predilection for mini series should help maintain story focus without meandering into repetitiveness.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Joelle Jones
Artist: Joelle Jones
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Cover Artist: Joelle Jones

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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