I surprisingly like this comic very much.
I always want to read and support comic books with female leads. However, I had my reservations about 'Lady Killer' before finally picking it up. I love me some action and ladies with agency kicking arse, but I'm not a fan of gratuitous violence, gore, serial killers, and crime thriller and horror. How would a story like this give us a likeable - or at least interesting - and non-hackneyed and appealing protagonist we'd want to follow and root for?
As it turns out, 'Lady Killer' can be thrilling and enjoyable for the squeamish. It isn't as morally-and-ethically-deprived, depraved, twisted, "dark and edgy", or even as violent as its quite literally blood-splattered pages suggest (seriously, even some of the white frames and borders of the panels get dirtied as a stylistic choice, it's kind of awesome). There's thought and restraint. The comic doesn't go into overkill, literally and figuratively. The fifties gender roles satire works, and there is a good story with memorable and believable characters here.
Watch out for Joëlle Jones as she makes her mark on the mainstream comic book industry.
'Lady Killer', written and drawn by Jones, stars Josie Schuller. Josie is a housewife to a nice working man, a mother to two young daughters, and a daughter-in-law to a crotchety old German woman, and she lives the picture perfect, fifties American, sunny suburban life. She is also an assassin for hire. Has been for fifteen years, and it was her choice. And she is not afraid to get brutal, bloody and messy on the job.
It's a job she's extremely good at, and that makes the men in charge and who "own" her very nervous.
Regardless of what those chauvinistic pigs think, Josie can live her double life competently, and she can juggle a serial killer career with a home and family life well. But that won't stop them from wanting to get rid of her simply for being too good at her job. The big company men are afraid of being outmatched by a woman, and of her climbing up the ladder and breaking the glass ceiling above them.
Domesticated bliss is an illusion created by the patriarchy to keep women low on income, low on the payroll, and on social and political status. Even when a woman is talented at any field that's typically "men's work", old conservative men still prefer her to stay in the kitchen.
What great commentary.
'Lady Killer' is funny and oddly endearing for any reader. Josie is likeable despite her killing hell-knows-how many people over the years, for a corrupt company that is just using her and doesn't appreciate her. As hard as it is to believe, she has limits, and she comes to realise how disposable she is to the company. Mrs. Josie Schuller may come out on top, or start her own business...
Did she successfully kill that guy...?
Cue cliffhanger!
'Lady Killer, Vol. 1' - Black comedy, horror, thriller, action, spy drama, science fiction, mystery, feminist, and never, ever boring. In this story, even one full of killers, there are no evil women, but definitely evil men who receive their comeuppance, thank fuck.
Sorry, I have to go on a mini tangent and get this off my chest: Let there be less stories about psychopathic, manipulative ladies behind innocent men, and more of the opposite as reflects reality, please. I love female villains and want to see more of them, but this is not the "feminist" approach to it. It's the very opposite, in fact. Most women are trustworthy; are not power hungry; are not unworthy of said power; are not threatening to "poor innocent rich men"; are not threatening to goodness, hope, and the social and political order; and powerful women's lives and successes are not dependent on men. To put it bluntly: Fuck that, and fuck off.
The introduction of 'Lady Killer, Vol. 1' by author Chelsea Cain is also worth your time and every penny spent on the volume. She is right; she is on point; on a truth which makes us uncomfortable: Women are all about the blood. We are not weak. We are not squeamish. "Women are powerful creatures. What with the bleeding and life-and-death decisions." "Maybe the reason we all picture serial killers as schlubby, middle-aged white guys is because they are the ones who get caught."
Recommended. Joëlle Jones is going places. Let her be as famous as any male comics writer and artist.
Final Score: 4/5
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